The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1950-06-16
Why Does the Army Really
Want Selective Service?

Want Selective Service?
Since the Army's public arguments
for peacetime CONSUMPTION are so
Transparency INADEQUATE, the ques-
ton arises as to its real reasons
for wanting on the books a Selective
Service Act it does not expect to
use. 1t is always dangerous to guess
about motivations, but some reas-
ons suggest themselves at once:
Power and prestige. Certainly this
desire for status on the part of mill
tary men plays a large part in the
matter. With all young men-and
later all young women?-legally sub
ject to a military decision to place
the draft in operation, the military
would have advanced another long
step toward the dominant position
they have occupied for centuries in
many foreign countries. Dovetail-
ing with this is the apparent inten-
ton of the Army to use the draft as
a means Of
Establishing universal military
vote Universal Military Training, a
pet project of the Army, there are
indications that the Army is circum-
venting this refusal by setting up
through the draft what amounts to
UNIT in fact.
1t does this by drafting young men
for 81 months and then offering to
release them after only IL months
IL.
ponent or enlist in the Regular Army
for years. This, explained Sec
rotary of the Army Gray, ION a very
small scale is what the Army had in
mind in it's urgent support of UNIT"
By following this procedure system
the Army could of course
draft almost twice as many men as
the law would contemplate, and prob
ably assure the CONSUMPTION, mill
tary training, and reserve status of
a large number of the able-bodied
18-year-olds in the country.
Our job is war" The third and per-
haps most important reason for Army
insistence on an unnecessary draft
law is found in the psychology of
most professional military men who
feel that "our job is war"
More than once such men have
pointed out that the job of the mill
5ary, as soon as one war is ended,
IS to begin planning for the next.
Most top-ranking military men have
spent the greater part of their lives
n military activities, and their tend
,ncy is always to identify national
ecurity with military strength and
o depreciate ny considerations
hat place any kind of block in the
way of accommodating such strength
o the maximum possible degree.
The point here is that the Army
wants to establish the principle of
peacetime CONSUMPTION, whatever
the immediate advantages to il
may or may not be. A conscrip-
ton law on the books would give
to the military the power to mob
ilize the nations manpower with
minimum Of Interference from
Congress.
The men who founded this nation
ecognized the dangers in the prevail
nee of such ideas. They set up safe
yards aroun the principle of civil
an conrtol of the military, and
round the parallel principle of nom
anticipation by the military in gov
rnment and politics.
Not mentioned by the Army is
e psychological effect on young men
the existence of draft law, even
hen it is not operating. These men
ust register, fill out questionnaires,
nd receive classifications. Uncer-
Unity is created in their minds, even
lough no men are being drafted
the moment, particularly when
elective Service officials periodical
announce possible resumption
activities soon.
Such statements not only make
lie country think there is a nee d for
lie draft, but also make boys of draft
re hesitate to begin college car
II or to start up in business. Some
Continued on Page Three)