HANDICAP OF YOUTH.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 180, 23 October 1903, Page 2

HANDICAP OF YOUTH.

Young Men of Europe Forced Into Military Bondage. - /■ . • Rival W«.*ioixoi "V-y-tns TrithEaeh Other for Armed " Supremacy—lnfla,*nee of the Service on - ' Subjects. Europeans who have resided in the United States for any length of time are' usually struck by the large number of young men who occupy positions of prominence and responsibility in business, professional life or the service of the state. This is due in great part to the fact that the American youth has ample opportunity to work at his chosen craft or profession without the unwelcome interruption of compulsory military service. Conscription is a state of bondage which the young man of the European continent must undergo during the most valuable years of his life. At a period when a lad should be straining every nerve to -win a place in the world lie in compelled to give up the struggle and conform his ideas and even his physical development to the Procrustean standards of military martinets, says the Chicago Daily News. In the various"" countries of continental Europe military laws and service are very much alike. International rivalries and ambitions are ever urging these nations to keep up with their neighbors in matters of national defense. Even the smaller nationalities in some instances have been armed hy their teig neighbors and proudly drag along their burden of militarism. France, Ger2i::iiiy, Austria and Italy compel GYtivy nl io-bodied lad of 20 3'ears of age to devote two years of his life to military - service. Actually the period of service required by law is longer titan two years, but financial considerations limit the term of training. In addition to this period the European youth must perforce belong to the reserve and devote according to his age a longer or short- - er part of his time each year to drill and maneuvers. At the present day there are 1,655,---000 young men engaged in. actual military service in France, Austria, Germany and Italy. These figxirea take no account of Russia, Belgium, Spain and other countries, but similar conditions prevail in and a like_ reasoning- .-ipplies to those natiors. Of this largo number of young men snatched away from trade, craft or employment 500,000 are French, 510,---000 German, 335,000 Austrian and 250,000 Italian. This vast amount of productive labor is annually lost to Europe. Only men in first-class physical condition are accepted for military service. From six to seren per cent, of these men are permanently injured .by the severities of army life. Many more are incapacitated from pursuing the careers they had mapped out for themselves. The case of one young German is significant. He had devoted almost six years to learning watchmaking. He had taken the greatest pride and pleasure in his skill as a craftsman and had become so expert in his work that he saw before him the assurance of a prosperous career. Two young sisters as well as his mother were dependent on him. This lad was drafted into the artillery at 20. Handling heavy shot, manipulating heavy guns, moving gun carriages and other rough work incident to artillery drill ruined "his delicate hands and unfitted him for carrying on his old craft. When he completed his term of service he saw before him the necessity of learningsome other business or being reduced to the level of an unskilled laborer. Meantime the family he had labored so hard to keep together had been scattered.. One of the worst features of rnilitarj' life is tfce cramping influence it exerts on v young men endowed with any originality of thought or native powers of mind. Will power, the faculty of criticism or analysis, powers of organization, invention and. gift for the simplification of labor are not merely useless in European armies but even meet with the sternest repression. Mechanical obedience and unreasoning execution of orders are the highest military virtues in Europe. Such training speedily unfits a young man for making hig, mark in the world of industry o^ commerce. The young- European mayleave military life with a bod} r unimpaired bj' its hardships, but he is likely to be handicapped for the rest of his natural days by the artificial state of mind his training ha*produced. While the military *- gtem ig itgelf an exemplification of the survival of the ntteiit iC encoxira&es the survival ° f Veaklings in civil life. The halt, the maimed, the consumptive, the asthmatic, the young men with chronic complaints, of .whatever sort, are given an immense advantage over their competitors from the military ranks, no matter how. sound in body. The army wants only lads of the highest physical standards. The, others are rejected. They pay a small yearly tax and are exempt. They are thus enabled to attend to business or to woi'k at their trades, for which the army is meanwhile unfitting the others. In America parents value a sound • mind in a sound body for \ their offspring. In Europe,, parents often thank God that their sons have sound minds in more or less decrepit\ frames. T „ ' ■ ■■' ' j