Evening star., 1940-08-24
The Political Mill
WiIIkie Equipped to Make GrueIine Campaign
Over u S. Up to Election Day

is not surprising that the New Deal
ers are waving the bloody business
shirt in an effort to make all the
labor elements in the country be-
lieve that he must be their enemy.
Polls Reflect Popularity.
Polls which have been taken re-
Gently in a number of key States
of the Union show that President
Roosevelt lags behind Mr.. Willkie.
These are the kind of polls that the
New Dealers have relied upon in the
past to show that Mr.. Roosevelt was
unbeatable. Unless the returns
from these polls change in the next
week or two, the New Deal charge
that there is something wrong with
them may be expected.
Unfortunately for the country
because of the immediate need of
action for national defense-there
is an election this year. Some of
the legislators in Washington are
doing their best to avoid voting for
the military draft to take place i'm
mediately.
They would like to see it post
poned. If they must postpone it.,
they should fix the date for begin
ming the draft just after election
day. That at least would save a
couple of months and start training
of necessary men early in the year,
instead of putting it off until spring,
which probably would be the case if
the amendment offered by Senator
Maloney of Connecticut should be
adopted. The Maloney amendment
would continue the volunteer sys-
tem-without draft-until January,
when the newly elected Congress
comes into control of legislation.
The country has its military ad
viSers, who ought to know-and do
knoW-what they are talking about.
They have all advised the adoption
of conscription without delay. They
say very frankly that the volunteer
system is ineffective-aS well as un-
democratic. They need trained
men, for aviation, for handling the
mechanical units which the Army
must have, for the infantry and for
every arm of the service. From
Gen. Pershing down, the officers OF
the Army have declared it is es-
sential that men be trained with
out delay and that the only way to
get enough men is to have universal
service. That means the draft.
Would Save Civil Liberties.
There are sincere opponents of
the draft, who believe that if mill
tary conscription is adopted in time
of peace-if you can call this time
of peace-civil liberties in this coun-
try will 60 by the board. There is
one certain thing-if this country
is not properly prepared to defend
itself against attack, civil liberties
for America will go overheard in a
big way. and that very soon in the
event the British are defeated by
Hitler.
There are other opponents of the
draft who do not wish America to
be in position to defend herself
against foreign attack. They are
responsible now for some OF the
propaganda IN this country against
the Burke Wadsworth military
training and service bill. 1t is in
credible that Americans have fallen
for such propaganda. An inquiry
by congressional committees into
some of these anti-draft activities
should be salutary.
Sentiment in favor of the Burke
Wadsworth bill has been strong out
in the country, as various tests OF
public sentiment have shown. The
members of Congress who believe
that they have the popular side of
the question when they declare
against the draft are likely to find
themselves the losers thereby. The
bill has yet to be reported to and
taken up in the House. The expec-
tation is, however. in that body the
vote for the bill will be overwhelming.