Page:Harris Dickson--The unpopular history of the United States.djvu/176

The Unpopular History of the United States sons of the people, created by the people and responsible to the people — such an army in a pure democracy must prove the bulwark, the safeguard, and not a menace to the state.

All these considerations, and a blamed sight more, kept buzzing around in my head, and absolutely convinced me that our old come-and-go-as-you-please volunteer militia wouldn't do. The shamefullest crime is against the boys themselves — putting them up to be shot down without a chance. Suppose you run over some day and see those youngsters drilling at Fort Myer. The eternal sunshine never lighted up a finer lot of faces, frank of soul, clean of heart and stout of limb. You can't chuck a brick bat in that crowd anywhere and hit a boy that you wouldn't trust. They are good boys, they are my boys, and by the grace o' God I'm going to give 'em a chance. If I do my part, they'll do the rest. And the best way to fix that is by the Selective Draft — we've got it on the statute books right now. But we also have in these United States a system of Selective [158]