Evening star., 1940-07-30
Essential Step

on legislation to permit him to call
up the National Guard for a years
training and for possible military
service, subject to certain geograph-
ical limitations, said that he could
not, with clear conscience, longer
postpone this vitality essential step
in our progress toward adequate
preparedness"
This statement, coupled with other
observations in the communication,
reveals clearly that the President
is deeply disturbed by the imminence
of the possibility that the United
States may be plunged into war
In his judgment, we have reached
point where there would be seri-
GUS danger to the safety of the
Nation in further delaying the set
ting up of appropriate machinery
for. the training of men in the
highly technical art of modern war.
1t should be remembered, however,
that this objective is not to be
reached merely by the training of
the Guardsmen. The Guard is a
highly important unit of our mill
tary establishment and in time of
emergency would be used as
combat force, but, under the present
plan, the Guard is to be prepared
primarily to participate in the train
ing of recruits who would be called
into service under the Burke -Wads-
worth bill, or whatever selective
service measure may be adopted by
the Congress.
That being the case, it follows that
the urgent reasons cited by the Pres
ident for prompt action with respect
to the National Guard apply with
equal force to the entire selective
service program. If there is threat
to the security of the country and
increased risk to the men them
selves in delaying intensive training
of the National Guard, the same
thing is true of any unnecessary
delay in the training of the men
who would be called into the armed
services under selective draft.
Those who oppose enactment of
compulsory selective service legisla-
ton at this time have rallied around
a proposal for modified volunteer
enlistment program, believing that
a reduction of the period of enlist
ment to one year, accompanied by
certain other minor changes, would
attract a sufficient number of re-
cruits to meet the requirements of
the emergency.
There are several objections to
this plan. Should it prove successful
in the sense of producing adequate
enlistments, it would necessarily
mean that penalty would be placed
on patriotism, that men with a high
sense of duty to their country would
make the sacrifices and incur the
risks of military service while those
whose purpose it is to evade service
would stay at home. 1t is also
possible, perhaps even probable, that
many of the volunteers would be
men who could serve their country
most effectively in private industry,
and who, because of this fact, would
not be called away from their jobs
under a selective service law.
But by far the greater objection to
the modified enlistment program is
the strong probability that it would
not produce the necessary number of
recruits. This, of course, is neces-
sarily a matter of opinion, but all of
our past experience and the expe-
rience of other nations supports the
conclusion that volunteer enlist
ments cannot be relied upon in any
military effort of the magnitude of
that which we are now compelled to
make. And then there is the time
element to be considered. The year
which would be required to give a
fair test to volunteer program is
vital. We simply cannot afford to
waste year of the time for pre-
paredness that is left to US, but that
would be the result of an unsuccess-
full experiment with volunteers.
Once again the Congress and the
people are faced with the necessity
of making a grave decision on the
basis of an appraisal of what the
future may bring. The group oppos-
ing prompt enactment of the selec-
tive service program which the Presi-
dent has advocated is composed
largely of the same individuals who
opposed the administrations policies
last summer in the belief that there
would be no war, who advocated re-
duction in American military appro-
priations after the conflict was under
way and who have consistently mis-
judged the effect of the European
struggle on the United States. And
now, on the issue of compulsory mill
tary service, they are again gambling
on the soundness of their judgment
as opposed to that of the President.
In taking the final decision, Congress
should be governed by two considera-
tions: First, that there is nothing in
the record to support belief that
the President is wrong and his oppo-