could buy, fixed the prices of many articles, determined the wages
that should be paid for labor, took over the management of the
railroads and of the telegraph and telephone lines, and did many
other things that it never had done in times of peace. We expected
government to exercise powers in war time that it would not be
permitted to exercise in times of peace. But it can be shown that
even during the war, the government, with all its unusual powers,
did not "ride roughshod" over the people, but sought to "make them
partners in an enterprise which after all was their own." The
nation was fighting for its life and for the very principles upon
which it was founded, and it was necessary that cooperation should
be complete and effective. This was what the government sought,
and it exercised its powers by inviting and obtaining national
cooperation to a remarkable extent.

THE SELECTIVE DRAFT AS AN ILLUSTRATION OF TEAM WORK

Our national army was created by a "selective" draft, or
conscription. Conscription had formerly been looked upon with
disfavor as a form of forced military service. A volunteer army
was thought to be more in harmony with a democratic form of
government. But the draft is now seen to be far more democratic
than a volunteer army because it treats all able-bodied men alike,
instead of leaving the fighting to those who are most courageous
and most patriotic, while those who are inclined to shirk may
easily do so. Moreover, the SELECTIVE draft means the selection of
men to serve in the capacity for which they are best fitted. In
Great Britain, under a volunteer system, and in France, under a
system of compulsory military service for all men, thousands of
brave men went to the trenches in the early days of the war who,