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Show BETTER HOLD ON HERE A landslide usually ends up in the valley with a lot of stuff it didn't intend to take with it when it started. That is what the avalanche which is sweeping sweep-ing away wartime measures seems to be doing. It is spreading over into military security territory, and something needs to be done about it. The President has tried. In letters to the House and Senate Military Affairs committees he opposes abolition of the draft in fairness to veterans long , away from home and because of the compelling demands de-mands of securing the peace. But Congress is feeling the pull of the landslide. As a matter of fact, Congress is caught between two pressures. One comes from the men who expect an early call from their draft boards and from the parents of the teen-agers among them. The other comes from shadows cast by the impending wrath of veterans who fought' long and hard in Europe or the Pacific and who now face the prospect of seeing their replacements voted away. Right now Congress seems to feel the folks at home nudging its elbow. The veterans' vote isn't quite so close yet. The proposal by some Congressmen to try voluntary volun-tary enlistments is persuasive, with one reservation. Everyone would prefer to have the occupation job done by volunteer soldiers. But while the recruiting experiment 'is gotten under way and put to the test, the release of veterans must slow down. America cannot, can-not, risk leaving even a partial military vacuum in Germany and Japan. Raising the draft age to 20 but continuing Selective Service for the present makes better sense. This would leave no unbridgerl gap. High-point veterans could at lenst see the road to home before , them. And, as one Congressman rightly observed, teen-agers are not well qualified for occupation duties. Nor, we might add, a'-n occupation duties good for teen-agers. C. S. Monitor. |