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Draft Touchy Issue For Nation's Politicoes Fear Strong Reaction Against Military Service Even as Occupation Needs Point Up Requirement for Large Army. i vf I By BAUKHAGE ^ , /Veuj Analyst and Commentator. WNC Service, 1616 Eye Street NW, Washington, D. C. One ot the administration's hottest political potatoes is a matter that nobody likes to talk about?even the opposition. It is military service. Not universal military service next month or next year but any old kind of military service today and tomor row, right up to election day, 1948. The problem has many facets but it has one, awesome nub ? the vet eran vote. There are several danger signals which the Democratic ad ministration is watching with some trepidation: the criticism over con tinuation of the draft which the President has given his complete and unqualified support; recurring complaints of discqmented soldiers and their familiea^appearing in ra dio, congressional, national commit tee and other Washington fan mail, which add up to a resounding de mand for more and quicker dis charges, and finally, a growing fear that the feeling which used to be called isolationism is cropping up in a new form?"anti-militarism." The administration doesn't dare make any move to permit a drastic reduction in the armed forces now. Military experts think it will be the middle of October before any such move can be contemplated. By that time thpv think the rtanffer of nnv (erious outbreak in Japan will be over, or there will be evidence that one is coming. ( Await Jap Reaction To Occupation The full impact of the occupation of Japan will not be felt until American soldiers are deep in the heart of the country. Before that, the reaction of the Japanese people and the influence of the military leaders as opposed to the influence of the emperor, cannot be gauged. Suffice it to say that the surrender terms as well as the surrender it self came as a shock to the Japa nese people. Many Americans fail to realize that a relatively small American army landed in Japan in an area in which there were no Japanese except those permitted to be there by the authorities who arranged the surrender. There was no contact with the genera] population or the military. Scattered over the rest of the country is a powerful Japanese army, as yet fully armed, in defense positions, strengthened when the 'Japs completely reorganized their home defense against invasion after the capture of Okinawa. Dis regarding the thousands of Jap anese sailors now on shore, the air force, the supply troops and others, It Is known that on Hokkaido there were two full divisions. (A Jap divi sion is between 15,000 and 20,000 men.) On Honshu there were 44 divisions and 7 brigades (a brigade I is roughly half a division). On Kyu shu 14 divisions and 7 brigades. It is estimated that we would have 400,000 men in the Islands by the middle of September. That is against a Japanese army (not count ing the aailors, airmen and others) of well over a million. That is why there can be no sharp reduction in American troops until we know what, if anything, is cooking under the cherry trees. And then when that question is answered we have the question of occupation. It has been estimated that to police Germany, Japan and Korea and perhaps parts of China it will take 1.100.0000 men. Where will they come fromT .Where will 300,000 coma from for that matter? Already a sharp re version against military service has begun and if it follows the curve after the last war recruitment on a basis of voluntary enlistment is hopeless. At its low point the army after World War I numbered 130, 000 men. I well recall the story of one of my officer friends whose regi ment, stationed in the middle west, dropped so low that men themselves voted to spend their post exchange funds for a recruiting campaign. With a band and a company he paraded the countryside for a week. He got just three recruits and two of those were rejected as physically unfit. As one officer remarked bitterly to me: "How are you going to get a man to join the army for 321 a month (the basic peacetime pay) when Uncle Sam will pay him $21 a week for not working at all?" (He referred to the unemployment com pensation called for in pending legis lation.) That's the position the administra tion is in when the cry to end the draft arises. Vets' Attitude Bean Watching The complaints from the veterans is another matter. They are not so much concerned over who gets into the army as who gets out. A lot of them are marking time right now, later a lot will be sent overseas in the boresome jobs of policemen. Why shouldn't I get out now and get a start in business? Why shouldn't my husband come back and support me in the manner to which I have been unaccustomed since he joined up? Why shouldn't my boy get back to school where he belongs? Why shouldn't my sweetheart be allowed to come home and marry me like he said he would? And some day sonny and daddy and lover will come back. And they'll join a veteran's organization and they will vote at the polls; ah, there's the rub! Now we come to the third point which is really the most Insidious, the one which has to be handled the most delicately. We may have learned in this country that an ocean is no longer a barrier against the enemy. But we know there is another barrier which separates our maritime states from the heartland of the nation bordering the Missis sippi flood plain. That part of the country forgot its so-called isola tionism and threw its whole heart into the war. But the war is over ? on paper anyhow. It is time to put i tU. u ?_ J u I. a. it _i i_ uic nanu uulfl hj uic ^luugn again. There is need of stout arms and strong backs In the fields, and though Japs and the Germans may require watching, why not let George do it? That is a natural feeling and clever politicans would have little trouble in turning it to account, by raising the cry of militarism, of im perialism and all the other isms which men whose bams are their castles and whose meadows are their empires, dislike. Such a senti ment could be turned against one administration as well as another but it so happens that the mid dle west is naturally somewhat Re publican in its leanings normally, and the Democrats are now in the saddle. One very keen political observer who has watched the way of the voter for many years said to me the other day: "If there were a Presi dential election tomorrow Truman would win it." And when you con sider the matter coldly there are good reasons for the statement. The Republicans have had one healthy issue after another knocked out from under them. Truman has giv en business its head, he has sat on the OPA, he has released one con trol after another, he has most so iivivuusiy ueierrcu w congress, ne is on the way to break up the war agenciea and get the business of government back Into the old line departments. Such is the picture as of today all clear except for one little cloud in the sky, not much bigger than a serviceman's hand, but there is thunder and lightning in that cloud and if the circumstances were such that its bolts of wrath were directed at the administration it would not even take, say a Stassen, to win the Presidential race in a walk. ? ? ? By next February?barring unex pected developments?all soldiers in Europe except those in the army of occupation and the minimum re quired to dispose of the army's sur plus property will have been re turned to the United States, Maj. Gen. C. P. Gross, chief of transpor tation, said in an announcement by the war department. Return of American torcea in the Pacific will be completed next June, according to present estimates. More than 1,790,000 men are sched uled for return from the Pacific theaters, while approximately 2,000, 000 remain to be returned from Eu rope. Some 190,000 other troops also are to be returned from other overseas theaters. BARBS. . . by Baukhage The Mexican government hat turned ita German priaonera tree and invited them to become citizena if they wish, with a thousand peso stake in a plot of land it they want it. ? ? ? And now they pick cranberries by machine. But it still takes a deft human hand to roast the turkey to ?P with them. Business Week magazine says it is rumored that Kaiser is going to turn out prefabricated moving picture theaters at )8,000 complete. Holly wooden frames? e e e According to YANK, the army magazine, Jap chow is worse than that served in American outfits where the cooks are recruited from the motor pool. huf <JM?e I iSMenl Receives Honor?Expected Blame "The general and his lady," shown in Washington, shortly after their happy reunion. General Wainwright stated that all the time he was a prisoner in Japanese camps, be thought the American public would hold him responsible for the fall of the Philippines. The honors heaped upon him by the nation came as a gratifying surprise to America's No. 1 hero. President's Daughter Chorister Listeners throne bout the country hnd the opportunity to hear Mar faret Truman, center, daughter of President Truman, when she broad casted with the choir of the Trinity Episcopal ehureb, from the Inde pendence, Mo., "Church of the Air," on a coast-to-coast network. She has appeared in operas in several cities in recent years. Rattlesnakes at Ford's Funeral The faithful of the Dolly Pood Church el Gad, surrounded by a pushinf crowd oI curious, bury Brother Lewis Ford, as be had wished, fondling oyer his open casket the rattlesnake which killed him. Preacher Ford died as the result of snake bites received during a service held near Daisy, Tenn., at which snake handling was a highlight. Millionth G.I. Home From Europe Corp. Atmon N. Confer, medic, of Taeoma, Wash., left, the millionth GX to he redeployed from the European theater of operations since V-E Day, la ireeted hy commander of the 15th infantry division, MaJ. Gen. > Paul W. Baade, en the arrival of the Qneen Mary at New York. Confer I wears the dlsttnfalihwl service erase alenf with hie service hars. - a isdbi^iirttV.,. Tojo in Suicide Try I The "mighty" leader of the Jap- j anese empire at the start of the war, Premier General Hideki Tojo is pietnred here as he lies in a semi-coma condition after shooting himself. Doctors report his life will be saved so he might be hung. Named to State Post Donald S. Russell of South Caro lina, whose nomination as assistant secretary of state was made by President Truman. Russell will fill the vacancy caused by the elevation of Dean Acheson to undersecretary of state. It is expected that other chanpes will be made. Try Lidice 'Butcher* Karl Hermann Frank, German secretary of state for Bohemia-Mo ravia, who is better known as "Botch er" Frank of Lidice. He is consid ered responsible for the liquidation of the Lidice popnlace following the assassination of Reinhard Heydricb. Member 'Hall of Fame' Dick Fowler, M years old, Phila delphia Athletics, who by pitching a no-hit ao-rna game against the St. Loois Browns has entered base hall's hall of fame. ARMY CRACKDOWN The army is determined that re turned European war veterans shall ndUonger appeal to congressmen or newspaper men to hasten'their dis charge from the army or to protest rede^oyment to Japan for police duty. 1 Severe secret orders have Just been issued to this effect over the signature of Brig. Gen. A. M. Gur ney, chief of staff for Lt. Gen. Lloyd R. Fredendall, commander of the 2nd army. The order, which has been secretly circulated, reads: "Recently members of a division in the United States scheduled for redeployment to the Pacific area ap pealed to the press and radio pro testing against transfer of the divi sion to the Pacific theater. . . . Action of this nature, if concerted, may subject participants to dis ciplinary action. . . . "Incidents such as noted in para graph 3 above (the paragraph just quoted)," continued the secret or der, "will be dealt with drastically by this headquarters and the com mander concerned will be sum marily relieved." The division referred to prob ably was the 95th, stationed at Camp Shelby, Miss., which sent all sorts of appeals to newspaper men and radio commentators against being transferred from Europe to Japan. Apparently the protests worked, for the or der to send the 95th to Japan was rescinded. ? ? ? PRESIDENTIAL POKER Those who traveled with Presi dent Trun.an on his various trips to Washington state and Potsdam found him a delightful and en tertaining companion. One story they tell about Truman's trip to the northwest was regarding his salmon fishing off the Washington coast. While the motor boat was chug ging back to shore, Truman and his old senatorial friends. Gov. Mon Wallgren and Sen. Warren Mag nuson of Washington, played poker. The stakes were low, but the thrifty Truman was trying hard to come out ahead. It was agreed that, no matter who was ahead, the game would stop the minute the boat hit shore. So the President kept up a line of banter to the Norwegian skipper. "Slow her down, Christiansen," he said, "I'm behind. I need a little extra time to catch up." Or again, it was: "Speed her up, Christiansen, I'm ahead now. Let's get to shore before the governor bdM.IKO Up. Finally, the motor boat touched shore with the President of the United States a few cents ahead. Skipper Christiansen was just as pleased as Truman. ? ? ? ARMY AND RAILROADS Even the army's friends on Capitol hill say the brass hats are killing any chance for public sup port they might have had by their autocratic disregard for civilian needs in such fields as coal mining, steelmaking and railroading. One of the busiest railroads in the country today is the Southern Pacif ic, which has handled most of the east-west traffic to the busy port of San Francisco. The S. P. is a single track line able to carry its huge volume only by scheduling trains at 10-minute intervals round the clock. In order to maintain this schedule, it requires a huge crew?of crack trainmen, repair men and other skilled workers. It has done pretty well even in the last year, although there was a recent bottleneck near El Paso which resulted in the hold ing up of 75 trains. Southern Pacific officials have been begging the army to release skilled railroad men with the 80 points required for discharge, or to furlough railroad men in this country with less points. Finally in mid-summer the army agreed to release 4,000 railroad men, with 2,400 of them assigned to me s. f. tsut men me army be gan going back on its promise and said it could discharge only 1,300 men. A few weeks ago, the army released 230 men to the Southern Pacific and said no more were available. The joker is that 24,000 men have gone into the armed forces from the S. P. employment roster. Finally, War Mobiliser Snyder stepped in and forced the army to release 4,HO railroad men, amidst loud squawks from brass hats that this action would de stroy morale. ? ? ? CAPITAL CHAFF c Senators are looking forward to better eating, now that Derwin Dar ling has come back from two years in the marines to resume manage ment of the senate restaurant. C Alleged United States opposition to the Kilgore unemployment com pensation bill has cracked open Forty-seven state administrations were reported opposed, but it now develops that Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Washington and California are definitely for the bill, with Connecticut and several others about ready to support it Cover Lamp Shades With Jiffy Crochet f AMP shades shabby? Cant ?t ' the right size or color? 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It ?mMm soothing |unu to relieve the nrcacMrf ache at ovcr-uaed and ?trained twmm^m. Take* the sting and itch out of ka^ scalds, insect bites, oak and ivy pdan in*, wind and sua bora, chaftag and chapped ?in?? Its antiseptic k? ens the dancer of infection whenever the ?kin is cut or broken. Keep a bottle handy for the mimm casualties of kitchen and norssrju J? your druggist?trial sine bottle X? household sise 65 t: economy siae SL& ac. HARFORD MFQ. CO. ?) I IS Kl. Sola makers of mm SHOPPING r"?b-l5" to start ycerBdF plas tsu is h four 'zttszzL Mb is tkU papal arary waak. Is cam aara yon ttM. anatqy aaA mmss
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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Sept. 27, 1945, edition 1
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