SEC. 5 (p. 3). Criminals and persons of bad character. The fact must always be borne in mind that one of the surest results of universal training is the advancement of the young men subjected to it. Wherever possible in order to improve or protect the physical or moral welfare of the men trained, provision to that effect has been made as in this section by the provision for the separate training of men of bad character contact with whom might prove demoralizing. (See also sections 39 and 40.) It is to be noted that the influence of military training prevents much of the development of criminal tendencies due to the "gang" proclivities of youths who have not been taught to accept responsibility.

SEC. 6 (p. 3). Credits for military instruction. The two primary purposes of the act, the national defense and the improvement of the nation's young men, may to some extent be accomplished by efficient training given in schools and colleges or other organizations, subject to the approval of the Secretary of War or the Secretary of the Navy. In recognition of this fact provision has been made to allow the substitution of such training, provided that the men subject to the act receive not less than three months' actual training with the colors. In practice those who thus become entitled to a month's deduction for each of not more than three years of such training will probably receive even more training than those who only have the six months' training required by the act; but it has been deemed expedient to require that they undergo at least three months' training with the colors in order that they may the more readily be worked into the organization of the Reserve Citizen Army or Navy.

SEC. 8 (p. 4). Training strictly personal.-For reasons that have already been pointed out above, it would not be consistent with the policy of the act to permit the purchase of exemption from training either by providing a substitute or by the actual payment of money. The draft act of the Civil War provided for a money substitute ($300) or for supplying a personal substitute. These provisions were productive of the most severe criticism and censure.

SECS. 9, 10, 11, and 12 (pp. 4-6).

9. Issuance of certificate and rosette; 10. Naturalization; 11. Persons without certificate ineligible to certain employments; 12. Employment of person without certificate prohibited.

These sections provide an important means of enforcing the act. There is no system of registration in effect in the United States by which the authorities can keep a record of each individual or by which they can enforce his liability to train. The important consequences of having a certificate of training or of exemption, which result from these sections, will insure the appearance for registration and training of the men who are inclined to be "slackers" and will thus automatically enforce the act.

SEC. 13 (p. 6). Training districts.-The provision for the division of the country into training districts is an administrative one somewhat similar to that found in the original Civil War draft act of March 3, 1863 (12 Stat. L., 732).

It is planned to organize the Citizen Army on neighborhood lines in order to preserve the advantages of personal acquaintance and of local feeling and in order that registration and mobilization be made convenient, prompt, and economical. The provision for the establishment of one or more cantonments for training purposes in each training district will insure, as far as possible, the training of each man near his home.

The term "cantonments" has been used to indicate as nearly as is possible in a single word the idea of camps in the open as contrasted with the old type of barracks at the permanent Army posts. While it is not the purpose of the act to compel the men while in training to undergo unnecessary inconveniences, it is part of its policy to encourage as far as possible outdoor life during the training period.

SEC. 14 (p. 6). Registration and examination.-The requirements of this section are also administrative in their nature and are obviously necessary to the proper carrying out of the purposes of the act.

SEC. 14 p. 6). Expression of preference as to kind and time of training. The determination of the exact proportion of the entire number to be trained in the Army and in the Navy is from its very nature a matter which can not be fixed in the law, as it will necessarily vary from year to year. Its determination may best be left to the President.

It is not intended to interfere with the convenience of the individual to any greater extent than is necessary. Although the needs of the service may not exactly correspond with the choice of the man, every man will be permitted to express his preference for training either in the Army or the Navy or in a particular arm or corps of either service, and consideration will be given to this preference as far as is practicable. A similar provision has been made for the expression of his preference as to the time of the year when it is most convenient for him to undergo training. While the training of the greater part will probably be in the summer time, it may

always be necessary to train a certain number-particularly farmers-at other periods of the year. The preferences expressed will be considered whenever practicable. SEC. 17 (p. 7). Board of medical examiners.-This provision is designed to make the greatest possible use of the medical officers already in the service of the United States and to obviate as far as possible the necessity of employing other physicians with the resulting added expense. As a question of physical fitness is solely one of fact, there is no appeal permitted from the decision of this board.

SEC. 18 (p. 8). Board of registration. In this section provision has been made for the detailing of various officers and employees of the United States to serve as boards of registration without any additional expense for salaries. Under the Civil War draft act there was a board of enrollment, consisting of a provost marshal and two civilian members, in each Congressional district. Each of the civilian members received the compensation of an assistant surgeon (act of Mar. 3, 1863, 12 Stat. L., 751). By the provisions of this section the possibility of extra expense for compensation will be avoided. These boards are given full power to determine all questions other than those of physical fitness. They are also given such powers to compel the attendance of witnesses and the giving of testimony as are necessary for the purpose and as ordinarily are conferred upon administrative boards.

SEC. 19 (p. 9). Appeals. This and the earlier section, which do not allow an appeal from the board of medical examiners (which has before it the consideration only of the question of physical fitness), while allowing an appeal from the board of registration (which determines all other questions arising in regard to liability to undergo training), are far more liberal than the provisions of the Civil War draft act under which the decision of the board of enrollment upon every question was final (12 Stat. L., 734). It is not improbable that after the act has been in operation for a few years the great benefits resulting to the individual from the few months' training required will come to be so well recognized that there will be few requests for exemption.

SEC. 20 (p. 9). Reserve Citizen Army and Reserve Citizen Navy.-This section and section 22 form the direct connection between universal training and the national defense. The Reserve Citizen Army and the Reserve Citizen Navy are created as a basis for mobilization in case of need, and their division into annual classes is for the same purpose. Unlike the National Guard, as we now know it, they will never be mobilized for drill or training after having completed their original six months' training, except perhaps for one day each year, as provided in section 21. But unlike the unorganized militia as it has always existed in this country, a sufficient number of those upon whom the country must ultimately rely in case of need will always be trained and organized.

The existence of the organized and trained reserve of young men with few responsibilities for the support of others will make possible a great reduction in the age limit of liability for service under the existing militia laws. In the past the age limit up to which a man is a member of the militia has always been forty-five years. From the beginning of our history under the Constitution all able-bodied male citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five have been included in the unorganized militia.

Act of May 8, 1792, 1 Stat. L., 271; act of Jan. 21, 1903, 32 Stat. L., 755; act of May 27, 1908, 35 Stat. L., 399; act of June 3, 1916, 39 Stat. L., 197.

In foreign countries the age limit is similar. In Switzerland a man does not pass out of the Third Line or Landsturm until the age of forty-eight; in Argentina he does not pass out of the Territorial Guard until he is forty-five.

With a trained and organized reserve which can be relied upon, it becomes evident that in this country liability to service need not continue for so long a time. It is estimated that each year 500,000 young men will be trained and pass into the reserve where they will continue for nine years. Thus, at all times after the act comes into full operation, there will be available approximately 4,000,000 men or more, and this with an age limit for the reserve of twenty-eight instead of forty-five. Practically all authorities agree that this reserve would be sufficiently large for demands that can conceivably be made upon it.

Clauses (b) and (c) of the provision relating to termination of membership in the reserve supplement the provisions of section 1, and among other things terminate the liability to service of any man who has been trained because he expected to become a citizen, but who later renounced his citizenship or his right to acquire it and permanently left the country.

SEC. 22 (p. 11). Mobilization of Reserve Citizen Army and Reserve Citizen Navy.The reserve may be called out only in the event of a defensive war or of imminent danger thereof, and under no circumstances can it be used in cases of strikes or other industrial disputes.

SEC. 24 (p. 12). Service strictly personal. This section and section 25 relating to actual service correspond exactly with the provisions of sections 4 and 8 in regard to training.

SEC. 26 (p. 13). Members of the Regular Army and Navy as officers of the Reserve Citizen Army and Reserve Citizen Navy.-The most difficult task in organizing a system for the annual training of 500,000 men will probably be to obtain a sufficient number of officers to act as instructors. The best plan available seems to be that of assigning Regular Army officers to offices of command and superintendence and to the other higher positions, and to assign noncommissioned officers and competent enlisted men from the Regular Army, together with such persons as may volunteer for service, as officers in the reserve to take charge of the smaller units. Those in charge of such units will come in more direct contact with the men who are to be trained and will, to a great extent, be responsible for teaching them the rudiments of military knowledge. This section, relating to the assignment of Regular Army officers and enlisted men, and sections 27, 28, and 29, relating to volunteer officers of the Reserve Citizen Army and Navy, have been drafted in contemplation of such a general plan.

The provisions of this section are supplemented by the provision of section 32 that whenever necessary to make available sufficient officers for the purpose of this act the President may, if the public safety so permits, suspend the organization of units of the Regular Army. The President is thus permitted to assign the officers and men who would otherwise be required for such units to duty in connection with training under this act.

Volunteer officers can only be appointed after examination. In order to secure men properly trained when the law first goes into effect, only members of certain classes who have had some military experience are allowed to be candidates at the examinations. When the act is in full effect practically all volunteer officers will be men who have had training under the act.

No favoritism can be shown, either in the original appointment or in promotions, which can only be made after examination.

The duties of volunteer officers are made as light as possible in order to attract candidates from the large group of men interested in military affairs who could not give up much of their time to the service. This limitation of the time spent by a volunteer officer in service is intended to secure democracy in the officers' corps.

SEC. 30 (p. 16). Organization of Reserve Citizen Army and Reserve Citizen Navy.-The organization outhorized by this section taken in connection with the four preceding sections contemplates the establishment of a complete organization, with officers for 1,000,000 men of the two youngest classes of the Reserve Citizen Army and Navy, who will act as a first line of defense, and a reserve of junior officers to prepare for service classes subsequently called out. Consequently on the call to service the whole administration of Regular Army and Navy will not be thrown into confusion by unexpected details to take charge of the large number of new men brought into the service. Thus, Captain Smith of a certain company and regiment of the Regular Army will know that immediately upon mobilization he is to report for duty as colonel of a particular regiment of the Reserve Citizen Army. As this detail will be known long in advance, adequate provision can be made to fill his place in his regular regiment. In the same way the various volunteer officers of the Reserve Citizen Army will know just where and for what duty they are to report.

SEC. 31 (p. 17). Cooperation of other departments.-This section authorizes the use of the post-office system for various purposes of registration, etc., the detail of medical officers from any department of the Government for service as medical examiners, and the detail of employees of any department from which they can be temporarily spared for various duties in connection with the administration of the act.

SEC. 32. (p. 17). Use of Regular Army and Navy.—The duty to report for registration and examination will be universal for all the men of particular age at any time, so that all young men of that age will know about the time when they should appear. Those liable for training will also know the time when their training begins, so that the call to service will not be a surprise to the men affected. It seems possible, therefore, that notice of the time to appear for these various purposes may be given fairly merely by proclamation. Great expense and vast amount of a unnecessary clerical work will thus be saved.

SEC. 37 (p. 19). Employees not to be prejudiced.-This section is modeled almost exactly after section 134 of the Australian act and is intended to prevent discrimination against men who are subject to training.

SEC. 39 (p. 19). Intoxicating liquors.—This section and section 40 are designed for the protection of the welfare of those in training as well as for the maintenance of discipline and the betterment of conditions in and around the places where the training is given. In view of the strong and well-founded feeling against the use of liquors

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which is spreading rapidly not only through our own country but through most of the civilized countries of the world, the provisions of this section seem to require no further justification.

SEC. 41 (p. 20). Penalties.-The penalties of this section apply to all violations by persons not subject to training or service. They also apply to violations by persons subject to training or service committed by them at times other than those when, as provided in section 20, they are directly subject to military or naval discipline.

SEC. 42 (p. 21). Regulations.-A provision of this sort is necessary in every act which involves a large number of administrative details. It is almost impossible as well as unwise to attempt in a statute to make full provision as to such matters. GEO. VAN HORN MOSELEY. EDWARD HARDING.

JANUARY 22, 1917.

The CHAIRMAN. Objection was made here the other day to this system of training because it was said that the work that we propose now, as far as physical development was concerned, might just as well be done in the schools, and if we failed there we ought to take steps to compel this physical development in the schools of the country. What would you say to that, instead of now undertaking to compel it under a military code?

Mr. HARDING. I have this to say, that the boys are too young to be trained to advantage in a military way in the schools. As 95 per cent of our boys stop their schooling at 16 or earlier, and as many of our experts agree that it is a mistake to attempt to train a boy in intensive military training before he reaches the age of 18, it practically becomes impossible to introduce it successfully into the schools. You can have the groundwork for a military training; you can have physical training in the schools and some preliminary training.

Mr. GROSS. Is there not a better answer than that; that the Federal Government has no business to go into the schools at all?

The CHAIRMAN. We will hear your statement in a moment, Mr. Gross. I am suggesting the argument of Mr. Walter Fisher, former Secretary of the Interior, when he was before the committee a few days ago. He stated that we are making military education the first consideration and physical development and discipline and all that a by-product of militarism, whereas if we should take the physical development and discipline and everything else that this measure proposes for the benefit of the young men and let militarism be a by-product we would get at results sooner. I am simply outlining to you his objection to this system, and ask you the question incidentally how that can be put into the schools so as to meet the suggestion of Mr. Fisher, or in industrial life, if you please.

Mr. HARDING. I do not think it can be put into the schools under the present powers of Congress as provided in the Constitution. I think you could, by a Federal amendment to the Constitution, give Congress power. The difficulty in legislation in each of the 48 States is in having it uniform. We have a uniform negotiable instrument law as it was thought to be highly desirable by business men, merchants, and lawyers of certain States that we should have some such law. It took, I think, five or six years to get that law enacted in a majority of the States. We have in New York at the present time a law which was enacted by the last legislature providing for compulsory physical training in the schools. In New Jersey, a State across the river, the legislature refused to pass any act compelling training. You would have the greatest difficulties either in getting action or in getting concerted action. It seems to me that any

system that is worked out must, to be practicable, come under Federal control.

Senator BRADY. Your opinion is that any action for military training would have to be under Federal control?

Mr. HARDING. By all means.

The CHAIRMAN. Has the subcommittee any further questions to ask, or have you any further statement to make, Mr. Harding?

Mr. HARDING. No, Mr. Chairman, I think not. I have trespassed a long time on your good nature and I thank you very much for your courtesy.

Senator THOMAS. Let me interrupt you for a moment. Lieut. Steever, the author of what is known as the "Wyoming system of training," now detailed to the public schools of this District by the War Department, can give us some useful information. In any event, it is an interesting system that he has developed, and I would suggest before the committee reports that he be requested to come. Senator BRADY. I think it would be well to have some one familiar with that Wyoming system appear before us if possible, and I suggest that we call Capt. Steever who instituted the Wyoming system. STATEMENT OF HOWARD H. GROSS, PRESIDENT UNIVERSAL MILITARY TRAINING LEAGUE, CHICAGO.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Gross, you know without my stating it, the purpose of this hearing. It is to get before the committee a discussion with respect to universal military training and the best way to attain it if it is deemed desirable to have it at all. The committee would be glad to hear your suggestions upon the subject.

Mr. GROSS. Gentlemen, you referred a moment ago to the plan introduced by Capt. Steever and I wish to say that I regard this as most excellent, but it is only supplementary to the Federal plan of universal military training, and not a substitute for it. The Steever plan deals with the public schools with which the Federal Government has nothing to do.

In regard to the amount of training that the Federal Government should undertake, I am led to the belief that it is advisable to limit this training to six months in the nineteenth year. If, however, it seems practical to have one or two months the following year it would give better results. Provision should be made whereby boys of the training age who decide to attend college or other secondary schools where standard military training is a part of the course may enter such schools, take the training furnished therein, and when the courses end the student shall be given credit to apply upon the sixmonths' period-say not exceeding three months and he shall thereupon take the balance of the required training in the Federal training camp. This could probably be done during the usual summer vacation. We must bear in mind, however, that only a small percentage of boys go to secondary schools. The general proposition must have in mind the ninety-odd per cent that do not attend secondary schools.

It is the paramount duty of every government to take such steps as are necessary to maintain itself. In our Constitution we have all the authority necessary to that end, in fact the authority of Congress.