Republican farmer., 1919-03-14

 UNION APPEALS

The American Union against Mill tarisnl, with national headquarters in the Westory building. Washington, D. C., has issued the following ap- peal:
 Congress has adjourned, conscious of the rising tide of opposition in the United States to compulsory military training. But when the new Com gress meets. 1t will be headed by men who seem determined, regardless of the popular will, to fasten permar- ent conscription upon the country if 1t is humanly possible. Julius Kahn, who will be the new chairman of the House Committee on Military Af- fairs, has just sailed for France, as he says ito get the ideas of Foch, Haig and Pershing on the sort of compulsory military training system we ought to have" He might have employed the interval between this Congress and the next in an effort to ascertain the views of the Ameri- can people, but apparently he prefers the ideas of professional soldiers. When he comes back he will move heaven and earth, first, to commit the Republican party definitely to conscrfption, and then to force a bill through Congress embodying what he has learned.
 NOW Is the time for the Ameri- can people to make themselves heard emphaticalIy All talk about our adopting a Swiss system is misleading for all the military training bills thus far introduced in Congress have been based, not on the Swiss system, but on the Prussian system. If we con cede to the 1niIitarists the principle of peace time compulsory military training-even for six months-they will continue to agitate until they reach the goal set by the General Staff. TWO YEARS COMPULSORY TRAINING AND SERVICE for every able-bodied American youth. Nobody in Europe will be deceived by our talk of adopting the Swiss system; if we adopt any form o1 compulsory training, it will be regarded as the prompt mobilization of our entire rnan-power for that next war" which General Leonard Wood so cheerfully predicted before the Kansas IegisIa- trre. What we dc. careless of our huge strength and sure of cur pio1 intentions. others will feel forced 10 do in self defense It will be regard ed as proof that we do not take seriously the professions O. inter national good will with which we en- tered the war. It will fasten the whole world again in the grip of militarisTn.
 ''IThe Sixty-sixth Congress will mark a crisis. Either we shall adopt an in1periaIistic course or one that will give us the moral leadership and the friendship of the world. Now is the time for us to assert ourselves. An immense caste of professional milf tary officers and a huge, tacit league of newspapers are pressing day in and day out for a, permanent conscrp- ton system disguised as universal military training." If you are against il. join us in the fight. Send us a contribution. We need funds to ed ucate the people to the real facts. Our opponents are heavily subsidized bv the $25, 100000 Carnegie Corpora tton of New York City. Unless the friends of democracy join in the fight, we shall be defeated by the combination now forming against us. Send contributions to Mrs. Az nes Brown Leach, Treas. Westory Building, Washington, D. e.
 Among the names attached to the appeal are O. G. Willard, chairman; Amos R. F. Pinchot, vice chairman; Mrs Henry G. Deach, treasurer; Owen R. Lovejoy, Herbert s. Bige- low, Rev John Haynes Holmes, Mary McMurtrie, Norman Thomas. L. Hol1ingsworth Wood, Miss Zona Gale, Alexander Trachtenberg, Crys- tai Eastman and Charles T. Hallinan.