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Show Bruckart's Washington Digest Universal Military Training Plan Will Encounter Stiff Opposition Government Owned Monopoly to Control Trade in Surplus Products of North and South America Also Faces Serious Consideration. By WILLIAM BRUCKART WNU Service, National Press BIdg., Washington, D. C. WASHINGTON. It begins to appear ap-pear that President Roosevelt again has put his head out as a target for political pot shots. Indeed, the reaction re-action thus far to his mmmt proposals for univer- J sal military training j,.- I for all youths in the m United States and his plan to create a P I gigantic government t owned monopoly to R iv( j buy all surplus prod- f V ucts in North and South America bid f N j fair to develop as r s 1- 1 baufei xum From a political standpoint, the President has taken a long chance. That is more apparent as each day passes. United States Is Not Looking For Any 'Military' Trouble It is to be remembered, first, that the United States and its peoples are not a military nation, not a nation na-tion looking for trouble. In another anoth-er phase, it is to be remembered that there are some 2,000,000 fellows who got their feet stuck in French mud and who fought off French cooties as well as German attacks. They are scattered throughout the United States. I know of few of those fellows who ever want to see any more of war. They are saying 1 so with great freedom. They have convinced their friends and neighbors neigh-bors and the families. So, from a general philosophy of peace and the wora-of-mouth expressions of experience, experi-ence, it strikes me that universal military service will not get very far now unless the entire New Deal political machine can be used to run over the opposition as Hitler's armies overran France. than did Mr. Roose- William velt's program for . Bruckart packing the Supreme court of the United States two years ago. Tremendous opposition has sprung up to each of these plans, but the opposition comes from different quarters and for different reasons. As far as my survey has gone, of course, there are many duplications among opponents, but it must be said that the fundamental objection to each comes from a different base. Reasons for the two proposals, as in anomer way, I tmnK Mr. Koose-velt Koose-velt made a big political mistake by sponsoring universal military service for use when the nation is not at war. It builds up a Republican Republi-can opposition and supplies that opposition with an added type of criticism to be used in the forthcoming forth-coming presidential campaign. And from what I hear, the Republicans are going to use it! Now, concerning the great monop- oly for handling all surplus products prod-ucts of the Western hemisphere: The idea behind this gigantic cartelgovernment-owned and directed the dream that is proposed to be made into a reality is that there is as much danger of German infiltration infiltra-tion through business as through armed forces. Moreover, it is held that With Hitler anrl hie ana stated by those who are working with Mr. Roosevelt on the plans, are to be found wholly in the fear that Hitler's legions armies and "fifth column" workers will invade the Western hemisphere, sooner or later. Whether this fear is wholly genuine or partly political, I cannot say; yet that fear is being used to the utmost to force acceptance by congress and the general public of a two-part program to meet the expected ex-pected invasion that is thus far just a mirage. The program, of course, comes from the wave of hysteria which has been allowed to develop, or has been openly promoted for political purposes. There is thus far no clear cut Dro- gram on universal service. Generally Gen-erally speaking, it provides for the training of youth of 18 for one year. It is not entirely a training on the drill field or in camp. It includes training in work "behind the front." That is to say, men must be trained in airplane factories, in handling planes on the air fields, in gun factories, fac-tories, powder factories, bridge building, transportation and general automotive work and a thousand other lines of service, each of which must contribute active and complete collaboration when the boys with the guns and bombs are out in front I of the enemy. nating Europe, they will dictate trade. That is to say, Hitler's Nazis not only will determine who will sell to those peoples under his steel boot, but they will decide the terms at which the products will be sold. The school of thought behind the monopoly plan contends that such a control of international markets will mean wrecking North and South American trade. Contention Holds That Hitler Will Influence All Trade Further, it is contended that small, or even great, corporations in North and Smith Ama;nn ...Ml Both Girls and Boys Might Be Included That is the general thought. There are those in the administration, however, how-ever, who would go much further. They would make universal military training embrace both boys and girls. They would train the girls of 18 or 19 years to fit into a great war auxiliary equipped to make uniforms and medical supplies and produce and pack the proper foods and that sort of thing. And this group within the President's official family would have all of those boys and girls do this work and do it with almost no compensation except ex-cept their own food and clothes In other words, if the extremes are attained in this direction, it would mean adoption practically of the j . ."..tiii.a will find themselves so thoroughly browbeaten brow-beaten by the Hitler tactics that they will yield to whatever methods the Nazis desire to employ. An of which, they say, will mean that Nazi agents will be all over the place, speaking their pieces and promoting pro-moting their propaganda. So, comes then the plan for a giant corporation that would absorb all of the products of the Western world. This corporation, in the minds of the dreamers, would be so powerful power-ful that it could tell Hitler and his gang where to get off. The company com-pany on this side of the Atlantic could say to Hitler's representatives m effect, we will trade with you' but you will not take advantage of I trade with us, you get nothing over ......o cmyiuyea Dy Hitler, Mussolini Mus-solini and Stalin in the training for military service. Of course, the congress will never nev-er agree to such a thing as that There would be a public revolt against any such program, but I relate these details because they actually ac-tually are being discussed by men in key positions in the President's cabinet. I doubt also that congress can be driven into adoption of any military service program of a compulsory character. There are dangers in a world so upset as ours is of this day. No one can dispute that. On the other hand, congress has voted some six or seven billion dollars to LSPe,nt d6fense Proration. 20-odd billions have been wasted in recent years, there ouirht tn h All of which sounds swell It sounds like hard boiled stuff. ' But it will not work, and no really sane person believes it will work. In ad d.tion, it has all of the elements of danger that can be crowded into the meaning of the word "regimen The first reason it will not work is because there is not the chance of a "teVhe"Ter -Sions tha wul oS nU h America" nations win join. Unless it embraces ev erything, it will flop of Us weight. And if aIPof thf s2 Americans do come, where is a guaranty that they will stay in" They have jumped the traces so ml' pS in taU"MtoK placed in their agreements. ner. reason is such a worthwhile defense structure result from use of that money. The pres ent defense program, as Tt stand" today, provides a regular arm, ! 400,000 men-the largest : pe' ceUm army in our history. A navy of fight! nig ships which will be the largest fleet in all h.story will be construct ed from these funds. Alrpla e. by the thousands are provided for in the general defense program. thes:stbi--r0rp-ds-Cdvr and materials of every known . If there is no such control 2e ? ' Poration will find itSoU shmUy Z mg an accumulation nf years' output anrl SCVeral uuipui, and more comintr in because the world can and doe pro duce more than it uses in . many years. a Ercat POT SHOTS President RovTlt's proposals iinevoai,riiitarytrainin all U. S. youths and the adminis tration's plan to create a govern men -owned monopoly to buy alj surplus products in the Western hem.sphere. are due for a reaI D0 litical storm, in the P William Bruckar t wahl",0' correspondent. He think tywm develop as much "heat" as u' Supreme court "packing" I might ask also for -ill stand who think tSaVp'LP"son' (o trol could be enfnrV P,roduct,n con-Brazil con-Brazil or the L'or0 r other nation in fh U' rrmoft Souther Central AmeHcn Y ,' I 'ggest further Uint ., f'l o""'1 rnarket. as envisio td by ! , bo's, is going to 11 d''Cam t,heml.htVe ju ,nv,rt,y to say: "0kCy bov hn C'10uh 1 wi get aL n d ym' sUr.' what a lovely HuT, ,0Ut "'" And be, veiy situation thnt would These two items u,in , ,iveonBreasKa'shch |