soldiers and military administrators. At the same time, the larger Army of 1941-43 was prepared and trained with much greater speed and smoothness. An appreciable measure of credit for this must go to the provisions of the National Defense Act of June 4, 1920, and especially to the system of Reserve officers training then established. The tremendous, decisive fact was that when the United States were compelled in 1941 to take up arms, the Nation had selective service in force and so far advanced that the first stage of training was past for sufficient men to constitute about 30 divisions. Further study of German records and equipment may show that the time thus saved in our preparation for the struggle in Europe enabled this Nation to throw its weight against Germany before the improvement of submarines, the development of jet propulsion, and the perfection of rocket design prolonged the conflict at unthinkable cost and threatened to stalemate the Allies. It already appears plain that if the United States had followed the same course in the First World War, and had introduced compulsory service in 1916, the Germans would have been halted in the first stage of the great offensive of March 21, 1918. In such matters as this, where literally the life and liberty of America are at stake, anyone who dogmatizes is by that very fact discredited. The most that anyone can hope to do is to study the record, to integrate dispassionately the conclusions he draws from it, and, at the end, to voice an opinion. If, in this spirit, I were asked what lesson, above all others, the examination of American military history makes clear, I would say it is, in my opinion, this: The old cycle if disarmament, negligence, and frenzied preparation for war has cost our Nation unreckonable billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives; compulsory military service, properly administered, has been proved to be the surest, most democratic and most economical system of essential national defense. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman WCODRUM. Thank you very much, Doctor. We greatly appreciate your presence. Dr. FREEMAN. Thank you, sir. Chairman WOODRUM. Our next witness is Brig. Gen. John W. Mahan, chairman, National Defense Committee. Disabled American Veterans, who will be introduced by Millard W. Rice. STATEMENT OF MILLARD W. RICE, NATIONAL SERVICE DIRECTOR, DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS Mr. RICE. Mr. Chairman, I am Millard W. Rice, National Service Director of the Disabled American Veterans. May I state, incidentally, that the Disabled American Veterans is a congressionally chartered organization composed exclusively of wardisabled veterans and therefore representative of the human aftermath of war. We therefore have good reason to abhor war. All of us, individually and collectively, that is, and want to do our utmost to prevent our Nation from being involved in that. And so I say that had the Nation been adequately prepared in 1937, 1938, and 1939, and had the enemies we have had in this war been made aware of the fact that we were adequately prepared for war in the event it should come, that the war we are now engaged in would not have taken place. And further may I say that had there been adequate preparation in 1913 and 1914, there would not have been a World War I. Adequate preparation for war, therefore, is the best preparation for peace. Today, we have representing our organization, a former national commander of the Disabled American Veterans, back in 1935 and 1936, and who is chairman of the National Defense Committee of our organization. He has had a varied career which should enable him to speak on the basis of experience, as he served in the National Guard and was a buck private in 1913 and was called to active service in 1916 and served with General Pershing at that time, and was recalled to active duty in 1917 and served as an enlisted man during the First World War and worked up to a sergeantcy and was discharged in July 1919, as a first sergeant while at the Army Hospital at Fitzsimons, and was granted disability for wounds received. He graduated from the University of Montana, became an attorney, and during the years since then he has served 6 years as city attorney for Helena, Mont., and was 10 years Judge Advocate for the Montana National Guard, 4 years as Assistant Attorney General, 4 years as Adjutant General of the State, and during that time was promoted up to the grade of brigadier general, having been released from active service while serving in Honolulu in September 1940. During all these years he has always been interested, as an attorney and as a civic-minded citizen, in his State and likewise interested in the welfare of our Nation and in the welfare of disabled American veterans, and with good reason, with his background of association with the human aftermath of war, and due to that association he does not want to wish this country to become engaged in any future wars. I present General Mahan. Chairman WOODRUM. We are glad to hear from you, General. STATEMENT OF BRIG. GEN. JOHN General MAHAN. Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee, and gentlemen: As chairman of the Committee on National Defense of the Disabled American Veterans, I am authorized to present the views of that organization on universal military training subsequent to the war. The members of this committee know that the Disabled American Veterans is a congressionally chartered organization whose membership is composed exclusively of America's disabled war veterans who carry the scars of battle. The D. A. V. is interested primarily in the welfare of war-disabled comrades and their dependents. Since its inception as a national organization in 1920, the Disabled American Veterans has, however, urged upon the Congress and the people of the United States the necessity for an adequate national defense. In doing this our members considered that they were continuing to serve the great cause of democracy. Certainly men who have continued to suffer from war disabilities for a quarter century can hardly be charged with being militarists. Military training, in our judgment, inculcates into the youth of America that great love of freedom which we all cherish and for which thousands of our comrades paid the supreme price. The members of the DAV feel privileged that they are continuing to pay the greatest price a human being can contribute for the preservation of freedom of thought and action and continue to live. The principles written into the fundamental law of our Nation develop in its individual citizens the desire to get ahead, to serve, and, at the time of his final passing, to leave something which is better, if possible, than what he found when he first became conscious of the privileges accorded to him by his forefathers. It is our judgment that the men and women who have sacrificed the most have profited more. It is for these reasons that we feel it our obligation that we commend to this honorable committee and to the American people that they not fall into the same pitfalls and errors in judgment exercised for a period of time subsequent to the termination of World War I. It is our belief that it is not dangerous to prepare to defend against aggression; preparedness does not incite war any more than insurance invites fire. Adequate preparedness for war is the best preparation. against war. The greed for power and domination by certain military groups in the world, as you know, ignores all human considerations. It is ruthless, barbaric, and revels in being able to destroy everything that right-thinking Americans cherish and hold sacred. That greed is untruthful, unscrupulous, and employs every device conceivable in the human brain to lead a right-minded and right-thinking people to their own destruction. We submit that this, the machine age, has reduced the size of the world and has changed our relation to the rest of the world, and that our freedom in the future depends upon our taking the place in world affairs that we justly should take.. This country should from this day hence adhere to the policy of that great American, Theodore Roosevelt, when he stated, substantially, "Talk softly, but carry a big stick." Since the conclusion of World War I, the people of America have had various thoughts concerning national defense; that is, national defense during peacetime. Many of our citizens, well-meaning, have had the conviction that if we set the proper example in the world in our association with other nations and their governments, the world would follow in our footsteps, and happiness would be the net result; that if we were willing to live and let live, we would be accorded the same respect by all nations of the earth. This philosophy reflected an attitude which naturally followed the wonderful experience of being free for many generations. It was not based upon any fact other than what we learned within the borders of our country. It does not take into consideration the philosophies that were carefully cultured and given nutrition by the Huns and by the subjects of the Sons of Heaven. Being an isolated conclusion, it naturally failed as an international policy. Our enemies were reduced to a state of military impotence at the conclusion of World War I. Even though we defeated our enemies in the last world war, political demagogues raised their voices to Americans, following the armistice on November 11, 1918, and we were able, through one device or another, to persuade the American people to disarm. We do not want, we cannot have, under any circumstances, a repetition of this unwise policy following this war. That is, at least, not until the machinery for world security has demonstrated its effectiveness. Following the conclusion of the last world war there was also in this country a group of individuals who preached that we should fight only if our continent was invaded. We are grateful to Divine Providence that America was not invaded; that our mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters have not been subject to the terrible consequence experienced by those countries which have been under the heels of the aggressor nations. We have been spared, at a tremendous price in blood and money, from the violation of everything that we hold sacred. According to the records of the War and Navy Departments, we had in 1939, in active service in the United States Army, 13,814 commissioned officers and 174,079 enlisted men. During that year the Navy had in active service 11,600 commissioned officers and 111,000 enlisted men. We respectfully call to your attention the fact that the present war started in September of that year. When the States in the American Republic were organized into one Nation, primarily for the purpose of national defense, those responsible for writing the fundamental laws made certain that in the United States of America the civilian, rather than the military, would always be supreme. We do not believe there is a rational man in this country today who would change our fundamental law in that respect. Our Federal and State constitutions make it impossible for any military clique to get the opportunity to assume control of the destinies of our people and in this way dominate the Government, which derives its power from the consent of the governed. This policy has not been outmoded and is one that we should cherish and defend with our lives and all that we possess. We should be guided by history. We should profit by the passing of each milestone. If we fail to do so, then, the sacrifices made in World Wars I and II will have been in vain. We insist that the wearing of a uniform in war or in peace does not make a man militarist. To the contrary, it builds him into a good and substantial American citizen. Instead of regimenting the minds of American youth, service in one of our armed forces has exactly the opposite effect. It gives him more self assurance and serves to make him more independent, and brings home to him, firsthand, the fact that the freedom he enjoys did not happen just by accident. If training in one of our armed services had the least tendency to regiment the minds of those taking the training, we would not now be having the satisfaction of knowing that Nazi Germany has surrendered unconditionally. It was largely the individual, independent thinking of the men in the ranks that made this victory possible. The youth of Germany were regimented and that regimentation was completed before the youth attained the age of 18 years. It was started at the time the Nazi youth became of school age. He was taken out of his home and the home influence was destroyed. Any one who contends that military training in one of the armed services of the United States has any tendency to regiment the mind of our youth is wholly ignorant of the net effect of military training on our youth. If the American youth is permitted to reach the age of graduation from high school and is then given 1 year of military training, this training will have the effect of bringing out independent thinking and independence of action. In addition, the youth will be equipped to render valuable service in case the country needs such service while he is still of military age. In America we cannot and should not depend upon voluntary service. Such a policy is not democratic and is not truly American. Universal training will take in everyone without favor. It will place service to this country, and the preparation for service to this country, on an equal and democratic basis. At the last national convention of the DAV, which was held in Denver, Colo., in September 1944, a resolution was unanimously adopted, which concluded in part as follows: We commend to the American people, and to the Government of the United States, which derives its power from the people: (1) That we have at the conclusion of this war compulsory military training; that each of our young men be required to serve in one of the armed services for a period of 1 year. (2) That in addition to the elementary military training, we also have Army training; that is, the concentrated training of our future soldiers, sailors, and marines in sufficiently large groups to give the officers more than paper experience in commanding armies and fleets. (3) That we keep and maintain an adequate, regular Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, and sufliciently large to train the youth of America. (4) That we maintain a two-ocean Navy. (5) That we unalterably oppose the repetition of the sinking of our Navy for the purpose of example. In making the above recommendations we are conscious, as above indicated, of the fact that it may seem, to those who ignore facts, that we propose a change to the point where the military will be supreme over the civilian. We ask only that those who have such a conviction sincerely investigate and consider the question and that they reach their conclusions from facts disclosed by history. That conclusions reached by wishful thinking only, if not supported by realistic facts, will do nothing less than destroy our way of life in the end. (6) We recommend that the United States collaborate with the governments of our allies, and any government of a free people, to force and then preserve the peace of the world. We ask for the spirit of that great American statesman and patriot, Patrick Henry, who said: "Give me liberty or give me death." ** That this convention call to the attention of the American people the impossibility of training an American soldier to effectively use the modern implements of warfare in less than 1 year. Gentlemen of the committee, the members of the Disabled American Veterans in the United States wholeheartedly endorse the proposed policy of requiring all young men, sometime between the ages of 18 and 23, to undergo military training for a period of at least 1 year, with due credit extended for any ROTC or National Guard training, as well as for any actual service in our armed forces. Our own previous experience in the military service and our serviceincurred disabilities cause us to believe that for several years following this war, at least, it will be wise for the United States to have universal military training for its youth. It is also our judgment that such training will be tremendously beneficial to each individual and in each case the training will assist in building greater Americans. |