The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1920-01-01
MILITARY TRAINING

The Democratic and that section OF the re-
publican press which is now advocating the kal-
ser's policies for America are putting up a fight
for compulsory military training. The claim is
that it promotes health, teaches Americanism
and levels class distinctions. We do not want to
discuss at length the claims of Germany in that
behalf. In brief however, they were that uni
versal military training that promoted health,
taught Germanism and democratized the coun-
try. We said it was autocracy and sacrificed the
lives of $1,000 splendid young Americans, spent
thirty billions, and disrupted the affairs OF the
country to put it down and make the world
safe for democracy.
But in regard to health the though may occur
that a billion and a half a year may be rather
an expensive way of keeping the boys healthy
when there are lots of lawns to NOW, fields to
work, gardens to make and several other useful
and productive employments which might be
equally as healthy as the goose step. AS to
Americanism, there are several people yet llv-
ing who agree with Thomas Jefferson that the
best way to destroy a healthy and universal
patriotism is by the military route:
AS to leveling class distinctions. that is tunny,
if not silly. We heard much of this rot during
the war. The drafted man was to dance with the
generals daughters, and cOnscrlpt was to be IN
vited to dinner with the colonels family. That
sounded fine, and there were actually shoals OF
benevolent and trusting "simps" who believed 1t.
If you have any doubt about it now, suppove you
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daughters he danced with and how often his
colonel invited him to dinner. Of course the
whole thing is rot. The newspapers publishing
it know it is not true and it is only used to catch
tn" "suckers' to whom this kim OF thing may
appeal.
Bue get out Of your mind now any idea that
militarism and democracy are or ever have been
: on speaking terms-even in the armies OF Boil
shevism, The two are a contradiction in terms
and together they never have nor can they ever
exist.-Farmers' Provost, New Rockford, ND.
The indecent and shameless haste Of the u. S.
Senate in passing the Cummins bill with the
anti-strike, subsidy and guaranteed dividend
clauses attached, in one of the most colossal
pieces of corrupt legislation, one of the most out
rageous examples of flouting the people, in the
entire history of this country. A million or two
of the organized business men asked for
this bill, ten times as many organized farmers,
workers and reformers stormed congress re-
peatedly to prevent the passage of this iniquit-
GUS measure. In spite of this; in spite OF the
fact that the private ownership broke down and
failed durinp the war, in spite of the fact that
public operation was rapidly becoming a great
success. these cynical agents of big business
bowed to the almighty dollar and passed the
bill. The Esch bill, a companion measure, has
already passed the House. It appears that moth
ing can save the railroads to the people, and
that we will have to begin at the beginning and
build up from the ground by education and or
ganization a government of the people before
we can own and operate our great industries.
The courts have decided that the packing
companies cannot go into the grocery business.
This means that the poor packers will be forced
to organize a few new companies in order to
keep control of the grocery trade. The amount
of relief this will afford may be judged from
what happened when the Standard Oil company
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Now that the strike has been thought settled
by the whole nation and the miners have broken
ranks and returned to work, the operators claim
that they have never agreed to the terms speci-
fled. That this element under these circum-
stances would dare to take such q stand can be
explained only by the fact that the profiteers
are drunk with power and the 80 to 1000 per
cent profits ex-Secretary McAdoo says they
have been making.