* * * * CONSCRIPTION.
Secretary Good's conscription bill appears to have very little hope of survival. It has already been bitterly assailed by several influential Republican Senators, including Senators Borah, Brookhart and Reed of Pennsylvania. Opposition has come, too, from the American Legion and other ex-service- men's organizations. Senator Reed, who presented the bill, as chairman of the Senate military affairs committee, has declared that he did so merely as a matter of routine. Per- sonally he believes " that it is unfair and unrighteous to require the service of human beings in connexion with military operations without at the same time requiring the compulsory service at fixed prices of those who remain at home," and a similar conscription of money, materials and other property. The other Senators, and the ex-servicemen's organizations, agree with him. Meantime, Secretary Good has announced that the War Department is preparing a bill which, if passed, would give the President power, on the declaration of war, to mobilize industry. The bill, it is stated, will probably apply to all phases of finance and commerce, and will be submitted to Congress in December. One of its objects would be to prevent profiteering in war time. Whether the second bill will meet the objections raised to the first remains to be seen, but at present there is no general disposition here to take either measure very seriously.
Previous page
