UNIVERSAL TRAINING NEEDED

H. H. Sheets, Secretary of the National Association for Universal Military Training, has issued the following statement:

"While the Selective Conscription Law about to be passed by Congress is undoubtedly the best plan to meet the immediate need of the nation, it does not provide permanently for universal military training.

"Both Houses of Congress having accepted the principle of the citizen's liability to service, and being about to apply this principle in legislation for the raising of troops, the majority of citizens who have not given this subject serious consideration are apt to feel that the question is permanently settled.

"A mere perusal of the title of the War Department bill now in conference would show the fallacy of any such conclusion, for it plainly states that it is 'A bill to authorize the President to temporarily increase the military establishment of the United States.'

"On mature deliberation, any thoughtful citizen will realize 'that the legislation now pending in Congress is but the first surrender of the outposts of the forces which have so long condemned this country to the reckless waste and criminal mortality of the volunteer system.

"National service is the vital need of the hour, and Military Training the foundation upon which it must rest. The prime factors of National Service comprehend the industrial and military forces of the nation and are necessarily inter-dependent.

"Unless existing legislation and that immediately contemplated shall be amended so as to adopt as a permanent continuing National Military Policy, the fundamental principle of universal liability to training and service, practically the entire military force of the United States will pass out of existence upon the termination of the present war."