The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-01-07
INTO THE FUTURE

To those who fear the Army might militarl2e our young men and indoctrinate them with dan- gerous conceptions, to those who express doubts of the ArIny's ca pacity to do the job, submit the evidence of our present armies. The troops have been trained suf- ficently to defeat a flrst-class en- eny. Their minds have not been warped-quite the contrary. The American people are satisfied, I am confident, that their Armies are, in fact, armies of democracy. They know that the men compos- ing those Armies are far better physically than they otherwise would have been, that their gen. eral health has been better than at home, except for those serving in the tropical jungleS. The officers who trained our Armies were largely citizen-soldiers. They did have the initial guidance of Regu- lar officers, but only per cent of the entire officer corps was pro- fessional.
 To those who consider the in- troduction of a system of univer- sal military training an imposition on democracy, I would reply that in my opinion 1t would be the most democratic expression of our na- tional life. Whatever my limita- tions may be in judging this mat ter, I submit the evidence of the proposal of OFT first President.
 Washington's program provided for universal training of all men arriving at the age of 1T. The citizen-militia was to be devtded into three classes, men from 17 to 21, known as the advance corps, men 21 to 46, known as the main corps, and men from 46 to 6l known as the reserve corps. All of the peacetlme training would have been concentrated in the ad- vance corps, but eventually all members of main and reserve corps would have been graduates of the training program. The mill tia bill was first introduced in the Third Session of the First Con- gress. It was considered in the House on March l792, and as finally enacted contained no ele- ment of any of Washington'S rec concentrations. It was so emascu- lated when finally adopted that the representative who introduced the bill himself voted against its passage.
 Might Have Avoided Wars
 It appears probable that had the bill been approved by Congress, the United States might have avoided much of the war making that has filled its brief history the impressment of American sea- man would not have been re- garded as a harmless pastime in the early 1S00's, nor would the Kaiser have been so easily dis posed to avenge the death of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 with a world war, nor Adolf Hitler have been quite so quick to break the peace, if over these years the United States had been recognized by the war nongers as a nation immediately to be reckoned with.
 The peacetime army must not only be prepared for immediate mobilization of an effective war army, but it must have in reserve the weapons needed for the first months of the fighting and clear cut plans for immediately produc- ing the tremendous additional quantities of material necessary in total war. We must never again face a great national crisis with ammunition lacking to serve our guns, few guns to fire, and no decisive procedures for procuring vital arms in sufficient quantities.
 The necessity for continuous re- search into the military ramifica- tions of mans scientific advance is now clear to all and 1t should not be too difficult to obtain the necessary appropriations for this purpose during peacetime. There is, however, always much reluc- tance to expenditure of funds for improvement of war-making in- struments, particularly where there is no peacetime usefulness in the product.
 The development of combat air. planes is closely allied with de. velopment of civil aeronautics: the prototypes of many of our present transport planes and those soon tc come were originally bombers Many of the aeronautical princi. pies that helping give this Nation the greatest air force in the world grew out of commercial develop ment ard our production know. how at the start of this war wal partially the fruit of peacetims commercial enterprises. Since many vital types Of weapons have nc Il commercial counterpart, the peace.