provements in community and home. The Army cannot and ought not be perverted into a medical institution.

2. Compulsory military training does not develop the kind of discipline and character that will make a positive contribution to the individual and to American society. The main purpose of military training is to teach men to fight and to kill. The realization of this purpose will not build or stabilize character. The Military Establishment is not an institution for building character.

3. The proposed legislation will not provide desirable vocational education. The Army is not a trade school, and there is not sufficient time in 1 year to provide adequately both education and military training.

4. Enactment of conscription legislation would check, rather than further, the development of national policies calculated to meet the needs of full employment and peacetime production. We reject the false comfort of the belief that conscription will reduce unemployment, and challenge any effort to encourage such an illusion as an effort to escape, rather than to solve, the economic problem of reconversion and reconstruction.

For the above reasons we would express our earnest request that the Congress should not enact permanent conscription legislation, least of all while we are still at war and have not a clear picture of peacetime conditions. We urge, positively, that our postwar policy be predicated upon participation in and improvement of international institutions to further the stable peace of mankind.

Chairman WOODRUM. Thank you very much, Mr. Klemme.

We next have Dr. Ganse Little, representing the department of social education and action of the Board of Christian Education of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America. Dr. Little, will you come up?

Dr. LITTLE. Thank you.

STATEMENT OF DR. GANSE LITTLE, PASTOR, BROAD STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, COLUMBUS, OHIO

Dr. LITTLE. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, the following is the statement on peacetime military conscription adopted by the one hundred and fifty-seventh general assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, on May 29, 1945, in Minneapolis, Minn. It is herewith presented for the record:

In 1941 general assembly declared as follows: "However great the necessity under the present circumstances of the steps taken by our Government to prepare for a military emergency, the church insists that no democracy can be sustained in an atmosphere of militarism. We note with approval and assurance that the Military Training and Service Act is viewed as being temporary, for the act contains the date for its own expiration. The present armament program must likewise be regarded as temporary. We call upon the members of the church to hold to the vision and spirit that tolerate these measures only within the limits of the emergency."

The general assembly in 1944 declared: “We would record our conviction that no decision should be made during the war which commits this Nation to a postwar policy of peacetime military conscription." Action parallel to this statement has been taken by great bodies of American Christianity, notably the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, the National Study Conference on the Churches and a Just and Durable Peace, and many sister denominations. We are likewise gratified at the striking evidence throughout our churches of concern,

study, and considered political action on this issue of such far-reaching implications to the cause of Christ among youth and on behalf of peace.

We believe that the American people can be trusted to reach a decision more in keeping with their own and the world's good in the sober light of a later time than under war conditions. But we recognize that both within and without official life there are those with equal sincerity who press for an immediate decision. Therefore, both the times and the issue itself call for continued study and altertness to action.

Your committee therefore recommends:

1. That general assembly reaffirm its conviction without prejudice that congressional action upon a postwar policy of peacetime military conscription should be deferred until after the war.

2. That General Assembly urge the peoples of our churches to study and to be alert to express their considered opinions in the light of these and other considerations: (1) The needs for military manpower for the present war are fully provided for by existing legislation. (2) National security is sought by all. The issue concerns the means for achieving it. This decision must be reached in the light of the fulf context of military, social, economic, political, international, educational, and religious considerations. (3) Peacetime military conscriptions must be judged solely as preparation for and as a security measure against possible future wars, and not in the light of need for health, discipline, citizenship education, and similar matters. These latter are of admittedly vital importance, and about them the Christian Church is and should be profoundly concerned. But a democratic society has civilian and voluntary resources. through church, home, school, government, and other institutions more suitable and adequate to cope with them. (4) As the Presbytery of Pittsburgh declared: "History demonstrates that peacetime military conscription does not protect a nation from unjust attack," nor does it assure military victory either to the aggressor or the attacked nations.. (5) By peacetime military conscription a nation seeks security through unilateral action, rather than through collective responsibility and action envisaged in the anticipated international organization. (6) Attidudes and character formed by growth in Christian living are indispensable national resources for the enduring fabric of democracy and lasting peace. The traditions and conditions of military life do not contribute toward these resources in any measure comparable to the Christian education of youth as found in home, church, youth groups, summer conferences, institutions of higher learning, and the atmosphere of normal community life.

3. That General Assembly declare its support of greater study and more effective measures by the church, and public and voluntary groups, toward the total needs of the Nation's youth in health, character, and training for democratic citizenship.

4. That General Assembly express its earnest hope that the Government of the United States will use its good offices for international agreement on the elimination of national peacetime military conscription.

5. That the General Assembly direct the stated clerk to send immediately a copy of the section on peacetime military conscription of this report to the chairman and members of the Select Committee on Postwar Military Policy of the House of Representatives whose hearings on this subject begin June 4.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to add one very brief word in order that you might understand the body which presents to you this report. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America is a legislative and representative body. Unlike the overhead denominational groups in some church areas it is not some combination of kindred minds that speak for themselves. The General Assembly gathers together to legislate for and resolute for the church at large. We are a representative body representing more than 2,000,000 men, women, and young people in these Tnited States.

I speak for them and not for myself. And I think it very significant that we have adopted consistently throughout the last 5 years the attitude that the whole question of peacetime military training should not be considered in the emotional aura which surrounds a wartime situation.

That completes our statement, unless there are questions.

Chairman WOODRUM. Thank you very much, Dr. Little.

Next we have the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, Mrs. Glen L. Swiggett, legislative representative.

We are glad to have you, Mrs. Swiggett.

Mrs. SWIGGETT. Thank you.

STATEMENT OF MRS. GLEN L. SWIGGETT, LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATIVE, NATIONAL CONGRESS OF PARENTS AND TEACHERS

Mrs. SWIGGETT. The National Congress of Parents and Teachers is made up of more than 28,000 local groups and they are known in your communities as P-TA. The word "Parents" is an inclusive word and includes fathers as well as mothers.

This statement is presented for Mrs. William A. Hastings, President, National Congress of Parents and Teachers.

For more than a year the National Congress of Parents and Teachers-an organization of almost 3,500,000 members with branches in every State of the Union, the District of Columbia, and the Territory of Hawaii-has studied the matter of proposed peacetime military conscription. No group of people is more concerned with such a program than the parents and teachers of this country, devoted as they are to the welfare of children and youth.

At the meeting of our national board of managers held last November, we adopted a statement containing a number of questions that we feel must be answered before anyone can say whether or not such conscription is necessary now or will be so in the future. We closed this statement by saying "We oppose a program of compulsory military training at this time."

With your permission, I will read the statement to which I have

referred.

NATIONAL CONGRESS OF PARENTS AND TEACHERS, CHICAGO, ILL.

STATEMENT-COMPULSORY MILITARY SERVICE

(Adopted at a meeting of the Board of Managers held November 30, 1944)

At the present time the National Congress of Parents and Teachers is studying the matter of compulsory military training, since any item that is placed on our legislation program must be carefully examined from every angle.

We agree that all military needs of the Government must be met. The operation of the Selective Service Act will continue to provide a sufficient number of trained men for our country's present and immediate postwar military needs, but when we consider something so entirely revolutionary in our way of life as compulsory military training, we want answers to certain important questions: What plan of military service will be agreed upon by the Allied Nations when the war ends? How many of our young men would form our portion of an international police force?

Should not the men now in service have something to say about this matter? Shall we impose a prescribed system of military service while they are fighting for freedom?

Can the system of State militia provided for in the Constitution be made to serve the purpose of national defense more adequately than it has done in the past?

What sort of training would be involved in the new program? Would it be entirely military? Would it include some more general education? Could military training be integrated into the regular school and college program? How can we know what our needs will be 10 years hence?

If the health of our youth is a consideration, then the answer is a comprehensive program of health and physical education from infancy to maturity. This war

has shown that neglected physical defects have caused thousands of young men to be rejected. One year's training cannot undo 18 years of neglect; physical fitness should be a continuing program. Illiteracy is another reason for the rejection of hundreds of thousands of men, but, again, 1 year in the Army is not the best corrective. The only effective remedy is a program of equalized educational opportunity for all children from their earliest years.

Our patriotism is equal to that of any other strongly democratic organization, but we feel it our duty to know what we are doing and why before approving compulsory military conscription. Give us time to make an intelligent decision when we have more facts upon which to base it. We oppose a program of compulsory military training at this time.

This was no hurried decision. Some months before the meeting all our State presidents and other members of our national board of managers had been asked to discuss the matter fully with their own. branches of our membership so that the board would be prepared to vote intelligently according to the desires of the majority of their

members.

We are all loyal citizens, and we know that the country must keep itself prepared to meet any emergency that may arise. However, national preparedness is composed of many elements-technical skills, adequate industrial plants, abundant natural resources, a thriving agriculture, naval bases, a reasonably sized Navy and standing Army, and so forth. Furthermore, from this war we have learned that technical skill, a good educational background, and physical fitness are even more essential than the rudiments of military training that can be gained in a comparatively few weeks. Education, skills, and physical fitness, however, require the steady work of years and cannot be acquired in a short time. The responsibility for this training, throughout the period in which our boys and girls are growing up, rests with our schools, our recreational centers, and other community groups. To these, therefore, the public must pledge its steadfast support.

Recent events have shown that a short period of military training is sufficient to enable young people to take their place alongside men with more experience. Not long ago boys of 18 were put in the front lines in the European area after approximately 17 weeks of training. Techniques of war change rapidly. If a reasonably sized standing Army, along with a strong National Guard force, is ready for an immediate emergency, then our youth-in good physical condition, skilled, and alert in mind-can soon be prepared for any part they must play.

So much talk about conscription at this time seems most inopportune. We have millions of men-either under arms now or preparing themselves for war-who could be mobilized quickly in case of another war within the next few years. But the aggressor nations of the world cannot attack us in the next decade or two. Germany has ceased to exist as a nation, and Japan will be defeated before too long. We are the most powerful nation on earth. Whom, then, do we fear? Why must we at this time reverse all our philosophy and fasten upon ourselves a system that we have always opposed?

It is within the power of the United Nations to prevent the rearming of the aggressor nations at any time. Is it not rather a travesty to talk about conscription when we are doing all we can to help organize the world to outlaw war? Are we not sincere in our plans for world security? The immediate problems of the world for the next several

decades will not be those of new wars-except for local difficulties during the reconstruction period-but the tremendous physical, social, and economic problems left by the destruction of the present warin other words, the great human problems.

I have spent some weeks at the San Francisco Conference as a consultant to the United States delegation. During those weeks it has become more clear to me day by day that we must devote ourselves now and for years to come to building up better human relationships; to repairing shattered lives; to preparing the children of the world to be better world citizens; to rebuilding cities that have been destroyedand the community life in them; and to developing a sound and fair economic life for the world. The human problems are of first importance. The danger of war on any large scale is negligible unless we deliberately seek it or thoughtlessly encourage it by ignoring the human problems that breed war.

With these things in mind our national body, meeting a short time ago in Chicago, reaffirmed its belief that no plan for compulsory peacetime military training should be adopted at this time. The need for conscription as a part of a whole program of preparedness should be demonstrated before it is considered. Let us first be sincere in our attempts to prevent a future world war, which would indeed be committing suicide for civilization as we know it. Let us bring our thinking up to date and look forward to a united effort for peace.

We beg you to devote your best thinking and your highest resources to building up the children and youth of this Nation, mentally and physically; to giving them opportunities in home, school, church, and community that will make them people of sound character and citizens devoted to the principles on which this Nation is founded. If at the same time our young people may have the chance to acquire the vocational skills so essential in a scientific age, America will have effective preparedness to supplement the standing army and navy that will be kept as a police force.

No group in the country has given more of its sons and daughters, brothers and husbands, to the war than has our organization; neither has any group been more zealous to serve on the home front. We know from experience the cost of war to the homes and schools of our land-and of all lands. Out of this knowledge we ask that there be no hasty action taken at this time on the matter of compulsory military conscription.

Chairman WOODRUM. Thank you Mrs. Swiggett.

The Rabbinical Assembly of America, Rabbi Robert Gordis, president.

Will you come up, Dr. Gordis?

Dr. GORDIS. Thank you.

STATEMENT OF DR. ROBERT GORDIS, PRESIDENT, RABBINICAL ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA

Dr. GORDIS. Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee, at the very outset may I say that in speaking in behalf of the Rabbinical Assembly of America, the national organization of conservative rabbis, and presenting our reasons why we believe that the establishment of peacetime military conscription now would be unwise and