Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1918-07-17
HIGHER EDUCATION
MUST BE CONTINUED
Country is Warned Not to Permit
Colleges to Disintegrate Dur
ing The War Times.

ing The War lines.
A document of the gravest import |
ance to all who are interested in saw.
ing higher education in the present |
crisis and in securing for the service
of the country men Of greatest value
to the Army and Navy has recently
been issued by the Secretary of War.
1t calls attention to the alarming de.
pletion OF Colleges by the indiscrimin-
ate volunteering of students under
military age, and warns against the
consequences that must accrue from
it. So rapid and exhaustive is this de-
pletion that unless it is promptly
checked it will cripple the machinery
of higher education and work serious
detriment to every department Of pub
lie life, professional, Industrial, and
military The Army will be the first
to suffer because it is in the Colleges
the Government has found the thou
sands of young men whose training
constituted them its most valuable
military asset. 1t is of utmost import
ance to the Government and to the
country at large that the Colleges con-
tinue to supply in growing numbers
young men whose education renders
them fit for leadership. If consequent
ces of the most serious import to the
| vital interest of the country are to
| be warded off, it is imperative that
public opinion should be awakened
to the dangers resulting from the dis
location of higher education.
| In order to stem the exodus from
Colleges and to encourage young men
to prepare themselves by higher edu.
cation for the duties and opportunities
Of service created by the war, the Sec
rotary of War has proposed to estab-
lish military training units in all Col
leges in which at least 100 able bodied
men over IS years Of age voluntarily
enlist for military instruction. Stu
dents enrolled in these units will be
regarded as members of the Army of
the United States. At the call of the
President they will be liable to active
duty, but, urgent military need apart
they will not be summoned to active
service until they have reached the
|
students under Is years Of age will
also be eligible.
The wisdom of this measure is OBJ
vious. It satisfies the patriotic i'm
pulse that is hurrying into various
young men immature in years and in
training. It stems the indiscriminate
volunteering which is emptying the
|
measurable advantage on the country
1t ensures military training which the
young men of the nation so ardently
desire. It guarantees to. the Army 9
stream of Officers whose intellectual
training has gone hand in hand with
their military training and who could
be secured in no other way. It Ell
sures the Colleges an attendance
which will enable them to carry OIL
their work without dislccation and fur
nish to the country the trained me1
who will be more than ever needed
when this war is over.
If the carefully matured plan of the
Secretary of War is to bear fruit il
must receive the support of the
Churches, the Schools and the Press
Without the cooperation Of these fore
es the disintegration of the Colleges
of the country will 60 on with disas
trous rapidity. Clergymen, through
their Churches and Church papers
Superintendent and Principals Of
High Schools with their knowledge
of the constituency on which Colleges
depend and editors with the machin
cry of moulding public opinion always
ready at hand can, in the words o.
President Wilson, urge upon thu
young people who are leaving our higt
schools that as many of them as car
do SC avail themselves this year of thu
opportunities offered by the College:
and technical schools to the end thai
the country may not lack an adequate
supply of trained men and women"