Show universal 0 0 due forr big 0 may backers say needed to 10 bolster foreign policy by BAUKHAGE news analyst and commentator 1 1 I I his is the she first of two articles on the drive for universal military training raining which is to be launched soon and an what is back of that drive the first article deals with the she potential effect of military training on our foreign policy the next with the program itself washington As the foreign ministers conference plodded along in london american delegate marshall ably frequently found himself reaching for one document to support his cause that wasn gasn t there if it had been he would have had concrete proof to place before the world that america is not engaging in the well known game of bluff that is why shortly after the second session of the congress opens in january you will see and hear a lot more about universal mill mili tary training than you ever d d before the president as requested by the american legion is expected to proclaim a UNIT week january 6 through 12 and although there will be no active propaganda on the part of the government departments because the administration especially the war department is going to lean over backwards to avoid the charge of trying to influence congress they will do whatever they can within their limits 0 but there will be a concerted pro drive from many private or the american legion 1 is concentrating on that one issue and its command er james F 0 neil has pub acly stated he is going to give his whole time to it the and other veterans organizations will tall fall in line more important p per e r haps will be the active parti P cipa baukhage tion of the power tul ful national security committee headed by former justice of the su P preme reme court owen J roberts this committee I 1 formed 0 r m e d about two months ago is an offshoot of an ear her citizens committee headed by justice roberts which fully urged passage of a er universal military training bill through the last session of congress like the earlier group the purpose of th s national security committee corn posed of veterans groups ike 1 ke the legion and as well as the na dional chamber of commerce ro tary clubs and the league of women voters is to coord nate eff rt to get universal training enacted into law the interesting thing about the re dewed drive for in 1 tary tra n ng as the men who have begot abed american foreign pol cy interpret it is that a mil tary function is secondary let me explain it this way granted that the kremlin pol poi icy is a long range plan of active aggression whose most immedi ate goal is to get control over as many nations or as much disputed territory as possible and absorption of control over ger many as its chief goal granted that communism in europe at this writing is on the defensive and will be even more so if the european recovery plan succeeds meanwhile the russians will take every step short of war granted that russia does not wish to fight a war at present russia knows we me know that but russia knows that we not only do not want war she also knows WE COULD NOT FIGHT not only because we have only a handful of troops on the con ament a force greatly putnum bared by the red army but because we are woefully unprepared therefore the russians know they can go much further in their cold war than they oth berwise could they can play their obstructionist game in the i foreign ministers conference and in the united nations carry on active propaganda against us along the periphery of their satellites and even AID armed forces within non satellite border states as they are doing in greece the russians feel they can take this course because they believe that the american people themselves will not back any threat to their soviet sion nor they think will amer 4 lea ica support any step to strength en the military machine of the united states that is the reason the hand of our policy makers would be greatly strengthened if universal military training were established here be cause it would show that america is really backing its diplomats of course the argument that a strong military organization prevents war because it reduces the chance of attack is an old one but under the peculiar in ter national situation which ex ests today it is probably more nearly true than ever before in history whether or not a bill authorizing universal military training is passed 4 a ve the coming session depends on whether the people believe this whether it changes the thinking of enough members of congress so that a favorable majority can be ob tamed no one will make a guess now as to what the chances are but the situation mentioned above al ready has effected some changes of viewpoints the sources of support for will draw heavily from tra tion regulars unless popular tion gives them the election year jitters UNIT gathers strong support naturally chan gurney ot of south dakota chairman ot of the senate armed services committee and chairman walter G andrews of new york of the house committee of the same name whose sub commit tee under representative harry towe of new jersey produced the b 11 which is now pending before the house are enthusiastic supporters of the measure and it is expected that friends of would be pres dennial cand date dewey win will fall in line s me un versal mil tary tra ning is one of the major issues which the new york governor has endorsed IS if this assumption is correct sena tor ives and can house ma jor or ty leader I 1 halleck could be in eluded senator of las jas has expressed his approval cand date stassen and his fr r ends though not at dt this writing comm comin eted are emphatically friend ly governor warren another avowed canadate cand date took the trouble to fly east to address STASSEN DEWEY they favor cally the roberts national security committee at length when it was formed there are many other prominent su porters senator taft is definitely opposed to universal military training which he groups with other controls which are objectionable to him opposition may be considered strong from the extreme right and the extreme left it is hardly likely that representative vito marcan tonio who has the support of corn com in new york would vote for outside of congress the church organizations and a large army of mothers are opposed the only way their view can be changed supporters say is to convince them that our boys will be safer trained than untrained that in every war we have had to have a trained citi zen army in the end twice while we waited to train it thousands died and some went into service without proper preparation |