A DEMOCRATIC VOLUNTEER FORCE

The first increment of five hundred thousand volunteers will doubtless be asked for within a short time. The method of raising this first army is the difficult problem that Congress will have to solve. When the need of trained men is so apparent as it is now, the great value of a system of universal military training is brought home with great emphasis. If this country had introduced such a system ten years ago the Government would not be confronted with a situation it is totally unprepared to cope with. Enough men would be under arms now to form the first increment and the other classes of semi-trained men could be called as additional forces were needed. However, the opportunities of the past have been lost forever, and the present problem must be solved by present means.

President Wilson advises that the necessary men "be chosen upon the principle of universal liability to service." Without any question, volunteers should be obtained on a democratic basis. Since every young man in the United States enjoys equal rights and equal protection under the laws of this Government, every young man ought to bear equal responsibility in the defence of the country whose Government insures him his political freedom and protection. A call for volunteers will unquestionably bring out more men than are needed, but they will be a class of men that have a pronounced sense of patriotism. They will be the most intelligent citizens whose responsibilities to their country are no greater than their neighbors, but whose ideas of duty to the state are higher and more active.

The question before Congress is a more difficult and intricate one. The proper solution will result in this first increment being a democratic, fair selection from the large numbers of our young men, which will go out as a democratic contribution from a great democracy to aid in restoring the freedom and privileges of democracy to the suffering people of a stern autocracy.