Evening star., 1920-02-02
SENATE MAY FAVOR
PLAN OF UNIVERSAL
MILITARY TRAINING
Administration Support Is
Necessary to Assure Pas
sage of Army Bill.


ed in the Army reorganization bill due
to come up for consideration TINS
week, stands a chance of passing thu
Senate, a canvass of that body indi'
Gates. 1t will need the hearty support
| of the administration, however. e
make the adoption of the training piaI
certain. In fact, if the administrators
shows itself lukewarm to the propo-
sition, the universal training pla1
may receive it's death blow.
! The canvass of the Senate just com,
pleted reached more than so per cen,
! of the membership of the Senate II
| shows the following results:
| For universal training, 30 repuo'
! 1icans and democrats: total, 80.
| Against universal training, rePuo-
| licanS and 16 democrats: total, 20
! Non-committal. 19 senators.
20 Out of DC Interviewed.
| Seventy out of the ninety-six sena-
! tors were interviewed. The lndlca-
tions are that without the aid of the
administration for the training plan
a large majority of the senators VINO
said they preferred not to state thell
position at this time would Vo'S
| against universal training.
Unless the universal training plan
| passes the Senate it stands no chance
at all of being enacted into law al
this Congress. for the opposition IN
the House is said to be stronger &c
than in the Senate The hope of the
| friends of military training lies IN
the passage of the plan by the Sen
ate and the backing of the admins
| tration to prevail upon the House to
! accept it.
Secretary Baker of the War De-
| partment has announced himself as
| enthusiastically in favor of the Sen
| ate military committees bill, inciud-
| ing the universal military training
plan. 1t is understood that President
| Wilson some time ago gave his ap-
| proval to the principle of universal
| training If they lend their aid now
it is likely that the training plan
can be put through Congress by q
coalition of republicans and demo-
| Gratis.
Objections to Plan.
| The canvass of the Senate showed
| the following outstanding objections
| by senators to the adoption OF uni
| versal military training.
| 1. A desire to give the league OF
| nations a trial and to see if it will
not be possible to limit ornaments.
2. Belief that with the 100000
| men in this country who were trained
| for the war with Germany there is
| no immediate need of starting uni
| versal training for the young men.
g. desire to economiZe in every
| possible way, now that the country is
| SO heavily in debt for the war expenses.
and a fear that universal training will
add great load to the burden of debt.
T. The fear that 1t will complicate
the race question in the south. Sena-
tors from the south are opposed to plac-
| ing rifles in the hands of the negroes
| and will fight the plan for universal
training, just as they fought the Army
draft.
! 5. The fear of militarism. Some
i senator's from the middle west do not
/ 6iffQronfiatn hptwaQn democratic
tenn of military training and the Prus-
! sian system.
| Many of the senators classified as
| non-committal or opposed to universal
training said they would be willing to
| vote for scheme of military training
which would not be compulsory-but
voluntary. Some of them said they
! would be glad to sec it adopted in the
! colleges of the country.
Still others said that while they ap-
proved of military training. they were
/ not willing to see the United States en-
! bark upon it at this time because of
/ the lack of funds to meet the already
heavy expenses of the government They
were anxious to postpone the adoption
of the plan for year or two.
| The friends of the training plan and
! of preparedness fear that with each
passing month the object lesson given
the country by the great war will
| fade in the memory of the Congress
and the people. and that they will be
satisfied to go back to state of un-
preparedness from which they had a
rude awakening less than three years
ago.
Positions of Senator's,
Senator Hitchcock of Nebras aslla. act
ing democratic leader, will doubtless
oppose universal training. He said
that he has believed for a long time
that some plan of military training
ha h,,%
no danger at present threatening the
| United States. and that he believes
the soldiers of the American expe-
dictionary force can protect the coun-
try until the United States begins to
get out of the financial hole il is now
| in.
| Senator Townsend of Michigan re-
publican, on the other hand. declared
himself in favor of military training
II believe this is the right time 10
begin, he said. OF course, there is
need for economy, but an aGe0us + q
system of national defense would he
| established"
| Senator Dial of South Carolina said
! that he was in favor of military
| training for the young men of the
| country. but that he did not believe
this was the time to undertake it
| because of the heavy debt now facing
| the country.
Senator Williams of Mississippi
said that he would oppose universal
| military training, but that he favored
voluntary plan of training. He con-
! tended there was no use training the
iunwilling-the bolshevists and paci-
| fists-because they would be no use
| in time of war.
Senator Sherman of Illinois, who has
| in the past been counted upon as a
supporter of the training plan, now
| expects to oppose ii. He said he had
changed his mind because of the un-
certainty over the league of nations
He is strongly opposed to the league
| as 1T is now proposed.
| "I am unwilling to vote to create a
| large army of our boys to be sent to
the far corners of the earth to be
butchered at the command of the
league Of nations" he said.
! The bill as reported by the Senate
| committee. however. provides merely
for universal training and does not
provide for universal service. Senator
Wadsworth. chairman of the commit l.
tee, has explained to the Senate that
the cost of establishing military
! training will not be excessive; that il
will be possible to train a large mum
her of men and. by reason of that
| fact to maintain comparatively
| small standing army.
| Senator Beckham of Kentucky, a
member of the military affairs com
mittee. said that he did not believe the
plan for the military training con-
! tained in the bill reported to the SEN
ate would he adopted at this time. He
said that he himself was in favor of
military training. but that he did not
think the sentiment of the country
particularly the middle west and the
west, would permit adoption of this
universal training plan now.
II expect to offer amendmen,
which may solve the difficulty" said
Senator Beckham. MY amendmen,
will provide that the proposed system
of training shall become effective in
the various states only when the