Jonas Smucker Hartzler

“ One farmer went to camp and asked for a certain C. O. He was told that no word bad come as to whether the board of inquiry had recommended him for a furlough. The farmer asked whether he could engage the young man condition ally, and whether it would help if he would wire him as soon as he heard that such recommendation had come. The officer said, "I promise nothing. If you wired me that you would be here at four o clock this evening and a man came at three that wanted him I would not keep him for you. The man who is here when the recommendation comes is the man that gets him." ”

“ Only those men whose convictions against war were so deep as to risk any consequences of their stand, seemed to resist. The men whose principles were not real, or whose courage was weak, compiled with orders and are performing
military service The whole experience of England and
United States shows that either deep religious convictions or unusual intellectual independence is required to maintain so unpopular and heretical a position. ”

“ Captain Hough at Camp Sherman (Ohio) will always have the grateful consideration of the religious objectors at that camp for the way in which he dealt with the problem. At the same time, those who were not well founded or were untrue were more likely to be brought into service than under the methods used in some other camps. If there was any spirit of revenge in the hearts of the C. O/s in some camps, the treatment would not soon have been forgotten. ”

“ It is natural to think of the conscientious objectors as
essentially religious Not all conscientious objectors are
avowedly religious, nor is religious conscientious objection confined to relatively small sects which have incorporated it in their creeds. Within the last generation there has been a wide growth of peace sentiment in the churches. Then you have the young idealist among the intellectuals with whom humanity is a reality never served by the horrors of war, and a very much larger group of working men who have learned too well the solidiarity of the working class to ”

“ The religious objectors came from about forty denominations, and the larger the number of their young men who refused to accept service, the more that denomination was reviled, and the more things were said about them that were absolutely untrue and that very often by men who had every opportunity to know the truth. ”

“ Some boards treat religious and other conscientious objectors as one class, and say that when found honest, they
100 MENNONITES IN THE WORLD WAR
might as well be assigned to noncombatant service. But it should not be forgotten that the two classes are entirely distinct legally, morally, and practically. They are legally distinct because the act of Congress expressly recognizes and gives a legal status to the one, but wholly ignores the ether. ”

“ At the same time he must furnish his own clothes and pay his incidental ex penses. Either the farmer or the young man must pay the railroad fare. In many cases the farmer would not; the young man had not been earning anything as he had refused to accept the soldier's pay while in camp. In some cases at least there was something for the Church to do in seeing that this need was supplied.
Lack of Uniformity in Furlough Plans
It was intended that none should receive a farm furlough until after the examination by the board of inquiry, but that was not strictly adhered to. ”

“ Those objectors who are recommended for mental examination and discharge, if not found competent.
9. Not in camp not seen by board.
10. Under criminal charge the board expresses no opin ion until the decision of the court-martial.
In 1 A of the foregoing list reference is made to the farm furlough. Farm help was scarce before this country got into the war and was made much more so when thousands of young men were taken from the farms by the draft. There was a general cry for farm help. Women worked in the fields, but that was not sufficient. ”

“ Nearly all the Mennonite boys were very glad to accept such furloughs so that they might be produc ers and not only consumers, as they must necessar ily be in camp. The plan of getting the young men out depended almost exclusively on the camp offi cials. ”