Evening star., 1933-01-12
Save the Marine Corps!

Gratitude Is due the House Naval
Affairs Committee for its vigorous con-
demnation of the proposal to cut down
the already skeletonized dimensions of
the United States Marine Corps by a
slash of between eleven and twelve per
cent in its enlisted personnel. The
Budget Bureau has recommended that
the total of enlisted men be reduced
from 15,343 to 13600, a decrease Of
1,743 in the corps present strength.
Coming on the heels of the Marines
latest service to the cause Of peace and
good order in Central America-the
completion on January l of their long
and arduous work in the pacification
of Nicaragua-the reduction proposal
has about it something of callous irony,
as well as a 1nyopic sense Of the Ma
tons needs.
The ranks of the Marines have been
thinned by Congress systematically
since 1880. If the fresh cut now sug-
gested is accomplished, the total loss in
personnel during the past three years
will amount to roundly twenty-five per
cent. The explanation is economy,
though the saving on the present occa-
sion would be only S1,350o0o in a FIVE
billion dollar budget. When a con-
f1aeration in the world is in full blast
such as the crisis in the Far East, with
its immeasurable possibilities-is 1t
sound economy to save so trifing a sum
by disrnissing the firemen and canceling
insurance?
The House Naval Committee recon-
mends that, instead of further de-
crease in the Marines enlisted force, 1t
be increased, SO that the total number
will be 1900. The country will applaud
that proposal. 1t is impressed by the
statement in the recent annual report
of Mai. Gen. Ben H. Fuller, COM
mandant of the Marines, that with the
present enlisted strength the Marine
Corps is not prepared to perform its
allotted task in the event Of a ma
tional emergency" That is serious
and arresting assertion.
1t is well for the American people to
be reminded of the far-fung and di-
versified duties, in both peace and war,
that they are accustomed to expect from
the men whose battle scars range from
the halls of Montezuma to the shores
of Tripoli." The House Naval Com
mittee recites the Leathernecks' duties
tersely:
In time of war the Marine Corps as
sistS the feet in the seizure and initial
defense of advance bases and 1t guards
naval shore stations. In peacetlme IL
is used for almost any service requiring
in an emergency a trained force OF men,
including expeditionary work, foreign
duty, garrison and naval hospital duty,
ship detachments, the protection OF the
lives and property of American citizens
abroad, the preservation OF order In civil
disturbances and, in fact, for any emer-
gency which it is called to handle. j..
It is, therefore, highly trained and
highly specialized force OF men, with
necessarily a high morale. The testi-
mony of every witness, including the
Secretary of the Navy, the chief OF
naval operations, the president Of the
General Board of the Navy, the chief OF
the Bureau of Navigation and the CHIEF
co-ordinator of the Government was to
the effect that the United States has
no force that could be used as the
Marine Corps is used; that there should
be some such force specially trained for
the duties required of the Marine Corps;
that the present strength Of the corps
does not enable it to fully perform all
the functions for which 1t is needed,
and that a further reduction would be
disadvantageous to the corps, seriously
impairing its efficiency and thereby de-
stroy its best service to the country.
The General Board of the Navy es-
Inmates that at least 21,000 men are
essential if the Marine Corps is to func-
ton properly and fulfill its obligations.
This imposes a solemn responsibility
upon Congress. The question arises
whether the administration about to
leave Office should tie the Hands Of Its
successor by depriving the incoming
President Of the forces required by him
to comply with his constitutional obli-
| cations to protect the rights OF Amert-
can citizens abroad.