The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1919-03-17
CONSCR|PT|ON
[contlnued From Page one.1

act and desire. If these $4,000, ,OOO
shall adopt militaristic ideas of the
Hohenzollern epoch, Europe will have
spells almost immediate bankruptcy
when, to the cost of debts acquired in
war, there is added the further charge
of military establishments.
Gamble of Conference.
There remains the hope that if 49,
100000 of Germans turn from the
habit of militarism and military SER
vice, II they become used to a pro-
fessional army rather than to a con-
script army, there will be no return
to the old system when, as is inevi-
table, Germany regains that stature
which her numbers and her history
ensure her reacquiring.
We have here one Of the greatest
CANDLES of the, peace conference. Here
the professional soldier, like Marshal
Foch, encounters the professional pol
itician; the soldier remains convinc-
ed that the solution for the future
does not lie outside national army; ;
the politician recognizes that the per-
petuation of the old system leads to-
ward bankruptcy and anarchy, and
the conference of Paris has adopted
the view of the politician.
If one can conceive that in the next
five or ten years Europe will abandon
conscript army and millions of the
young men will be retained in industry
rather than maintained in barracks, if
one could conceive that the enormous
annual appropriations for the mainte-
nance of armies and navies are allo-
Gated to the payment of war debts, it
is at least possible that Europe will
be able to regain it's economic sta
bility and restore to it's industrial
life. If the thing is impossible, then,
in the words of Pitt. ut Is time to roll
up the map of Europe for a period of
years."
Conscript Armies Disappear.
Lloyd George has had his way in
one of the most momentous changes
the Paris conference has undertaken
to make. The German army disap-
pears, the great general staff of the
German army diminishes from the
statue Of a giant to that of a dwarf.
Allied supervision will for long time
regulate the amount of war material
manufactured. The German navy will
become almost as derisory a maratime
y
flag of the Prince of Monaco. Con-
comittantly. conscript armies in Eng
land and France will disappear.
Nothing is more certain than that
with the disappearance of German
armies the cause Of general conscrip-
ton in Europe will be removed
Will the German in the future, as
he regains his strength after the mo-
ment when the armies of occupation
are withdrawn, relapse to the Prus-
sian system? Will he even, in mo-
ment of national weakness, adopt the
methods by which the great Prussian
patriots after Jena avoided obedience 9
to the dictates of Napoleon, and con-
structed secretly armies which sup
piled the decisive influence at Leipsic,
in the Marne campaign Of 1914, and in
the Waterloo episode of 1915 This is
question which remains to be an
swered. If Germany chooses, in the
long run it is probable that she can
follow ancient procedure.
Meantime, for period of years it
would seem that the policy of Lloyd
George, accepted by the Paris con-
ference, means abandonment by Eu-
rope of all the old familiar forms of
aWaments. We go back to the time
before the French revolution of small
professional armies. We part with the
theory of a nation in arms which has
led Europe in the last war almost to
the point of suicide. We release mil
lions of men annually fom the bar
racks to fields and factories. Temper
arily, at least, we lay aside that con-
dition in which Europe dwelt in inse-
curity from 1866 to 1914. We have
had an armed Europe for half CEN
tury. We are now going to expert
ment with disarmed Europe for a
period the length of which we cannot
calculate.
Upholds League Plan.
In all essential respects, Lloyd
Georges successful demand of the
Paris conference with regard to Ger
many is Complementary detail in
the making of permanent peace. The
League of Nations and an armed
world are obviously a confusion of
terms. The League of Nations and a
practically disarmed world are logi-
cal complementary circumstances. In