House Sends UMT Measure Back to Committee Stage

Universal military training was killed in the House late yesterday afternoon.

In a roll call vote of 236 to 162, the House reversed a decision made earlier in the afternoon to substitute for U.M.T. a program of compulsory military training in the schools, and decided to shelve the bill by sending it back to committee.

Administration leaders had conceded in advance that recommital of the measure would probably mean no further action this year and perhaps for several years to come. But Representative Carl Vinson (D-Ga.), chairman of the House Military Affairs Committee, has already warned that the committee will report the bill out again.

The final vote came after an afternoon of political maneuvering. The Administration pleaded for a direct vote on the issue, instead of a decision for the high school training, which was requested in a teller vote of 150 to 145 earlier in the afternoon. A roll call vote of 235 to 156 kept the bill before the House and paved the way for its eventual recommital.

Previously, a cablegram from General Eisenhower was read in an effort to gain approval for the bill. Eisenhower, in favor of the program, declared that the nation has an obligation to train its young men to defend themselves. He cited past wars in which the nation has been caught relatively unprepared as the primary reason for the passage of U.M.T. or a similar plan.

Rayburn said that if the bill was shelved by parliamentary maneuvers, "I am afraid those who stand with us (U.S. allies abroad) will misunderstand."