Omaha daily bee., 1920-02-15
The Conscientious
Director

In the Columbia University Quar-
terly Harlan +. Stone discusses the
case of the conscientious objector"
in the light OF experience gained
while he was serving on the board
appointed by the president, during
the war to visit the different army
cantonments and examine the men
who had refused to do military duty.
AS the subject presents an entirely
new problem in American life. the
conclusions reached by Mr.. Stone
are OF peculiar interest Statistics
Of the War department show that
under draft of something over
four millions of men there were
$3.50 who claimed conscientious OBJ.
jections. 1t became necessary, how.
ever. to bring only 2,294 of these
men before the board for examina-
tion. OF the total approximately
l,3O0 accepted noncombattant serv.
ice and approximately 1900 were
given the privilege Of the farm fur
lough, SO of the number having been
furloughed to the French reconstruc-
tlon unit in France. Only 404 OBJ
Jectors were subjected to court-mar-
tial.'
While the great mass Of the citi-
zenry submitted to the conditions
laid down by the selective draft law.
there was a residue whose peculiar
beliefs, due to an almost infinite va
riety of causes, of which religious
training. environment, Unbalanced
mentality, not to say sheer stupidity.
lack of self-discipline, false social
and political theories were the most
frequent, refused to yield to the opin.
ions of others, or to force. AS was
to be expected, towards and slack
ers sought refuge among them. but
the number of such were far smaller
than has generally been supposed" ="
Those who objected because of
religious scruples or beliefs pre-
sented no very serious problem. 1t
was matter Of establishing the sin
cerity of the individual. Quakers,
who were the most numerous Of the
20 Sects represented, produced a ia
vorable impression by their high in.
telligence, and their evident desire
to render service to the country in
its time of need so far as possible
within the limits of their religious
convictions. 1t is diff.
cult to speak thus considerably of
most of the other sects represented
among the religious conscientious
obJectors. Their average
mentality was low. Most
Of them were neither moral nor ply
sical towards. They had accepted
the dogma of their churches as the
ultimate truth and were ready to die
for it if need be. For them there
was no hope of salvation if they
should bear arms or wear the uni
form. Born under different condi.
tions and in different environment,
and enlightened by education, they
would have been loyal citizens, the
first to offer their services to their
country. In all something
more than 80 per cent of the OBJ,
jectors appearing before the board
belonged to we'll organized religious
sects.
But It was the relatively small
residue Of nonreligious objectors who
brought to the board it's real per-
pleXIties. In this group,
as with the religious objectors, was
encountered the coward and Stacker
who had consciously taken refuge
under the pretense of a moral objec-
ton to participating in war. ).
OF the nonreligious Objectors, the
group about whose good faith there
was the least doubt, were the eX-
treme pacifists who were able to es-
tablish that they had before the war
held and asserted the belief on moral
grounds of nonresistance TO force.
OF quite different charac-
fey tho 1ittlo nf nn1lnon
pacifists gathered into the camps of
conscientious objectors from leading
colleges and universities of the
country.
"All Of them yearned for martyr
dom. and, unlike the religious OBJ
jectors. not one of them would ac.
cept the farm furlough when it was
proffered to them. Nearly
all these men had been carefully
reared in good families. They had
had little contact with the realities
of life. their experience having been
limited to college or university life
with occasional more or less of dill
letante engagement in settlement or
social service work. Their ultimate
position was that Of the philosophi-
cal anarchist. strange, and, let us
hope, abnormal products Of our
modern educational system. One
can but wonder what forces are at
work in our social and educational
life to produce the Unbalanced and
distorted intellectual processes by
which these young men. in many
respects intelligent, had worked out
their social philosophy. Neither
family life, nor education, nor con-
tact with the world had given them
the kind Of intellectual discipline and
self-control on which all social CO.
operation must be founded
Another type of objector was the
extreme socialist or I. w. W. After
giving some dtails of interviews with
these, Mr.. Stone goes on: lone thus
gained some impression OF the great
currents Of social unrest which are
being turned to advantage by the
loose thinking, wild-talking agitator
whose dream is a world in chaos
that a new Utopia may arise on its
ruins. When one realizes the Sc
robustness of their purpose and the
power Of their influence over the
ignorant and discontented, he can
have no illusion that the mere ap
plication of force to them or the for
chile suppression OF their incendiary
utterances will bring any solution of
the problem they create. Firm but
impartial adherence to the law by
those in authority, and ceaseless and
untiring efforts to educate and en-
tighten these men and especially the
class to whom they make their ap-
peal, together with the fullest dis
cussion and most searching analysis
- tat, so1, nnI,
are the only methods which hold
out promise for the triumph of
democratic institutions over the as
saults now directed against them"
Mr.. Stone discusses briefly but
lucidly 'the larger question whether
there is any basis in morals or
sound policy for eXempting the con-
scientious objector from liability to
military service" Considering its
practical aspects and reviewing the
law as it stands, he concludes: "How-