Evening star., 1942-10-26
Dangerous Amendment

uS SSuOuS SNuuSu0biaSuA
In voting to adopt the O'Daniel
amendment restricting the use of
men under 20 who are drafted for
military service, the Senate overrode
earnest appeals from the President
and the Army Chief of Staff that
the amendment be defeated. This
is very serious matter and 1t gives
rise to deep concern.
No one questions the motives of
the Senators who voted for this
amendment. They are reluctant, as
all of us must be, to call upon young
men of 18 and 19 to shoulder the
grim burden of this war. But the
war is here and it has to be fought.
The proper time to have lowered
the draft age was months ago. Had
that been done there would have
been no question now about the
training of these recruits. For
various reasons, however, the taking
of this action was put off, and the
Senate now seeks to nullify the con-
sequences of that delay by writing
into the selective service law the
ODaniel amendment, which would
prevent the Army from sending any
inducted soldier under 20 into COM
bat zone until he has had at least
one year of training. Curiously, no
such policy is insisted upon in the
case of men who have passed their
twentieth birthday.
General Marshall, the Chief OF
Staff, twice protested against the
amendment, and his final warning
put the Senate on notice that its
adoption would force the Army "to
complete it's organizations with men
too old to efficiently do the job, or to
wait for the lapse of a years time
before it can fight" In practical
effect, if this provision stays in the
law, what will it mean in 1943, which
in all probability is going to be the
decisive year of the war?
Obviously it will not be possible to
put off the fight for year, because
our enemies will not permit that. So
we shall have to do the best we can
with less efficient Army than we
might have had. While our Army, in
part, is marking time to comply with
the Senate amendment the effort to
break Hitler will rise to its climax,
but it will not be the strongest effort
that we are capable of making. And
in the Pacific the japanese will be
industriously at work consolidating
their positions-reaping the maxi
mum benefit from the year of grace
that the Senate would give them.
These things may not cost us the
war, but they will make victory
harder. When, at last, we are per-
mitted by the law to hit with our
maximum strength, the enemy prob
ably will be in a stronger position to
resist us. And that will mean
that the lives of many thousands OF
soldiers-the same young men the
Senate now seeks to shield-wil be
needlessly sacrificed.
In matter of this kind, involving
technical questions as to the training
and disposition of troops, it is essen
tial that we have faith in the judg-
ment of our military leaders. The
judgment of laymen in the Senate
cannot be better than that of pro-
fessional soldiers, and, in fact, at
no point during the debate was the
competency of General Marshall and
his associates brought into question.
But the inescapable effect Of the
amendment is to substitute the in
experienced judgment of the Senate
for the considered and expert judg-
ment of the military commanders
on a military matter. That is not
the way to win a war.
Our military leaders are not going
to throw unframed men needlessly
into battle, and in his heart every
Senator must know this to be true.
But there may be many occasions
when men with less than a years
training could be and should be
called upon. Senators, in October,
1912, cannot possibly foresee the con-
ditions that will confront the mill
tary leaders in the summer of 1943.
For this reason, if for no other, they
should not insist upon tying the
hands of the men who will be held
responsible for the conduct of the
war.
The O'Daniel amendment can be
eliminated in conference with the
House, and it is most earnestly to be
L..