Military Drill in Public Schools
By Editor
We do not wonder that the Humane Press Bureau utters emphatic protest against the training of schoolboys "to shoot at targets on the school premises, under the instruction of military men. They are there trained to use army rifles, wear cadet uniforms, and to look upon themselves as possible recruits for the army." These are parts of the plan which is called "military drill" in the public schools. It is designed to include all boys from twelve years old upward; and we agree with the bureau that such drills present wrong ideas, ideas opposed to ethical principles, false ideas of patriotism, and absurd and silly in public schools, unless we are to confess ourselves a war nation, rather than a peace nation. It is expensive, too; nor does it result in the physical and moral good claimed for it by its advocates; it emphasizes the false principle that might makes right, and behind it all is just what is predicted in Rev. 16:13—the demons that go out into all the world to prepare them for the great day of battle of God Almighty. The city of Pasadena has set a preacher to watch the police department. We are not criticizing the city; but a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ who accepts such a position steps down from his high and holy calling. Think of the Master doing such work!