Evening star., 1918-02-10
CARDINAL .GASPARR|
ON DISARMAMENT
Is Glad Lloyd George Has De-
cIared Himself Against
After-War Conscription.
RELIEVE FINANCIAL STRAIN
BY JOHN F.. BASS.


Chicago Daily News. Copyright, 1918.
terview which 1 had at the Vatican
with the secretary of state of the holy
see, Cardinal Gasparri. he authorized
me to publish certain portions of the
conversation. Many interesting things
concerning the war aims Of the bellig-
erents were said by the cardinal which
for obvious reasons he did not desire to
have published as emanating from him.
For the purposes of publication he lin
tied his statements to a consideration
Of Premier Lloyd Georges declaration
in favor Of the universal abolition Of
conscription after the war.
It is of note as the war progresses
that subjects of real interest to the well
rare or humanity are coming to the
foreground. In vain during the first
two and half years Of the wsr I en-
deavored in interviews to interest the
statesmen of England, Russia and
France and Italy in the partial disarm-
ament OF the nations as result of the
war. Quite to the contrary the view
was taken In the beginning that all ma
ttons would have universal conscrip-
ton after the war. It has required
financial crisis In the countries of all
the belltgerents with an accompanying
ehA cut OA SOCId1 IeVOluClOn TO force the
governments Of Europe seriously to
consider the question Of international
disarmament on sea and land when
peace Is declared. On this subject Car
dinal Gasparri said:
Glad Statesman Declared Himself.
Il am very glad that the occasion has
arisen for Premier Lloyd George in the
course Of his talk with the delegates
Of the trades unions to declare himself
clearly in favor Of the abolition of
military conscription in England and
every country Of the world. As I soc
1t, this is rhe only effective means OF
securing the Limitation OF armamen nts
which is desired by all the world as
one OF the happtest results that might
cry other limitation would prove r.rac-
tically OF NJ fo-ce N preventing abuses
and violations cf agreements. as such
violations and abuJes would always be
possible while military conscription
Arhe abolition sf conscription would
the. saormous ksilsssx 81 ssassE 91h %hich Sh
even tn peace times sat uT such a large
lions and would therefore automatically
furnish remedy. for the financial ex-
hausdon OF the nations Such abolition,
moreover. would be great moral salts
Laction 1or an immense number OF those
people who have suffered in this war
and would therefore powerfully con-
tribute to the social peace which is now
seriously threatened.
Abolition Would Make War.
Lastly. such abolition would make
war II not completely impossible, at
least very improbable. At all events
1t would limit 1t to very modest propor-
tions. On the other hand. voluntary
military service fits in fully with the
needs Of the nations in times of peace
Your powerful union is eloquent proof
thereof. no less than England. Canada
and Australia, which in times of peace
have relied wholly on volunteers This
has not prevented order from being al
ways maintained nor has 1t limited the
Of your industries. Neither
has 1t in any way decreased the iniiu-
and admiration extended you by the
other nations.
But when the day came on which
you decided to wage war you were
obliged. as was England. to adopt con-
scription. as volunteer service was in
sufficient for the new military needs
created by war. We have here there
fore, as I said. eloquent proof that
volunteer military service suffices for
peace times and prevents war. 1 hope
with all tho strength of my soul that
military conscription will be abolished
by every country. I look upon It as the
most practical method Of securing the
and reciprocal limitation
of armaments. which the papal note
tointed out as one of the elements of
that just and durable peace proposed
by the holy father to the heads OF fhe
belligerent nations.
Views Of Holy See.
'1 may also add that the views of the
holy see on this point had already been
formed when the note of last August
was prepared. but In that document we
purposely spoke only of the Hmita-
tion Of armaments, without specifying
the means OF achieving that Limitation
We did this out of Difference to the
belligerents, who were free to define
and make concrete the points of agree
ments indicated by the holy see Later,
when we saw the course Of events. we
did notNhesitate to furnish on our part
every detail concerning this question,
and we formally notified the parties
interested that plan for the abolition
of military conscription was, In our
opinion, the most effective measure Of
insuring the limitation Of armaments
This is all. I believe that every
person possessed Of Christian and hu-
manitarian sentiments will share the
hopes and approve tho plan of the
holy See"