The Coconino sun., 1919-02-28
WANT0N WASTE IN
 OUR ARMY CAMPS
THE WAR AS
 AN EDUCATOR

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27.-The re-
 publican publicity association, through
 its president, Hon. Jonathan Bourne.
 today gave out the following state
 ment from Washington headquarters:
 Whatever may have been the evil
 effects of the war, it cannot be denied
 that it has been the greatest educative
 influence of modern times. People of
 all countries have become better ac-
 quainted with the citizens of others,
 and have larger understanding of
 the national aspirations of neighboring
 states. In our own country attention
 has been directed as never before to
 world problems. By constant reading
 of the war news the average citizen of
 the United States is quite familiar
 with the geography of Europe and
 Asia, the struggles for independence
 of their races and the present economic
 condition of the states involved in the
 war, and is possessed of general
 comprehension of foreign questions
 about which he understood practically
 nothing five years ago.
 "The same effect is noticeable with
 respect to similar matters in our own
 country. The composition of the gov
 ernment at Washington, the power which federal authority holds over the
 people, the relation to each other of the legislature, executive and judicial
 branches, the power of the president under the constitution, the question of government control of public utilities, methods of raising revenue and appro- priating it for the expenses of the government, the conduct of our foreign affairs-all these subjects and many others are matters of daily comment in the press and have been so inti- mately connected with the waging of the war that the reading of war news has carried with it general study of our government in it's varied aspects.
 Particularly has this influence of education been felt in the training camps for our soldiers here and abroad. Men have been taken from all levels of society by the draft and blended together on terms of practical equality in the army. Men of high so- cial standing and education have come to know of the hundreds of thousands of poor people from the sparsely set tied regions of the country where practically all opportunities for self improvement have been denied. On the other hand boys from those sec tions have received liberal education in economies, history and government that they never would have acquired had it not been for the war. To the men who have been sent overseas the opportunities, of course, have been still greater. Some will come back, says Gen. Carter, 'maimed and sorely but the greater body of them will come home improved mentally, and physically by their serv- ice.'
 "In an educative sense the results of the war will vitally affect the fu- ture life of the nation. In no direc- ton will they be more deeply inn pressed than in politics. The repub- lican party can look forward with confidence to the changed conditions of things. That party has always been the party of truth. It has never 1 had anything to fear from frank dis cussions of it's policies, and has always taken the position that were all the voters of the country instructed in our past economic history the democrats would be relegated to the discard for all time. In general. the democratic party is the party of ignorance. It depends for it's strength upon the l votes of the more unintelligent sec tions of the country. This is amply proven by the statistics of illiteracy. The republican party, on the other hand, is and always has been the party of enlightenment, of education, and of research. Just in proportion as the intellectual tone of the country as a whole is raised that party can look to an increase in its strength.
 "Hence, in an abstract way, the re- publican party will grow in power as the votes and influence of the return ing soldiers come to be more and more felt throughout the land. This is en- tirely aside from any consideration of the manner in which the war has been | by the party in power. The general mental uplift is sufficient to guarantee success for the republicans, but when that new mentality is applied to an analysis of the conduct of, the | war by the democrats the resulting | condemnation from the soldier vote of | the country will be sufficient to re- move that party from the nations for scores of years to come." |