Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-09-13

Albuquerque Morning ]
in the conflict. Next time in all proba-
bility there viii be neither England
nor France between US and the enemy
armies and giving us nearly year
leeway before we have to fight. / am
proud to be an American. l am proud
of the actions of the citizens of the
country l am proud to be citizen
of country which has fought a war,
not with the aid of, but in spite of,
its national administration. My pride
in the actions of the rank and file of
the country is offset only by the
shame of being represented to the
world by the present administration.
As is usually the case, those who are
responsible in large measure for con-
ditions have suffered least. The men,
bers of the administration have none
of their nearest and dearest in the
$4,000 dead or the 100000 wounded.
The average American man or woman
has borne the brunt and paid the
price. The nearest and dearest to the
men mostly responsible have been,
like the kaiser's sons, too valuable to
risk near the battle. A prominent So
ciaist deputy of France who had ad
vocated disarmament wett with the
first troops. lie was wounded, and
when dying he was thankful il had
been permitted him to atone with his
life for his errors in the past. | adj
mire man Of that type of honesty
and courage,
Honor where honor is due Honor
to the people of the United States for
their actions after the beginning of the
war.
Blame where blame is due. Blame
to the citizens of the United States
for their easy Incidence which per-
mitted them to support for their high
offices men who neither thought
straight nor were manly enough o
share in the penalties for their mis-
takes.
Lesson of appropriateness.
We had the lesson of unprepared-
ness illustrated SO that we all can I'M
derstand it. We must not now con-
tent ourselves with admitting that we
were wrong. That does not get us any
further forward We must adopt
measures to see that it does not occur
again. The policy that / believe Is
necessary to this end is compulsory
training. This is not, to my mind,
simply a military question. 1t is an
educational question, educational in
the broadest sense of the term. The
question of most vital importance to
democracy, and for which we always
work, is to create equal opportunity
for every man and woman; to raise in
every way possible the type of the av-
erage citizen. 1t is from this point of
view that / believe most strongly in
universal training.
We have adopted in this war the
policy of compulsory military service.
We have used it as a military war
time measure. To get the peace-time
economic value we should have its
complement, compulsory training.
one of the obstacles to this in the
mind of the average citizen is the Gre
alton of a military caste. This is no
doubt danger, and real danger, but
it is not an insurmountable danger In
France and in Switzerland it had been
surmounted. There is no military
caste in either country. There is no
desire for war among the citizens of
these countries. No one can say that
France by der aggressive action drove
Germany to the war. No one can say
that on account of the military train
ing Switzerland plunged into the war
The first country saved herself from
the domination of the German mill
tary caste by compulsory training.
The second country by the same
means saved herself from war, for
unquestionably Germany chose Bel
GUM to rape on account of her de-
Both France and Swift
Zerland are democracies real democ-
racies in deed and thought.
Under General Staff.
This danger of fostering a military
caste, in my opinion, can be met by
a proper handling of the scheme The
whole matter of training should be
directly under the control of a general
staff This general staff should not be
as in Germany simply OF
men. Military training, to
my mind, is only a part Of the train |
ing necessary. On the general staff
he military should be simply an ele-
nent. In addition to them there
should be prominent educators, rep
'esentatives of labor. prominent en- |
)loyers of labor, representatives of THE |
'arming interests and members of our
legislative bodies, the house and SEN
lite. Such staff would prohibit once !
md for all the question of military |
,aste. such staff would obtain the |
correct balance between the purely |
and the obviously more inn |
1ortant educational side. The compli- |
lated adjustments of interests would |
]e safeguarded. The economic ques- |
ion would be properly handled.
Some Of the benefits are obvious. |
First, when the country is called upon
o defend itself, competent trained |
men will step forward into the ranks. |
over and above them will be a mech |
lnism conserving the sacrifices, max |
ng possible the just reward in victory /
If gallantry and self sacrifice. Your
10Y will go out and you will feel that |
what can be done will be done. You
20 yourself and, you know will get a
show for your white alley. You don't
mind sitting into game where there |
$ an even break, but you hate to be
orced to draw cards when you know
hey are stacked against you.
Second, the physical welfare of our
,oung men would be UNNECESSARILY
Helped. Let us face the cold facts. In
his war nearly half of the men of mil
tary age were refused admission to
he service for physical defects. They
we're below par from the standpoint of
he physician. Compulsory training
hould be organized in such a way as
o pay particular attention to just this
eature. No man would be exempt
rom compulsory training on account
# physical defects Special organiza-
ions should be created To handle men