Domestic Service

With customary eloquence President Kennedy last spring introduced a bill to establish a National Service Corps patterned roughly after the Peace Corps: "Poverty in the midst of plenty must not go unchallenged in this country." Now, with the customary difficulties in Congress, the bill may founder unless given strong support by the Administration.

Lacking the votes of key Southern Democrats, the National Service Corps faces defeat in the House Rules Committee. But even in the Senate version, which barely passed, 47-44, the inclusion of the Thurmond amendment threatens the bill's efficacy. By making the Corps' activity contingent upon a governor's approval, the amendment needlessly injects the civil rights issue: it will, in effect, prohibit corpsmen from working with Southern Negroes. Inconsistent with a program aimed at aiding needy individuals, the amendment should be excluded from the House draft.

What is baffling about opposition to the Corps is that none of the usual bogeys can possibly scare Congressmen. It does not cost much: only a meager five million dollars for the first two years. Neither a large bureaucracy nor duplication are imminent: a small administrative board will arrange training, and projects will be chosen only if no other service is available. And there is to be no Federal encroachment on the local domain: Corpsmen will work only when requested by local groups; they will not be sent anywhere.

Besides offering much needed aid to depressed areas, the Corps will publicize the need for welfare work in the country and will provide a domestic outlet for the volunteer spirit. Every available pressure should be applied to Southern Democrats on the Rules Committee to help report out a bill which has a better than even chance of passage before a full House. Surely, in a land with plenty of plenty, enough can be spared for a community service program which costs one eighth of one Titan inter-continental ballistic missile.