U.S.A. MILITARY TRAINING

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 October 1945, Page 5

U.S.A. MILITARY TRAINING

ONE YEAR FOR ALL MEN PRESIDENT’S RECOMMENDAT’N (Recd. 12.20 p.m.) WASHINGTON, October 23.. A recommendation of one year’s military training for all men between the ages of seventeen and twenty, was made by President Truman in a message to Congress. He urged that a small professional army be maintained supplemented with a reserve of trained young men. He suggested that all male citizens begin the year’s training either at the age of eighteen, or on graduation from high school, whichever is later, with the training beginning in any event before the man reached twenty. Mr. Truman said there should be no exemption for occupational dependency, or any other reason, except total physical disqualification. “I urge Congress to pass legislation promptly while the danger is still fresh in our minds, while we still remember how close we came to destruction four years ago, while we are able vividly to recall the horrors of the invasion our Allies suffered, and while we can still see the ravages and ruin of war. It is only by strength we can impress the fact upon possible future aggressors that we will tolerate no threat to the peace and liberty of the United States. The determination to remain powerful denotes no lack of faith in the United Nations organisation. On the contrary, it shows the intention to back our obligations and commitments under the United Nations, charter.” Emphasising that training would not be drilling, Mr. Truman said it will be on the use of all instruments and weapons of modern warfare. Universal training is not conscription. Trainees would not be enrolled in any of the armed services but would be merely civilians in training. Mr. Truman believed that training could well be used to raise the physical standards of the nation’s manpower, lower its illiteracy rate, and develop the ideals of responsible citizenship. President Truman said that the training programme would provide that after a few months’ training, youths who were physically unqualified for military service, would receive training in certain skilled trades so that if war came they could take their place in shipyards, munition factories and similar industrial plants. Challenging those who declare that compulsory military training would create a powerful military caste, President Truman said that the training will have a completely contrary result. A large trained reserve of peaceloving citizens would never go to war or encourage wai- if it could be avoided. President Truman said: Until we were sure that our peace machinery was functioning adequately, we must relentlessly preserve our superiority on the land, sea and air.

EVEN THE ATOMIC BOMB would be useless to us unless we had developed a strong army, navy and air force with which to beat off the fee’s attacks and then fight our way to points within striking distance of the heart of the enemy.’ Every new weapon will eventually bring some counter-defence against it. Our ability, to use either a new weapon or coun-ter-weapon will ultimately depend upon a strong army, navy and air force, with all the millions of men needed to supply them—all quickly mobilised and adequately equipped. Mr. Truman concluded that the general reserve would be available for rapid mobilisation in a time of -emergency, but would have no obligation to serve either at home or abroad unless, and until called to service by an Act of Congress. In urging the rapid passing of legislation, the President said: “It is our solemn duty in this hour of victory to make sure that in years to come that it is not possible that an aggressor or a group of aggressors can endanger the national security of the United States.”

' SERVICES MERGER. WASHINGTON, October 22. Mr. Forrestal told the Senate Military Affairs Committee that the proposed merger of the War and Navy Departments was revolutionary and" unsound. He suggested a continuation of the existing War and Navy Departments, and the creation of a National Security Council, comprising the Secretaries of the State, War and Navy Departments, with the chairman of the proposed National Security Resources Board as the fourth member. He said that those who favoured the merger overlooked the need for close relationship of diplomatic matters under the State Department and the plans for national defence. There was no need for undue haste on post-war defence plans.

PRESIDENT’S RAIL-CAR WASHINGTON, October 21. The world’s most secret railway car —Mr. Roosevelt ran a large part of the United States share of the war through jts equipment—gave up its secrets when reporters inspected the car, No. l<lo, now used by President Truman. The President, from his carriage while in motion, can telephone any house or radio-telephone-equipped vehicle in the United States; carry on a radio teletype conversation in a virtually unbreakable code throughout the world at 100 words a minute; send or receive a message from ships at sea; and .send or receive telegraph code messages. . J , . The newest communications device on the carriage is the radio teletype operator. It punches out a message on an ordinary keyboard similar to that of a typewriter. The message progresses through a transmitter into a scrambler, which puts it into a code difficult to translate because it lacks uniformity. The resulting jargon enters a “de-scrambler” at the point of receipt, passes into a receiver, and appears readably on a teletype receiver. FINANCIAL TALKS WASHINGTON, Oct. 22. The British Ambassador to the United States (Lord Halifax), after visiting the Secretary of State (Mr. James Byrnes), told reporters that he was “not too certain” that the Bri-tish-American financial talks would be concluded satisfactorily. He said he did not want to appear unduly pessimistic, but new difficulties had kept arising throughout the six weeks of conferences. These difficulties should not be under-rated. Lord Halifax indicated that the talks would be discontinued if no substantial agreement .was reached within a certain time limit. It ’is reported that the proposed American loan to Great Britain has been reduced from £1,250,000,000 to between £750,000,000 'and £1,000,000,000.

WOMAN’S EMBASSY JOB. WASHINGTON, October 20. Mrs. Marjorie Spikes of London, began something new in diplomacy, when she took over the post at the British Embassy as attache in charge of women’s affairs, says the “New York Times’s” correspondent. At a Press conference she termed her job as an experiment, and defined it as liaison with the American women’s organisations, particularly in the field of welfare. Mrs. Spikes saicj: I expect you will take a leaf out of'our book and send someone to Britain, I hope to travel

throughout America meeting women s groups, and finding out the new things this country is doing in education; particularly social and psychiatric work, housing and other fields of women’s interests. I think it logical that posts such as mine may eventually work into a scheme of the economic social council of the United Nations organisation, since the problems with which I am working uire international in scope. RADIO. COMMUNICATION NEW YORK, October 22.. The Western Union Telegra.ph Company plans to replace thousands of miles of telegraph wires between major cities by the installation of super high-frequency radio systems. The first step will be the establishment of a New York, Washington, and Pittsburgh triangle with 21 intermediate relays in high towers on the tops of mountains and hills ranging from 14 to 54 miles apart and as high as 2900 feet. The system planned ffor the first triangle will provide rat lie beams in each direction. Each bea m could be equipped to provide 270 multiplex circuits, so that 10130 operators theoretically could transm it telegrams simultaneously over one beam in one direction. The nevz sys - tem will reduce the number of’ circui t interruptions due to storms, fallimf trees, and electrical disturbances, and can be installed and .moved mote quickly than wires. ° _