Evening star., 1940-08-14
Advocates Adoption
Of SeIective Service
Compulsory Truinins Held
Essential to Sofety
Of Nation
To the Editor of The Star:

| To the Editor Of The Star:
During the past few weeks I have
| read, with feelings ranging from sincere
approval to deep disgust, many articles
| by both private citizens and members
Of Congress on the subject of national
| preparedness and defense, especially in
| relation to the proposed draft of man
| power. There seems to be little resent
ment over the need for expending vast
sums of money for war equipment.
Nearly all of the self-appointed COM
mentators seem to feel that this ex-
| penditure is just and necessary, but as
to how we will raise the personnel to
use this equipment there is much diff
| ference of opinion. To draft or to try
and raise an Army by the volunteer
system seems to be the bone of conten-
| tion.
When we want an Army IN time of
peril, what type of men do we get by
the volunteer system? We get those
men who. realizing the benefits they de-
rive from this their Government, are
willing to accept rightful responsibility
| in the care of that Government. Just
| whom do we leave at home? All who take
| everything they can get from that Gov
eminent but will do nothing to preserve
their Government in time of dire need.
Such men, having no sense of RESPONSE
bility toward their Government will
never help under the volunteer system.
Should we be able to raise an Army of
two to four million men in the short
time of six months by the volunteer
system I would still be against any such
procedure, as by the end of any war
into which we might be forced we would
have definitely lowered our standard of
| citizenship by just the number of fine.
right-thinking men lost in killed and
wounded. and it would be years, if ever,
before we could recover from this loss
Every man, woman and child in the
United States benefits by reason Of this
Government of ours. and each one Of
| them owes his country a real duty in
| time of need. To feel otherwise. to talk
otherwise, Is to play directly into the
| hands of any possible enemy. Plain
citizen or member Of Congress, this
statement Is true of both. Talk border
| reasonable in one Of our law makers.
Honest difference Of opinion must al
ways be tolerated in this, free country,
| but talk that tends to befuddle the
| public mind, that causes resentment Of
| important acts OF Congress and that
retards our preparation of this country
| to properly defend itself in any possible
emergency is little short of subversive
| and should be treated as SUCH
No thinking person wants war,
but we have seen in the past few years
| the rape of most of the known world by
power-mad dictators: we have seen the
| total destruction of religion in several
| Of the countries of the world and there
is no saneness in the statement that such
| cannot happen in this country. Fully
| prepared, feel sure that We can pre-
vent such happening, but, unprepared,
| we can look for such happenings here in
America.
have no patience with the man who
| says Il will defend my country when
the time comes. will fight if we are in
vaded." For such man is not an asset
| in time Of war, but definite liability.
| In time of peace it takes one full enlist
ment of three years to make a useful
soldier and in the greatest emergency it
will take from six months to year to
do the same. Individual bravery means
| little in modern war while knowledge
means everything. knowledge comes
only with training and undertrained
men will be only useless cannon fodder.
y4l
equipped with machinery OF modern war.
War machinery we need Of course. but
| even more do we need the fully trained
| men to handle such implements of war.
In the last war our Army suffered much
| from lack of training. Asked to take an
| objective under protection Of artillery
| fire they did so and then in their over
enthusiasm ran on to further objective
and right into their own artillery fire.
| Very brave, but damn foolish and due
entirely to lack OF proper training.
Discipline Is the backbone Of any army
and this comes only from thorough train
ing Were there no such thing as war,
every boy in America would be better
man and a more useful citizen by reason
of a year to 18 months in the Army.
Such training teaches respect for prop
erly constituted authority, which re-
spect is just as necessary in private life
as in the Army in time Of war. Physi-
cally, every boy would derive a definite
benefit and the habits Of discipline would
stand him in good stead in his private
life. I am for the draft, for 1t puts the
burden on the fine man and the ones
who will not recognize any responsible
ity to country in the same degree. 1t
| would put the son Of q millionaire on
the same plane as the son Of a poor
man. Living together in barracks. they
would get to know each other and de-
velop true understanding that can
never come in any other way. For
time they would have a common cause,
a common objective, and such contact
would be fine for both. In future life
this understanding would make for bet
ter relations between capital and labor,
between rich and poor, and would be
definitely good for our country.
Properly informed American public
opinion is generally right, so let's get
at the real facts of the matter. Let's
not be misled by half-truths or delib-
crate misstatements. I want not one
American boy sent to any foreign coun-
try, but I do want every American boy
ahla f- hs1p hie co,,ptrv in time ~ mad