The Daily News. TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 1919. THE DOOM OF CONSCRIPTION

Taranaki Daily News, 18 March 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 1919. THE DOOM OF CONSCRIPTION

It is probable that no action on the part of the Allies will bring home to the Germans the reality and magnitude of their defeat more conclusively than the limiting of the maximum of the German army at 100,000 twelve-year volunteers. The Daily Chronicle's Paris correspondent rightly considers that this fiat means the doom of conscription. Compulsory service, as we know it in modern times, is only a little over 120 years old, having been introduced by Napoleon in 1798, and adopted by Prussia in the reconstruction of its army after Jeua. That conscription is the root of the evil of militarism cannot be questioned, and it is imperative if a durable peace is to be obtained that an end must be put to a system which has proved such an intolerable evil. The compulsory enlistment of all male citizens on attaining the age of 20 or 21 for service in the army for a certain number of years is an extravagant waste of productive labor. Probably the plan adopted in Switzerland approaches nearest to what may be termed reasonable military training. Switzerland has no standing army, but the militia, which is called out for annual serviee for a few weeks, consists of all able bodied citizens, and it is considered a disgrace for any fit man to avoid this service, which is entirely for home defence. In the case of France, since the days of Napoleon, compulsory service has been a necessity owing to 1 the ofatiaued menaoe of Germany,

but with the latter Power it has .been a means to an end—domination. So far as the mere training of the men is concerned there are points that can be urged in its favor when confined within proper limits, for the discipline, regular food and physical exercises cause much improvement in the subsequent productive power of the worker. For a nation to be strong and prosperous its man power should be physically and mentally efficient, besides being ready for any emergency that may arise. Moreover, camp training should instil a co-operative spirit and could be made serviceable in inculcating the principles of united effort and law-abiding citizenship. Conscription, as carried out in Germany, has meant the construction of a war machine which has proved a curse that has caused destruction and horrors and deluged Europe with blood. By war, pestilence and famine the death toll in the last four years and a-half has been unprecedented, and the only remedy was to put an end to tl: e evil by ensuring that armed nations shall no longer be tolerated. Germany knows now that her military masters led her to the mountain top, promising that the world Would be hers f>nee she had trudged to the pinnacle, yet she reached there only to find herself on the edge of a precipice bearing the legend: "This way to Euin.'' That is what conscription has done for Germany, and henceforth the road to that precipice is tc be barred, for conscription has been doomed. There must be no getting ready for another war. Li his "Deductions from the World War" General Preytag-Loring-hoven stated: "We had already, before the war, taken steps to restore the character of universality which belonged to universal military service by the law. We shall have to continue to pursue this road in the future, quite apart from the necessary increase of garrison artillery and technical troops." It is to counteract these ambitions, to destroy all possible ehanee of preparations for another world war that the Allies and America have rung the death knell of conscription. There could be no possible hope of a durable peace until Germany was rendered impotent for further mischief, and Lhe steps which the Peace Congress will take in this matter as outlined hi the cable messages leave no doubt as to their achieving the desired end, provided that" a thorough and unceasing watch is kept 1.0 ensure the terms being rigidly enforced. Germany has no opt ion but to submit to the supreme will I of her conquerors, and now th:>.t the eyes of her people have been j opened to the fact that the losers have to pay as well as to suffer, j they should welcome relief from a burden that, although it pandered to the pride of the militarists, yet in the long run proved an illusion that brought, them face to face with the road to ruin. It will be many years before Germany can be free from debt, and it will need intense concentration on the productive arts of peace to makeup for the ws.nton wastage caused by the late war. Instead of receiving indemnities Germany has to pay to the utmost of her ability. lii the future it must be for the nations to devote their energies to reconstruction and rehabilitation, to foster production, industries! trade and commerce. Relieved from the wasteful expenditure on armaments and with the people set free 'from military service there snould be a new development that makes for permanent strength in all that pertains to national life. The doom of conscription has made this possible.