The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1945-11-01


reducing the armed forces to the
proportions we had at the time of
the outbreak of World War l and
World War II? Assuming that the
other great nations of the world keep
large standing armies and air forces
and have program of universal
military service, can we safely get
along without one? What will hap
pen to us, if in ten, twenty or thirty
years from now war again breaks
out and we are unprepared? Re-
membering that in the meantime,
science says the rocket will be so
developed that it can be shot across
the ocean and that it can carry an
atomic bomb
President Truman was evidently
thinking of this situation when he
said in his address: Modern war is
fought by experts from the atomic
scientist in his laboratory to the
fighting man with his intricate
modern weapons. The day of the
Minute Man who .sprang to the flint
lock hanging on his wall is over.
Now it takes many months for men
to become skilled in electronics,
aeronautics, ballistics, meteorology,
and all other science of modern war.
If another national emergency
should come, there would be no time
for his complicated training. Men
must be trained in advance"
l know there are many persons
in the United States who will not
favor this program recommended by
the President. Some of them feel
that peace and security can be main
tanned without our countrys being
adequately prepared, although other
nations of the world are prepared
for war. There are large numbers
who will be thinking in terms of
| their immediate family welfare, the
boy who is going to college or the
boy who is just starting out in bust
ness AS the training would take
place between the ages of 18 and
20, and take year as recommended,
they are reluctant to have this year
taken out of their boys plans. That
is understandable. But the question
still remains that very soon we will
have, by voluntary enlistments, an
Army of perhaps only 100000 men,
Navy of about one-sixth its pres
ent strength in men and possibly
one-fourth its strength in ships and
planes.
At the same time, the Russians
will have an Army of perhaps 10 to
IL million, with universal service.
France will have an army of three
to five million, with universal serv-
ice. In fact, universal service will be
part of the national program of
practically every European country.
The question for you and me to ask
ourselves in these circumstances, is:
considering the modern develop
ments of science and invention,
where will our loved ones, our farni-
lies and our country be twenty or
thirty years from now, if we find
ourselves as unprepared for another
great emergency as we were for the
last two?
You who are listening, and I, who
represent you in the Senate, have
great responsibility when we re-
fleet upon this whole problem. All of
us could wish that the world were
different. All of us could wish that
men like Hitler, Mussolini and the
Japanese could look at things other
than the way we know that they
have looked at them. All of us would
like to live in a world of peace
where we could go about our bust
nesSes without the threat or fear of
involvement in war. Can we? We
must answer that question in the
light of the last Is years of history.
Will there never be another war?
We hope not. After World War I
we said we would try to stop an
other war. Did we? Ten years after
it was over, we did not think much
about it, and were largely unpre-
pared on Pearl Harbor Day to de-
fend our country, even after most of
the rest of the world had been at
war for two and half years.
| would be interested in getting
! your frank answers to these ques-
tons. Let us think it out together.
What do you think, Mr.. and Mrs.
Maryland? What should we do? Give
me your own answer in short and
understandable language. What can
and what should we do to preserve
the peace of the world and prevent
| the outbreak of another world war?
Second, in the event war comes,
what should be our state of prepar-
edneSS for our own national security?