Evening star., 1946-04-15
Democracy on Trial

The bill to extend the Selective
Service Act was cut to pieces on
Saturday by vote-conscious House,
a majority of whose members
apparently are more interested in
being reelected than in enabling
this country to meet its responsible
ties in working out and maintaining
a lasting peace.
AS reported out by the House
Military Affairs Committee the
legislation was reasonably adequate.
But majority of the House over
rode its leadership to adopt amend
ments which, while leaving the
draft act on the statute books until
February is, 1s47, raise the minimum
age for induction from 1S to 20,
suspend the operation of the draft
between May IS and October Is, and
push off onto the President the
obligation of deciding on the latter
date whether inductions should be
resumed. Furthermore, this mutila-
ton was accomplished without
benefit of a record vote, the majority
having rejected a proposal for roll
calls on the amendments which
would have enabled the people to
know how their representatives had
voted and to hold them accountable.
The direct effect of this depressing
political performance will be to
cripple the Army and subject the
administrators OF our postwar inter-
national programs to new and
dangerous element of uncertainty.
Those sponsoring these amend
ments are relying on the hope, or
taking refuge in the expressed
belief, that the number of volunteers
will be sufficient to permit the Army
to function without the draft. This
is no better than hope, however,
and it is a hope which has been so
heavily discounted by those in posi-
ton to know the facts that one is
almost driven to the conclusion that
the legislators have little faith in
it themselves and are merely using
this talk of the volunteers to cloak
their own dereliction. The plain
conclusion is that a majority of the
members of the House, at best, are
gambling with the welfare OF the
country and the future peace OF the
world for no worthier purpose than
the promotion of their own political
fortunes.
Such conduct as this, beyond its
immediate and direct effects, raises
deeply disturbing questions as to
the adequacy of our political system
in a world which has undergone
such profound changes in the course
of two great wars. In the period
between the wars politically minded
Congresses repeatedly failed to keep
this country's military forces abreast
of world developments. Indeed, as
late as the summer of 1941 after the
fall of France and just few months
prior to Pearl Harbor, a bill to ex-
tend the draft passed the House by
a margin of one vote. Had that
vote gone the other way this country
would have been compelled to scrap
It's military organization when it
stood in the shadow of its greatest
war.
At that time, as at present, the
problem lay in getting the House to
rise above petty politics and meet
the urgent need for true statesman
ship. Saturdays performance sug-
gests that a majority OF the House
members have learned nothing from
experience of the past, and it is not
an exaggeration to say that our
democratic system, with respect to
the great issues Of the day, is on
trial. The House has failed badly
in this test. Fortunately, the Sen
ate has yet to act and it may be
hoped that there will be found in
that body the needed quality OF
craftsmanship so deplorably lacking
in the House.