A CONSCRIPT ON CONSCRIPTION

New Zealand Mail, 22 January 1902, Page 29

A CONSCRIPT ON CONSCRIPTION

I have, just had (writes a Paris correspondent of the “Daily Mews”) a talk with a young Frenchman, whose term of military service expired last week. The gist of this interview may interest many readers in England, especially advocates of conscription. “Well,” I began, “now that your garrison experiences are over, tall me what you think of conscription. V\ as the probation easier or harder than you expected?”

“Much harder,” was the reply. “Mo one can have the remotest idea of what conscnpcion is except those who have gone through it. As 1 had passed certain examinations, I got off with a year, and having money at my disposal, was enf . , t 0 Procure extras in the way of food besides other alleviations. But for all YmSi a i llack i hfe 18 a hideou « nightmare. 1 ou feel as if you were shut up in prison, a^i., U V CllallCe ° f ever e “j°yin£? liberty awav' U Cannot 6tand run of f U \ Cy ren i ain 011 the other side tLv !, n ° lltlei '’ , are outlaws until the* have passed their forty-fifth year JLr f n r l, CaU , sht or return, they 1 are oMm £ f b M ly drafted into the regiment to see, commanding nfu*> 18 Powerless. You unsympathetic fn h ? rd a ? d

tend to render young men more patriotic or imbue them with the military spirit P”

“Patriotic, indeed!” he replied. “Conscription instead turns them into Socialists and Anarchists. The German army reeks with Socialism, and there is already plenty of it among ourselves. Such displays as that just held at Rhoims in honour of the Czar are sheer relics of barbarism. Outsiders have no conception of the sufferings thereby entailed on the men.”

“I suppose, anyhow, that you learned a good deal during your year, of barrack lifer I asked. The answer was of the briefest. Nothing; I learned absolutely nothing, retorted my voting friend. A word or two in conclusion. I have known intimately many French conscripts, and one and all have expressed the same opinion. Enforced military service renders men unpatriotic rather* than not.