Evening star., 1940-08-07
Strong PIeo Made
For Conscription
Writer Says Droft Is More
Sensible Than Any
Volunteer System

To the Editor of The Star:
AS even a temporary alternative to
conscription, dependence on any "volun-
teer" system looks like taking the cream
of the top of the bottle-there may not
be enough cream to do the double job
Of immediate defense and ultimate peace.
And the residual skim-milk may prove
to be poor national diet for either long
term defense or reconstruction.
Yet the principle of conscription pre-
sents an admitted paradox among the
principles of would-be democracy.
That alone can account for the apparent
validity and sincerity Of the arguments
on both sides of the question.
Most important Of the freedoms which
we presumably seek to defend is our
freedom Of individual self
and action, until recently referred to as
the rugged individualism" Of Americans
Many of us still believe that 1t is largely
this freedom which has made (and could
continue to make) of these United States
something worth preserving for our
selves and for the future OF humanity
Yet this freedom was never purchased
without certain difference of individual
rights and desires to the rights and ad-
vantage OF the whole-to the permanent
common veal" Nor can this free
dom be maintained in any organized So
ciety without such continued difference.
For every benefit enjoyed by citizens OF
democracy, there must be a corre-
spending responsibility The benefits of
government presuppose the RESPONSE
bility of the franchise, and only as the
individual fulfills his obligation to vote
can he expect his government to truly
represent him. The benefits of municipal
and State and Federal administrations,
and of whatever they contribute to
modern living, require the responsibility
Of taxes; and only as the individual is
willing. within his lights, to meet the
obligation of his taxes-can he expect to
enjoy what those taxes purchase.
These truths are SO self-evident that
none of us denies them as basic re-
oPOAicioiAVlCo VI Jul SltlGCklSlllp. OuC
duties as citizens may not always be
agreeable nor without inconvenience or
real sacrlflce-as in accepting jury duty
or public Office, for example But mere
we are willing to surrender individual
freedom of action, because we realize
that only by so doing can we guarantee
continuance to common veal" IN
which We should like to have a perma-
nent share.
Why, then, should we object to con-
scription as undemocratic? Most of us
will admit that our democracy needs de-
tense against very great and very I'M
mediate danger. 1t is possible that the
danger may prove too great and too i'm
minent for halfway measures to prevail
against it. And it seems obvious that
compared with general conscription, any
volunteer" system Is only a halfway
measure. Then why let any overdrawn
theory of individual freedom of action
stand in the way of a very real and
proven principle-the principle of indi-
vidual responsibility in democracy?
The loser in q poker hand often hears
the taunt: why send boy on a mans
errand?" Depend on volunteers, and you
may find the boy" unequal to the task,
the job still undone, and all your ex-
penditure of money, time and blood for
naught. And even If the volunteer sys-
tenn did prove adequate for the job Of
immediate defense, it might leave us
weakened for the job of more perma-
nent peace to follow.
Volunteering may appear to express
democratic principle. But dependence
on volunteers to do your fighting for
you is anything but democratic-it is
class-discrimination and exploitation of
the rankest sort. BY its very nature, a
volunteer system does bring the cream
to the top of the bottle-the cream of
youth and courage and patriotism, Il not
OF intelligence. But if you pour of that
cream in the earliest and most active
phases of defense, the job which comes
after may prove the process to have been
a tragedy of waste.
Recently Col. William Donovan wrote
an article which argued for a draft
law embracing male ages 81 or % to 65,
rather than 18 to As as in the first World
War. His main points were that
mechanical warfare demands more of
mental stamina and less of physical per-
lection than did the warfare of old; that
it requires more of mature Judgment and
accuracy, less of youthful recklessness
and enthusiasm; that today's soldier of
middle-age or more is therefore in many
departments of modern warfare oct
ter soldier than his junior. Further, Col
Donovan contends that the younger man,
rather than his older brother or father
is often more needed on the home front
where the duties of farm, factory or
office may actually require more physical
stamina and mental alertness than other
wise. Again, the older man may be less
needed by his family than the younger
man by his. The one may have the
heaviest of his family responsibilities full
filled and behind him; the younger man
may have them just begun or entirely
in the future-if he is to have future
At any rate, the younger man has ahead
of him longer period of potential ac-
complishment for his family, his COM
munity and his country-if he is given a
chance to live through for 1t.
A mans age is purely relative thing
In this instance, relative to his mental
and physical development, and especial
ly relative to his responsibilities to fam
lily and community. Only by interpreting