The courier-index., 1918-12-20
CROWDER SOUNDS TAPS
 TO VOLUNTEER SYSTEM
ADVOCATES FOR PERMANENcY OF sELECTIVE SERVICE METH oD-voLU PLAN WAS AN ERROR.

i New York, Dec. 14.-"TapS 'Nto the 1 volunteer system of raising armies in war time by the United States was sounded here tonight by Maj Gen. Enoch H. Crowder, provost marshal general, in an address to the retiring members of 1S9 New York draft 1 boards. He earnestly advocated that the selective service system should become the permanent method of raising American armies in the flu ture.
 Gen. Crowder declared the select i've service law had enabled the gov ernment to register 23.74O,0O0 Ameri- cans, put into the field nearly 5000 900 fighting men and have in readi- ness to entrain on Nov. II, when the armistice was signed, 2,000,000 more soldiers, all within period of Is months. It would be calamity he said for the United States to revert to the volunteer system, adding that the American conscripts had shown the valor, aggressiveness and initia- tive of the most seasoned troops.
 w nat -Ol lHt ny yOu hu'S Aoio ed?" asked Gen. Crowder, referring to the drafted men who had been sent overseas.
 "There comes back the answer from France in no uncertain terms.
 These men you have sent to the colors have proved themselves the equals in aggressive fighting and sol dierly bearing of the veterans of France and England.
 Gen. Crowder's speech was an ex- position of the successful work of the selective service law, which he sald had responded smoothly and 50 well to our dual form-of state government and national control that 1t would be calamitous if it should not become recognized part of our governmental system for the raising of armies in times of war;
 The provost marshal general con- trasted the draft methods of the Unit ed States with those of England and showed how this country has profit ed by the mistakes made by the British. who after three years of
 
 trial with the volunteer system, and the disorganization of. industry, were obliged to adopt conscription
 Pointing out that when Germany hurled her challenge to the democra- cies of the earth it became necessary for those democracies for self preser- vation to organize their, resources as
 alyn l n a soldier active or reserve, Gen. Crow der declared this test had been met. He referred to the efforts of Lord Kitchener to raise an army and of the first gallant 100000 who wele sent across the English channel, knowing how to die, but little else, in the awful carnage that awaited them" He touched briefly on the great drain made soon upon the flower of England's manhood, and how. after the factories, schools, offi ces farms and mines had been depict ed of their best, the futility Of trying to raise the required number of vol unteers became apparent.
 After seventeen months of war had witnessed the destructive fight ing at Gallipoli, Mesopotamia and the Balkans and the deadlock on the western front" he declared, the new army of England was then l. 100000 men short of its authorized strength The volunteer system was now to be abandoned, he went on, after it had throttled the industrial life of the nation and undermined the whole economic structure
 When the United States War De partment, to heed the lesson learned by England. sought the enactment Of the selective service act, Gen. Crowd CT said that the traditional method of raising armies by the volunteer system was so strong with the Ameri can people that it was deemed ex- pedient in the very bill the War De- partment presented to Congress for enactment to provide that limited volunteering might go on" He re- called the great opposition to the draft. and how, through the insist ence of the president, ably support ed by the stalwart ana aggressive leadership of Senator Chamberlain and Representative Kahn in the re- spective houses, the day was saved
 Referring to the selective service system as "the very essence of de- mocracy," the general appraised the faults of the volunteer system Tn it's very nature it is an individuaiistic scheme, dependent for it's existence upon the spontaneous favor of the people. It is a system which has an eve only to the reaising of armies. Under it the test of patriotism is eil- listment in the nations fighting fore es. It takes no account of the indus trial patriotism which must be main tained behind the battle front, that armies may be fed, clothed and arm | ed
 eIt (the volunteer system) had US ' origin in the days of chivalry, when