Emily Greene Balch Quotes
May no young man ever be faced with the choice between violating his conscience by cooperating in competitive mass slaughter or separating himself from those who, endeavoring to save liberty, democracy, humanity, can find no better way to conscript young men to kill.
Emily Greene Balch, 1867-1961, Editor of The Nation, Secretary, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Nobel Acceptance Address, 1946
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The founder was Charles E. Coughlin, 1891-1979, a demagogic Catholic Priest who drafted the principles and invited others to join him. Hundreds of thousands did in this organization which began in idealism, and ended in scandal and hate mongering, so much so that Father Coughlin was ordered off the radio and out of politics by the Catholic Church. The National Union in 1936 had morphed into the Union Party which ran Presidential candidates in the 1936 election. In this principle there were two purposes: First to have the wealthy sacrifice something in time of war. Historically wealth could keep a man from the draft if he so wanted. Second, when the company went to war the argument went it was the rich who could profit who had more political influence and could make the war. This way, they would pay a high price and might oppose war. Many of Coughlin’s followers were pro-German and wanted to keep the country out of the European war.
Debs was jailed for sedition for this speech.
Note that at the same time as the colonies were embarking on a War, there was a proscription against military conscription or a draft for a conscientious objector, albeit he had to pay the bonus so another man could be induced to take his place. However, the exemption for conscientious objectors has been eroded ever since whenever the nation has had conscription.
Webb was opposing the all volunteer army which became a reality despite his and others objections.
He was a conscientious objector and pacifist and served a year in jail.
3rd Earl Russell of Kingston
Emily Greene Balch was an American economist, sociologist and pacifist. Balch combined an academic career at Wellesley College with a long-standing interest in social issues such as poverty, child labor, and immigration, as well as settlement work to uplift poor immigrants and reduce juvenile delinquency.
