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Show LABOR OPPOSED -TO CONSCRIPTION. English labor leaders are protesting protest-ing against the proposed legislation by parliament making military service compulsory. W. A. Appleton, one of the commanding figures in labor circles, cir-cles, In registering his objections to conscription, says: "The government has allowed itself to be overborne by those who desire compulsory service, not for that purpose, pur-pose, but in order that they may control, con-trol, and where necessary destroy, the efforts for industrial, social and political advancemenL In order to secure somo sort of support for the conscriptionist program the government govern-ment has resorted to the miserable expedient of pitting married men Against single. It makes a profound mistake if It imagines that workmen of this country are ho unintelligent as to miss the real purport of the effort ef-fort to divide them from 'their fellow-workers. fellow-workers. When the .question of single sin-gle versus married men was raised everybody understood it meant that all the single men who volunteered would bo called up before the married men under the group system. It was never in the minds of labor that all the single men In the country would be .compelled to serve before any married mar-ried volunteers were called upon. "It i foubjtful-whetiier there are 600,000 unattested single men between be-tween the nges of 19 and 41 in the country. There is every justification for assuming that at least CO per cent of these are medically unfit. Many of them were rejected before the national registration act came into in-to force. Of tho remainder, 20 per cent are engaged in essential employment employ-ment and to remove them would be to further dislocate industry and damage dam-age national credit. Amongst the residue resi-due will be found Quakers and others whose religious convictions, not lack of courage or Interest, keep them out of the conflict. The balance of actual shirkers Is indeed a negligible quantity, quan-tity, and It will lift n nnfrRsinn nf Ineptitude If the government decides that its failures have compelled It to utilize such a balance for the purpose of national defense "It is not fear of dangers that beset be-set those who are engaged In active service that makes labor fight hard to retain the voluntary system. The men in the movement are opposed to compulsion because they arc proud to be free, because they realize that compulsory sen-Ice will jeopardize our industrial and commercial supremacy and further endanger the national crediL" Appleton's argument against conscription con-scription is not convincing. England' is called to a greater task than ever confronted that nation. Millions of men are needed, if England Is to be soved. Evidently the enlistments up to the present have fallen far short of what they should have been. It is just possible the English workman has a just grievance to record against capital, but this Is not the time when that Issue should be fought out. Great Britain's prestige and foreign com- merce are involved, ii Germany wins, England will enter upon a period of decay, which vitally will affect the social, Industrial, and commercial welfare wel-fare of tho entire population of the British Isles. During a crisis of that kind, with so much at stake, all England Eng-land must rally to resist destruction. Rich and poor are on the leaky boat and, If they do not unitedly work to save the vessel, there will be a great disaster. |