Evening star., 1944-09-03
Capitol Hill Indicates
General Approval for
Marshall Army Plan
By. the Associated Prssy.

> -
~ the Associated Prsss.
Gen. George c. Marshall's advo-
cacy Of . small but efIicient post
war professional army backed up
by wen-trained citizen reserve
won widespread approval on Capitol
Hill yesterday and gave impetus to
q move for early consideration OF
peacetime draft legislation.
No dissenting voices challenged
the assertion of the chief of stan
that q large standing Army has
no place among the institutions of q
modern democratic state" although
several lawmakers said they wanted
more details on what Gen. Mar.
shall has in mind.
Peacetime draft legislation has
been before Congress for many
months but because of the possible
political repercussions 1t has been
shunted aside. The House Postwar
Military Policy Committee has de-
ferred consideration of the subject
until at least after the November
election, but members predicted it
would be fully considered then and
acted on possibly before the first
Of next year.
Congress Approval Anticipated.
Gen. Marshall's views, contained
In . directive issued as basic policy
Tor omcers planning the permanent
postwar military organization, as
sumed that Congress will approve a
program which would require every
able-bodied American youth to un-
dergo reasonable period" of
peacetime military training before
being placed in a citizen-reserve
component.
Il agree 100 per cent with the
statement of Gen. Marshall" de-
clared Chairman May of the House
Military Affairs Committee. II have
always believed that the best de-
terrent to war is a peacetime army
QUILT around a small professional
force backed up by plenty of we'll
trained reserves"
1T Is sound policy" commented
Representative Kilday, Democrat, of
Texas, coauthor of much current
draft legislation. we don't want
to turn this country into a mill
taristic Nation, and that Is what
Gen. Marshall wants to guard
against too"
Navy Position Unstated.
Gen. Marshall's proposal for only
small professional peacetime Army
brought no counterpart idea from
the Navy yesterday.
The answer lies apparently In the
problems involved in maintaining
in hostility free years a force of
f1ghting ships at peak preparedness.
Unless ships are scrapped-and
there is much onicial opposition to
that-the Navy must continue to
man its battle craft with a rela-
lively large force of men II it is
10 keep each vessel at top efficiency.
Navy sources generally are agreed
that the fleet should be kept at great
strength as a guarantee against ag-
gression in any part Of the world.
There was oficial reluctance to
estimate what size the postwar fleet
should be, but these sources were in
accord in their belief that the
United States Navy never again
should be permitted to shrink to
its pre-Pearl Harbor size of 325 900
men and less than 400 fighting ships
1,15e Major Combat Vessels.
| Now the Navy has mushroomed to
more than 5000, 900 officers and en-
listen personnel and to many thou
sands of ships, including at least
1,15O major combat vessels.
Secretary Forrestal has reiterated
many times the view that main
tenance of a strong Navy-it is now
the most powerful in the worlds
necessary in any effort to obtain
assurance of peace in years to come.
Coincidental with the discussion
of the Army's postwar size and the
Nays future, 1t was learned that
military circles are giving increas-
ing attention to a postwar console
dation of the War and Navy De-
partments.
Rear Admiral Malcolm Schoeffel,
an expert on aviation. has been ap-
pointed to a joint War-Navy De-
partment Committee on overlapping
activities of the two departments
He succeeds Vice Admiral John
; 8. Mccain. whose new assignment
has not been announced.