The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1920-03-19
English Reaction Against Con-
soription.
Manchester Guardian.)

soription.
| Manchester Guardian.)
| Any signs OF the direction In
which the mind of youth is turning
are worth noting. At the Cambridge
University Union debate on Tuesday
night a motion against the adoption
Of any system OF compulsory serv-
Ice was carried by ia votes TO Al.
Before the war. when Lord Roberts
compulsory service agitation was at
Its height, such motion would al
most certainly have been defeated by
large majority either at Cambridge
or Oxford. II is often thonghtlessly
said that the war was a vindica-
ton of that agitation. Evidently, in
the minds of a typical assembly of
educated young Englishmen, most of
whom served as officers in the war;
it was the opposite. The demonstra-
ton should surprise nobody There
never was during the war the same
proportion Of support for conscrip-
ton among soldiers serving abroad
that there was among civilian poll
ticians in England. The Australian
troops, when polled in France, voted
against conscription In Australia.
At the time when tribunals OF elderly
civilians at home were batting con-
scientious and unconscientious OBJ
Jectors alike, sometimes with a show
Of doing II out Of regard for our
fellows In the trenches" our fellows
in the trenches" were quite free from
any desire to depend for any fraction
of their safety upon some pressed
man who thought 1t wicked to fight.
or upon one who feared 1t so much
as to go to the trouble of pretend
ing to think II wicked. A great deal
not all, but a great deal--of the
support given to conscrlption at all
times has been due to the longing of
some people to innict It's hardships
upon others. Such support, like the
hustlIng of the Quakers and other
recusants during the war, is really
penal in spirit, not military. The
purely military valuation of con-
scription has always been less en-
thusiastic, and its valuation by vet
Grams of the late war is low indeed.
Whatever the other arguments in
its favor, 1t brough- new dangers
into the trench life of professional
and volunteer soldiers, and 1t lowered
the military value of any given num-
Der of troops and tended to disturb
calculations based upon that num-
Der. 1t Is eloquent Of the drift of
informed opinion that in a debate
among men of more than average in
telllgence who have, in the main,
been subalterns In the war, con-
scription should be condemned by a |
majority OF more than two to one.
In any other assembly Of the kind
1t would probably have the same
fate.
Must We Join the League or Else Pre-
pare TO Fight III
Secretary Daniels declares that II
does not join the league of
nations 1t must build "incomparably
the greatest navy In the world"
The Lincoln Star (Ind.) indorses the
secretary's view, arguing that the
United States must be either for the
league or against It. We are, at pres
the league, and logically the task of
supplying the antileague military
strength falls upon this countrys
shoulders"
"Unlass the United States is as
strong as the league OF nations" the
Star argues, sit Is subservent, in the
Dry at least, TO the league and might
rs well be q member OF the league, even
though at the great sacrifice which
he obstructionist senators say 1t would
mean to become party. IL the United
states Is not to become subservlent
here Is but one road open. and that Is
IN immensely enlarged navy and army"
IF we refuse to take a place in the
eague." declares the San Antonio ok
press Und. Dem). "all the nations
would consider themselves REQUIRED; in
to. 30 on enlarging their
lavies, with the result that such
'ivalry would force the United States
,ither to outdistance all other coun-
ries In this respect, or sink to the po-
ition OF second, third. or perhaps
ourth place among the nations OF the
world" The Portland Oregonian Qnd | {
tep) ia of the same mind, believing
hat "by accepting reasonable reser-
-ations we can obtain the predomi-
iant position In the league" and "cRn
seape the necessity for a great navy"
nut that "if a world beating navy I
hould become necessary. responsible
ty must be shared by tho death bat ,
alton and the Wilson standpatters"
1.-THE country Is at peace or at war;"
the New York World Dem),
there II no third condition. II must
eek peace or prepare for war" and
he Dayton News Dem) declares that, {
nut of the league. Americas isolation !
would me so complete and so hazard I
us TO tho future of this country that
lard-headed business men, as well as ,
he man who occupies a humber sphere
n tho affairs OF the nation, can easily
imagine that the safety Of America win
opend In large measure on our sea
'ower.' ThN Wichita Eagle Ond) |
Joints out that; ,
IAN the powers that lately were our
lssoclatas in war owe us great sums OF
money, and many Of them would be
Had OF an excuse 10 quarrel with us J
md refuse to pay their debts. II they
homEht theN could succeed In the ! I