To the editor:
I am mindful of the words of a very patriotic American, Ceferino Balbin, who was Secretary-Registrar of the Scottish Rite Masonic Bodies in Tampa, Fla. On Aug. 13, 1917, he announced that he had just been drafted and was arranging to go to the ‘front’ imminently. He had a wife and two children; was a strong believer in the draft-system and did not believe in the ‘exemption’ clause. He said: “If we all expect to derive benefits, we all ought to fight. Of course we can’t all fight at one time, but we all ought to be ready to answer the call, when needed.”
Mr. Balbin added: “I believe it is the duty of every male person, whether citizen or stranger, to become a ‘Soldier of Freedom’.” That should be the current universal policy throughout our nation today.
Ceferino Balbin further stated in his speech that: “I have a personal motive, as well as a patriotic one. I have a boy six-and-a-half years of age, and it shall never be said to him that his daddy crawfished. I am satisfied that if I go and don’t come back, he will be proud of me, and if I go and do come back, he will be prouder still.”
Most of the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden and Finland) all have mandatory military conscription for males. Just this year (2025), Denmark started conscripting women. I think they are wise. However, I would add a caveat: If America ever re-institutes “the draft”, I believe that there should be a separation between male and female units. Furthermore, men and women military recruits and personnel shouldn’t serve nor live in same quarters. They shouldn’t serve together in such places such as Navy submarines, where human temptations of sexual-activity or sexual-abuse might occur. This isn’t just a hypothetical, there have been real cases in the past of females getting pregnant by crew-mates while deployed, betraying their husbands back at home and shattering their existing childrens’ lives. Granted, there are some tasks that male and female soldiers and sailors can do equally such as piloting a fighter-plane ‘solo’ and dropping bombs. However, there are instances whereby a female soldier cannot physically “lift” a 250 pound male soldier who has been injured in combat. The chaotic situation at the ‘front-lines’ requires a warrior to focus on one thing: Killing the enemy before he kills you. There is no other way to sanitize warfare.
The whole concept of “war” actually boils down to “Survival of the fittest.” Nobody plays by “Queensberry Rules” (as is done in boxing). The “Geneva Convention” (with its supposed formula of preventing torture or inhumane behavior) has been violated so many times since its last revision in 1949; it is a joke. Think of the Army priest from Kansas, Fr. Emil Kapaun, who was a POW in Korea until his death in 1951. It was reported that in the weeks leading up to his death, several servicemen alongside him died daily of “Malnutrition, disease, lice, and extreme cold.” In 1979, Iran’s renegade regime seized American hostages. Just within the past couple of years, Hamas took hostages also; sadly some died in captivity. No war is clean.
Mr. Balbin was the presiding officer of his local Masonic Lodge, as well as the Director of Work for the Scottish Rite. He said he was willing to “fight for those (patriotic) principles... which I have been for years drilling into (candidates for Freemasonry).” That shows that the fraternal orders are not only civic friendship-societies but also supporters of freedom and liberty.
James A. Marples
Esbon
