SEARCHING FOR ADVICE AND INFORMATION

Now, let me recite to you just how the Commission proceeded in its effort to gather information and advice upon which we might make our recommendations to the Congress.

Assuming that the fundamental principle of universal military training had been established by the very distinct provisions of Public Law 51, our Commission did not feel justified in holding any hearings at which opinions of universal military training as such, either pro or con, would be invited. Rather, we decided to search for information and advice as to the best way to operate the universal military training program once it was started. We did not hold public hearings; instead we held a long series of what might better be termed conferences. A total of about 75 people attended those conferences and many others, unable to attend, wrote out their recommendations for us at our invitation.

By no means did we confine our consultations to military people. Obviously, we had to obtain all possible information from them in order to learn something of the military problems involved. And, I must say, the Commission appreciates the quick response of the military to our numerous demands for information. But it was from civilians, more than from the military, that we counted upon receiving informative suggestions.

Among those, for example, who took part in our conferences were official representatives of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, AMVETS, and Catholic Veterans. We also listened attentively to the observations and recommendations of ministers of religion, of outstanding educators, of prominent members of the medial professions, and of representatives of public or semipublic organizations interested in the maintenance of high standards of health and morals, including representatives of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

In these conferences, the discussions were of the across-the-table type, informal, candid, and, I must say, very informative.

In this undertaking every member of our Commission took an active and intimate part. Every paragraph, every sentence or expression, employed in our recommendations to the Congress was discussed again and again, and, I am glad to report to you that every decision reached by the Commission was the result of a unanimous vote.

SOME OF THE MORE IMPORTANT RECOMMENDATIONS MADE BY THE

COMMISSION

Public Law 51 provides specifically for the induction of young men-known as trainees-into the Training Corps, there to undergo 6 months of basic military training. The use of that term "basic military training" in Public Law 51 should not be overlooked. The question arose as to what standards of physical and mental fitness should be established to govern the inductions.

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL STANDARDS

Some of those with whom we conferred were of the opinion that those standards might well be fixed at a level below those now enforced in the Regular forces in order that the program might be made somewhat more universal. It was contended by the proponents of this reduction in standards that many young men badly handicapped physically might well be trained for special work which they could perform despite their disabilities. However, Public Law 51 in stating explicitly that trainees shall undergo basic military training seemed to us to eliminate those men whose disabilities were such as to prevent them from taking such basic military training. Rembember, please, that this training must be pretty rugged if it is to produce men fit for combat or other heavy physical work. Our examination of the present standards in effect in the Regular forces convinced us that those standards, physical and mental, were already low enough to cover and include all men actually fit for such training. If those standards as applied to the Training Corps were to be reduced, we would find drawn into the corps men who could not undergo the training and we would thus fail to abide by the intent of the Congress. Therefore, we recommend that the standards of physical and mental fitness now prevailing in the Regular forces be applied to trainees.

SCHEDULES OF INDUCTION

We were confronted with another important problem involving a decision as to the schedule to be employed in the induction of trainees into the corps. Suggestions ranged from weekly inductions, through monthly to semiannual inductions.

SPLIT TRAINING

Moreover, it was proposed to us that the total of 6 months in training might be split into two 3-month periods and an opportunity be given to those young men who preferred such a split to take their training during two successive summers adding up to a total of 6 months. In considering this particular proposal, we encountered some difficulties which impressed us.

First, we could reach no reliable estimate as to just how many young men would prefer to undergo the split training. Obviously, the proponents of split training had in mind young men who are in, or about to go to, college and who could spend 3 months in the summer without interfering with their college plans. In our efforts to reach an estimate we found that in October 1950 there were about 160,000 18-year-old men in college. Assuming that universal military training would be put into effect completely making about 1 million young men liable for induction, we find that those in college would represent about 15 percent of all 18-year-olds. To them might be added as a result of the proposed volunteer process, several thousand additional youngsters who for one reason or another would prefer to take their training in two summer periods. In any event, the total number would be considerable but no matter what the number would be you must take into consideration not only the effect upon the training itself but the additional expense to be imposed upon the taxpayers.

EXPENSE AND EFFECTS OF SPLIT TRAINING

Under the split-training program each trainee would have to make two round trips from his home to the training camp thus doubling the transportation expense.

When a trainee reports for training, he must undergo a physical examination in order that the last information regarding his physical condition be obtained. That physical examination would hold good only for the first 3 months. On returning for his second 3 months, he would have to go through another physical examination to ascertain whether anything had happened to him during his 9 months' absence. This would take time and cost money.

When a trainee reports for training, he is supplied clothing and uniforms-this at the public's expense. What is to happen to his clothing and uniforms at the end of his 3 months' training when he goes home for 9 months? Shall he take it with him and use it, or shall the Government be put to the expense of taking it from him, cleaning it, inventorying it, and storing it away awaiting his return the next summer?

And again, let us consider the use of the equipment-rifles, machine guns, mortars, field-artillery pieces, antiaircraft guns, tanks, and trucks of all sizes and types. Would it be left there for 9 months awaiting the trainees' return, much of the heavy equipment out in the open air exposed to the weather with a detachment of service people trying to take care of it, or would much of it be transported to other installations at great expense? Remember, please, Senators, that the investment in this equipment is enormous and the deterioration which would undoubtedly overtake it as a result of the splittraining program would represent many thousands of lost dollars.

If the 6 months' training required by law is split into two 3-month periods, the interruption involved would set the man back considerably so that upon his return for his second 3-months' training, he would have to go through a refresher course to remind him of just where he left off the year before. In our judgment, this proposal would be injurious to any program seeking truly effective military training and would certainly add greatly to the cost of the program.

Coming to the effect of the split-training program upon the effectiveness of the instruction to be given to the trainees, we find that for the operation of the 3-month camp, a full staff of trainers and service personnel sufficient to operate camps containing something in excess of 160,000 trainees would have to be mobilized and put to work for that 3-month period. Having finished that job at the end of 3 months, where would those instructors and service personnel go? They would have to be scattered around, I assume, in existing military installations and some of them being civilians would return to their civil pursuits. Under such circumstances it would be well-nigh impossible to maintain a high standard of military training in a 3-month camp separated from its successor by a period of 9 months.

Finally, we come to what we regard as the most important objection to this proposal. If we were to set up two 3-month periods of training for the purpose of taking care of college boys or boys about to go to college and fill those camps largely with such youngsters, we would have established a separate class of trainees, a preferred class.

This runs contrary to our whole conception of the democratic process involved in UMT. We are convinced that the boy who is able to go to college, very frequently as a result of the ample financial means of his parents, should take his training alongside of the son of the laborer who can't afford to send his son to college. There should be no distinction. They should all be trained together and thus cultivate a democratic spirit.

INDUCTION ON A MONTHLY BASIS

After long searching for a wise solution, your Commission reached the conclusion that induction into the Training Corps should be on a monthly basis. In other words, once each month men would be inducted into the corps following as closely as practicable a quota system. Insofar as possible the youngster himself would be given a choice as to just when he would like to commence his 6 months of training. Such a program would be elastic to a considerable extent and no matter what the total number of men inducted in any given year, the inductions would be distributed pretty evenly from month to month.

This, in turn, would make it entirely feasible to maintain a staff of instructors and service personnel actively at work throughout the entire year, thus increasing the efficiency of the training and reducing the net cost per trainee down to a reasonable level.

The employment of good trainers is of vital importance. Able though they may be, they will have a good deal to learn. The best way for them to learn is for them to take under their instruction an entering class of green trainees each month and organize the training class by class as it moves up the scale month by month to the day of graduation—a steady year-round job.

Thus, we make our recommendation-that the induction of trainees. be upon a monthly basis.

A MERIT SYSTEM

Another of our recommendations relating to the conduct of training is, I think, well worth mentioning. We urge that as a youngster proceeds with his training, his instructors shall from time to time evaluate his characteristics through the maintenance of what might be called a merit system. Under such a system the characteristics of the young man would be noted his industry and dependability, his willingness to learn, his adaptability to specialist or technical training, his conception of teamwork, and finally, his qualities of leadership. These and perhaps others of his qualifications would constitute his record which would be completed in this respect upon his day of graduation from the corps. There can be no doubt that the average trainee would be tempted under such a system to do his best so that he might graduate with a creditable record. This is highly important. Then, too, when he graduates from UMT and passes into the Reserves, the appropriate commander of the Reserve organization to which he may be assigned would know something about the kind of man he is, and will be better able to assign him to jobs for which he is fitted. Or, if the UMT graduate does not happen to be assigned to an organized reserve unit, such as the National

Guard, for example, but rather is in what might be termed a pool of reservists subject to call to active duty at some future date, those executing the call and knowing what sort of men were wanted would know where to find them. Obviously this would be of great assistance to the effective organization and maintenance of our Reserve forces.

NEED FOR PROMPT ENACTMENT OF LEGISLATION

As you will note, I have not attempted to discuss all the problems and details involved in our recommendations to the Congress. Those not discussed by me will, I happen to know, be discussed by other members of the Commission, and I think I can assure you that the total of our discussions will cover pretty nearly the whole field.

In concluding my statement, I express the earnest hope that the Congress will place upon the statute books the legislation which we have proposed, or something very much like it. Our Commission does not insist that every one of our proposals is perfect. During my own long service in the Congress I learned that in many instances bills submitted to the Congress can be improved as a result of careful study given them by the respective standing committees. We know that your committee, the Senate Committee on Armed Services, will study every paragraph, sentence, and phrase in the legislation which our Commission proposes, and I can assure you that the members of our Commission will be glad to confer and cooperate with you upon any matter if you desire us to do so. We are convinced, however, that our proposals are aimed in the right direction and that when perfected and placed upon the statute books, all the legal machinery for the implementation of universal military training will have been created, complete and ready. Without such machinery, implementation cannot commence.

At this moment the members of our Commission are unable to state just when and upon what scale universal military training may be started. I confess to you, however, that all of our members hope that it may be started in the not too distant future in order that we may commence to build up as soon as possible a trained citizen reserve composed of UMT graduates. This is something we have never done in all our history. It is high time for us to commence. The actual pushing of the button must be done by the President or the Congress or both in accordance with the provisions of law. What we want most of all is that the whole machinery outlined by law shall be ready to go into operation when the button is pushed. Hence, our earnest plea that legislation of this type be enacted into law at this session of Congress. Then, and not until then, will we be ready to go to work when the signal is given.

Chairman RUSSELL. What member of the Commission, Mr. Chairman, do you propose now to present his views?

Mr. WADSWORTH. Mr. Chairman, before introducing the next member, may I request that the statement prepared by the Honorable William L. Clayton, who was unable to be here today, be inserted in the record at this point.

Chairman RUSSELL. That will be done.

(The statement referred to is as follows:)