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CONSERVATION OF ARTISTIC TALENT

A recent statement of values puts a new light upon the question
of sending our men of artistic talent to the firing line. “If all men
of rare artistic gifts were piled up in No Man’s Land in a funeral
heap, they would make a heap so small that neither Germans nor
British would count their taking off as consequential.” Their value
for war put in this graphic manner leads the speaker, Mrs. Margaret
Abbott Lewis, to declare that “artists should be drafted to live and
not die for their country.” The question was dwelt upon in our issue
of July 21, when a number of prominent artists themselves gave their
testimony. It is not likely that they would care to be regarded as
other than men when the welfare of their country is at stake, and
the majority of opinion was that no discrimination should be made
in their favor. The President has declared against favoritism, and
according to the true principles of democracy “there must be no
preference... no exceptions shown or made among those who
will be drafted for our armies. ”Every able-bodied man within draft
age is to serve if called, it has been announced, and “every one shall
be allotted to some particular task to which he may be best suited.”—
Literary Digest.

It is suggested that the Texas State Association as a body join
the United States Public Service Reserve.

That is, of course, those of us who could not serve to more ad-
vantage in some other organization or at front.
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