Evening star., 1948-06-13
Harness May Swing
House Rules Vote on
|Draf Bill Tomorrow
By the Assoeioted Press

BY the AsSociofed Press
The fate of draft legislation In
this session Of Congress hinges on
a House Rules Committee vote ex-
pected tomorrow. One man may
swing it.
If that committee decides to give
the bill the legislative right-o f-way,
Congress still may be able to COM
plete action on it before the sched-
uled recess next Saturday
A poll yesterday by reporters
showed the IL Rules Committee
members to be split this way on the
issue:
Six in favor of sending the bill
to the floor. five opposed and one
not committed, Representative
Harness, Republican, of Indiana.
Harness Has Opposed Draft.
A tie vote would keep the bill in
the Rules Committee.
Mr.. Harness, a one-time infantry
lieutenant and Purple Heart veteran
of World War l, repeatedly has op-
posed both the draft and universal
military training.
. Mr.. Harness was in Indiana, where
he refused to say how he would vote
An associate here said he might vote
to clear the draft bill through the
Rules Committee, with the reserva-
ton that he could talk and vote
against it during floor debate.
The House draft bill, approved %
to 5 by the House Armed Services
Committee, has been held up by
Rules Committee opposition since
May 7.
The six on that committee favor
ing the bill are Representatives Cox,
Democrat, of Georgia; Smith, Demo-
crat, of Virginia: Clark, Democrat,
of North Carolina; Wadsworth, Re-
publican, of New York; Herter, Re-
publican, of Massachusetts,, and Riz-
ley, Republican, of Oklahoma. The
five opposed are Chairman Allen and
Representatives SABBATH, Democrat,
of Illinois; Chenoweth, Republican,
of Colorado; Rich, Republican, of
Pennsylvania, and Brown, Republic
can, of Ohio.
House Gets Senate Bill.
The Senates draft bill, passed by
a 78-to-10 majority Thursday, for
mally reached the House yesterday.
If the House passes its own bill, as
leaders presently plan, the two
measures will go into conference
for differences to be settled
Into the weekend draft debate
lull Representative Hoffman, Re-
publican, of Michigan flung a state
ment calling consideration of a
draft in peacetime "a sorry sight"
Representative Powell, Democrat,
of New York served notice yesterday
that he will demand a House vote
on wiping out racial segregation in
the armed forces.
| He said in a statement he will
offer 81 amendments when House
debate begins, and unless given full
time to discuss them will stage a
one-man strike against conducting
any other business in the House. u
Under House rules, Mr.. Powell
could take five minutes to debate
each amendment, and members op-
posing or supporting his proposals
could have five minutes on each one.
Mr.. Powell said his amendments
will include the six civil rights pro-
posals advanced in the Senate by
Senator LANCER, Republican, of
North Dakota but laid aside after
lengthy debate.
National Guardsmen of draft age
would be exempt from active mill
tary service unoer both the House
and Senate draft bills-if they join
before the draft law goes into effect.
The language of the two measures
j is almost identical. one
Registration Required.
They provide that members Of the
National Guard and the Air Nation
al Guard would be exempt as long
as they performed assigned duties.
However, those within the registra-
ton ages would have to register with
their draft boards.
The same exemption would ap-
ply to members of the various re-
serve organizations.
Both bills provide that l8-year-
olds. who would be subject to regis
tration but not the draft could
escape the draft by Joining the
guard or any of the organized re-
serves before reaching the age. OF
1872.