Security Without Sparta

The problem whether or not to plan in 1943 for the post-war world is now squarely before the new Congress. The Wadsworth bill providing for compulsory military service after the war, if passed, would be committing the United States in advance to a policy which it has never before followed. Shrewdly handled, it can become an important bulwark in preventing a too-rapid return to normalcy after the war, but it has the potential power of creating an armed camp which would not take the trouble to plan and cooperate in anything but the perpetuation of an armed peace.

The Wadsworth bill would compel all boys reaching the age of 18 to submit to one year of military training before they reach 20. The purpose of this legislation is to forestall the very strong instinct for disarmament after the war, which, if undertaken too soon or too suddenly would render the United States unable to back up its collective security with force if it is needed.

The dangers of passing such a bill now are very real. It would be the first concrete step taken by Congress in defining our post-war policy, and might be interpreted as a "go-ahead" sign for the embarking on the American Century, in which the United States would single-handedly dominate or at least exercise influence over all the nations of the world. Such a military training program might easily develop an army so large that the government would be tempted to use it not as a weapon of temporary expediency, but as a long-run substitute for mutual cooperation and the eventual restoration of political and economic equality of the defeated nations.

Yet these dangers are less than those that would result from a post-war isolationist reaction. This possibility cannot be permitted. The Wadsworth Bill should be passed as necessary insurance against any effort to retreat again from the responsibility of maintaining collective security. But with its passage must come the sober realization that its misrepresentation after the war could result in a completely undesirable over-emphasis of our armed forces, and those objectives which are accomplished through the use of armed force. Congress is playing with fire, and it must not be allowed to burn out of bounds.