Evening star., 1940-08-06
The Fight Begins


brings that legislation to the floor
Of the Senate, where the real fight
against it is expected to be made.
AS the picture now shapes up, oppo-
nents OF the measure, including both
Republicans and Democrats, will
take their stand around an alterna-
tive proposal that some modified
form of volunteer recruitment be
tried before compulsory selective
service is made applicable by law.
The arguments of the opposition
forces rest upon two principal
grounds, neither of which is per-
suasive.
1t is contended in the first place
that there is no emergency confront
ing the country at this time which
justifies resort to CONSUMPTION of
man power. The argument in this
respect is somewhat confused by
number of inaccurate minor conten-
tions, such as the claim that selec-
tive service is un-American and un-
democratic, that it is an attempt to
fight Hitler by Hitlerizing the United
States, and, finally and most dema-
gogic of all, that it is the product of
a sinister plot by evil men to raise
large army so that American youth
may be sent to fight in Europe or
Asia. But the main issue-the claim
that no real emergency confront us
lis not obscured by these appeals to
prejudice. Senator Wheeler stated
the opposition case in this respect
yesterday when he charged on the
Senate floor that "the only emer-
gency is the one created by propa-
gandists who are trying to frighten
Congress and the country"
In thus preferring the first charge
OF bad faith in this debate, debate
which should be kept on a high
plane, Senator Wheeler places him
self in curious position He, with
other opponents of the Burke-Wads-
worth bill, has voted to appropriate
billions of dollars for an unprece-
dented rearmament program. If the
Senator believes that there is no
emergency except an artificial one
created by propagandists, how can
he justify his support of these huge
appropriations for arms? The an
sWer is, of course, that there is an
emergency, and that all members of
Congress know it. 1t is an emer-
gency which grows out of our def
ciencies in trained men and modern
materiel, and the only real difference
OF opinion concerns the imminence
OF the threat of war arising from
that weakness.
The truth of this assertion is
demonstrated by the character of
argument advanced by the Wheeler
forces in support of their second
main point-that we should expert
ment with volunteer one-year en-
listments before resorting to con-
scription. Virtually all of the advo-
Gates of this alternative plan are
agreed that we will have to enforce
compulsory selective service if their
volunteer recruitment plan should
ta1l to raise the men needed by the
armed forces-a tacit admission in
itself that there is an emergency
which makes imperative a larger
Army and Navy, and that the real
dispute concerns the method to be
employed in securing this increased
man power.
All experience demonstrates that
any volunteer system is of doubtful
value. Every other major power
found it necessary to adopt con-
scription long ago. And we have
many precedents for it in America.
George Washington is said to have
advocated CONSUMPTION during the
Revolutionary War, and it was put
into effect by Massachusetts, and
Virginia in 1777. During the War
OF 1872 New York raised a State
army by draft. The Federal Gov
ernment, after the outbreak of the
Civil War, waited almost two years
before resorting to CONSUMPTION. On
the strength of arguments similar
to many of those being made today,
reliance was placed on volunteering,
fortified by bounty system, and
the result is one of the more sordid
chapters of our history. The Con-
federacy, on the other hand, en-
forced conscription a year earlier
than did the Union, and many of
the early reverses suffered by the
Federal armies are attributed to
this fact. At the time of our entry
into the first World War, the Short
comings of the volunteer system
were thoroughly understood, and a
selective service system was placed
in effect within six weeks of the
declaration of war.
Our present situation differs from
that of 1917 in that we are not
presently at war. But certainly our
planning today is based on the real
ization that war may be forced upon
us, and if that should prove to be