THE MENACE OF MILITARY CAMPS.

The Summer Military Camps for college students have been endorsed by some of the sincerest and most prominent men in the country. In adopting a policy of active opposition to the camps, the CRIMSON does so with the conviction that, in the broadest view of the question, such opposition will prove in the future to have the soundest foundations. The CRIMSON in this and succeeding editorials will attempt to justify fully this position by setting forth the reasoning on which it is based.

The ultimate appeal in behalf of the Summer Military Camps is to patriotism. It is argued that if it is the duty of a man to sacrifice his life for his country in time of war, it is equally his duty and the part of wisdom to prepare himself in time of peace that his sacrifice may give the maximum of production with the least actual loss. Lying back of this argument is the further assumption--less prominent now since the outbreak of war in the armed camps of Europe--that "adequate armament" is itself the best guarantee of peace. The Summer Training Camps offer, it is held, an opportunity for college men to do their part in securing this so-called "insurance" in a not altogether unpleasant way, with the least possible personal sacrifice and without danger of developing a spirit of militarism in the nation.

There is doubtless much to be gained from six weeks spent at one of the well-situated camps in the way of outdoor life, discipline, and contact with other men. There is, similarly, very little difference of opinion as to the immense importance and significance of the almost universal military service in the whole life and industrial progress of the German people.

Even though there were many more profitable and pleasant ways of spending a summer vacation--in travel or in outdoor work of many kinds--which six weeks in one of the camps would largely prevent, yet it is not on such grounds that the danger of the Military Camps lies. General Wood has called attention with admirable frankness to the emphasis which the camps will place on the spreading of sound information as to the "present military needs of the country." The CRIMSON hesitates to question the judgment of our military authorities as to the real value of six weeks training for the creation of an officer in time of emergency; but there is no disagreement as to the great efficiency of even this short period for the infusion of what is, from the army point of view, "correct" military sentiment. It is on this very ground that the camps must be firmly opposed. The patriotism which it is the peculiar task of the educated college man to exercise must cease to be linked with military service if progress toward universal peace is ever to be made.

The present war occasioned a campaign unparalleled in this country in time of peace for increasing our military strength. The European cataclysm should arouse all thinking men to an intense desire to contribute somewhat, no matter how little, for the keeping of both our own nation and the world from another such disaster. But the paramount lesson of this war is not the need of attempting to insure for victory in the event of war; we must insure against war itself. The road to be travelled is long; complete success must depend on the development of international law and political unity in some form, and on the universal recognition of the absolute futility of war for securing under modern conditions any economic or moral advantage. The leaders in both lines of progress should be drawn from the most intelligent classes in the community,--those composed largely of college graduates.

Military men nowadays are usually self-styled pacifists. They may not disapprove of preparing for peace, but invariably they are found spending all their time preparing for war, forgetting, or, through perfectly justifiable interest in the technique of their profession, ignoring the fact that such ever-increasing preparation is itself the chief cause of all modern wars. Thus, also, just to the extent that they succeed in the purpose for which they were founded, will the Summer Training Camps stifle the university man's belief in the chance for peace now and today. The man who served in an army reserve of any kind may believe he is thoroughly anti-militarist in spirit, but the insurance in which he invests is always of one kind,--a little bigger and a little stronger army or navy; he is never the man who will be found taking difinite steps forward on the only path which can ever lead to real progress.