Evening star., 1947-02-27

asthma, ricketts,, smallpox, angina
pectoris, the dope habit and gall
Looping dandrun combined. Such
words and phrases as sregimenta-
ton, imperialism" world aggres-
sion" "war-mongering" and mill
tary dictatorship" echo and re-echo
through the mimeographed pages.
It decries the indignities Of the mill
tary caste system and deplores the
very thought Of depriving free men
OF their personal liberty.
It slams home argument after
argument against putting little
Willie Gillis into shoes a size too
small and hat size too large.
and placing him at the mercy ct
a topkick whose voice is neither
gentle nor well modulated. It does
practically everything except stand
up and sing, II Didn't Raise My
Boy to Be Soldier" the second
line of which is, 81 brought him
up to be my pride and Joy" and
the third line OF which, unless nv
poor old memory fails me. H "Who
dares to place a musket on his
shoulder to kill some other mothers
darling boy?"
Only One Condition.
I want the gentlemen who sent
me this letter to know that agree
with them 100 per cent. They can
count on me as one of their most
enthusiastic and verbose supporters.
With one little provision. AL
they need do to get me on their
team Tor keeps is mail me guaran-
tee that there won't ever be another
war. # they will cross their hearts
and promise me this and back up
their promise with q substantial
cash bond deposited in a solvent
and trustworthy banking institution
I am their pigeon. They can place
McLemore's name on the top of
the letterhead as a member of the
committee.
Short Of that, I am going to have
to string along with Messrs. Truman,
Marshall, Nimitz, Eisenhower, Pat
terson, Forrestsal and the rest of the
boys who seem to be just a bit more
skeptical than the gentlemen who
wrote me the letter. Now that
doesn't mean to say they're def
nitely looking forward to another
war In the immediate future or that
they're trying to stir one up just for
the heck Of 1t. It is simply that
they aren't quite ready to suaran-
tee that at some future date another
Hitler, Mussolini, Kaiser Wilhelm
or TOTO won't pop up and throw an
other sneak punch when nobody Is
Next Punch to Be Fast.
They know, too, that if there ever
Is another sneak punch it'll be q
dilly. Faster than sound, quicker
than light and super-atomic. There
won't be any time for the President
to draw draft numbers from q fish
bowl to ind out the names Of draf-
tees, fathers and grandmothers, or
for drill sergeants to embarrass
rockies with wheezy old wise cracks
and darling boys will have some-
thing great deal more lethal than
muskets on their shoulders.
+ admittedly am not man given
to paying gratuitous compliments
to the military. but despite what
people may say, I am not an idiot,
either. I learned the hard way, as
who didn't, that the surest-fire gun
fodder is an insuffciently trained
soldier. The proper and only time
to train him is before the shooting
starts. It's too late afterward.
So, If you gentlemen will just
send me that little ironclad, CASH
bonded guarantee that from the
North Pole southwark the fighting
is all over, positively, utterly and
completely forever, you can send me
my membership certificate and, I
hope, a red, white and blue button.
Distributed by McNaught Syndicate. 1nc.)
paxyveo nvofc ~, 1yn,1r Il