THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday. Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome. Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P- O. Box fiix
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W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER.Editor**
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoff»*'»*
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Monday, May 19, 1947
Congress And The “Umtees”
(Anchorage Daily Times)
THE BEST DAY’S work any Congressional Armed
Services subcommittee could do for itself right now
would be to take a junket to Fort Knox and see the
Army Ground Forces “Umtee” or Universal Military
Training Experimental Unit, in operation. Here 664
teen-age recruits from 44 states have now completed
the first two months of a six-months’ course to find out
how universal military service can be adapted to U. S.
ideas of democracy.
President Truman’s ten-man commission to study
universal service, headed by President Karl T. Como
ton of Massachuetts Institute of Technology, is coming
down for a one-day look. That’s not long enough. This
commission of - prominent educators, churchmen, and
civic leaders is due to make recommendations next
month on how this thing should be run. It has held a
few hearings in Washington.
But that’s operating in a vacuum. The only way to
find out how universal military training is going to
work is to come down and see it working.
Other interested parties have been here, all right—
in droves. Parents, teachers, club women, church
groups, four- and five-star generals from China, Brazil,
and such places. Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson
himself made an inspection an€ came away more than
satisfied with what he saw. He wants a UMT law pass
ed by this Congress before it goes home.
This is without doubt the biggest experiment in mass,
compulsory education ever attempted. Says unit com
manding officer Brig-Gen. John M. Devine, 51-year-old
commander of the Eighth Armored Division, a West
Pointer, and a former instructor at the Academy and
Yale University: “I’ll match the behavior of these
youngsters against that of any group of college fresh
men in the country.”
General Devine claims the Umtees use less profanity.
Their officers and non-coms are forbidden to use it.
There is less intoxication. No beer is sold at the post ex
change. Louisville bartenders are co-operating by re
fusing to serve Umtees on pass. The good conduct patrol
in Louisville has been abandoned as unnecessary.
I he men are in better physical condition. They get
regular meals and all they want to eat. They get only
40 hours drill a week, with Wednesday and Saturday i
afternoons off. Sports and recreation are made a part of!
on-'and off-duty programs, just to keep the boys’ minds!
off diversions that usually get them into trouble. They
are even taught basic etiquette, like how properly to ask
a girl for a dance and how to cut in in improved West
Point style. They are not taught bayonet or “dirty”
fighting as in wartime. But boxing is compulsory.
“There has been a general belief that the Army can
only makfe bums out of boys,” says General Devine.
“This has been the greatest source of opposition to uni
versal military training. We think we have shown this
is no longer a valid objection.”
To achieve these results, General Devine had to throw
away most of the old book of rules on Army training
and discipline and start from scratch.
To begin, the chaplains * hold a personal interview
with each trainee, to talk over the place of moral and
religion in his life. About 50 have been baptized.
Church-going isn’t compulsory, but those who don’t go
get a one-hour lecture. Only one took the lecture—once.
Chaplains and medical officers then combine to teach
the facts of life and venereal disease. Continence is
stressed, rather than prophylaxis. So far, there has been
only one V. D. case. Chaplains also come into the picture
for a series of 18 weekly lectures on good citizenship.
Say the chaplains: “All this is the kind of work which
we were ordained to do and which we have never done
right.”
Only about half of the Umtees have gone in for edu
cation courses on the side. But they’re there for those
who waul them through Armed Services Institute cor
respondence courses or vocational training in auto me
chanics, radio and commun.cations work.
Illiterates are put in a separate platoon of “Pioneer”
to be trained as engineer troops and are taught to read
and write.
Discipline is run by a demerit system, patterned after
West Point. For violations of orders there are courts of
one officer and seven trainees. Other trainees act as
prosecutor and defense counsel. Maximum sentence is
seven days’ hard labor. So far there has been only one
general courts-martial, for a $60 theft.
There is a great tendency on the part of visitors to
over-emphasize the frills of the unit, neglecting its prin
cipal function which is to give basic training for the
armed services. About 700,000 U. S. boys reach their
13th birthday every year. At first it was thought they
would need a year’s training. Now it is thought six
months will do the job. At the end of that time they’ll
be good material for national guard units or for further
specialized training.
The cost of such a program is now estimated at one
bil ion dollars a year. The question for Congress to de
cide is if it’s necessary for national defense and a good
investment in character building for the young men
themselves.
One Man’s Opinion By Walter kiernan
President Aleman had a pleasant visit with us — He
leaves with millions of new friends and new dollars . . .
But of all the visitors who have made a stop at the loan
window we can vote him least likely to go home and
start telling us how to run a bank . . . New York found
Aleman genial, polite and discrete. — At no time in his
talks with Mayor O’Dwyer did he say “Now tell me how
you run your subway for five cents.” . . . Politicians
still are talking of the mayor of Havana who killed him
self because he could not carry out a campaign promise.
— The feeling is that this was an isolated case of politi
cal honesty and vaccination is not necessary. . . . Mean
while there are almost as many differences of opinion
as to what happened at the Moscow conference as were
differences of opinion at the Moscow conference. . . .
Africa has agreed to trade peanuts to Britain for loin
cloths—as a trade agrement this one seems to cover
everything. . . . But is a prime example of man’s ability
to capitalize on what’s he’s got in exchange for what he
hasn’t got. — For instance a lady Republican is in favor
of her party sponsoring Republican soap operas in ex
change for Democrat housewive’s attention. . . . There’s
nothing definite about it but something along the lines
of “Just Plain Old Bob Taft” might win some listeners.
NOT A LAWN hw<l Y _
- - * *—^
Ji **.i\ i
; That s That
By BRUCE GUSTIN
_
That was a wise decision offi
1 cials of the National Federation of
Telephone Workers made in aban
1 d ming demands for settlement of
the telephone strike on a nation
wide basis. This is a matter that
should be handled on a local ba
sis between regional companies
and their employees. The idea that
telephone wages should be the
same everywhere, regardless of
! local conditions, is plainly un
sound. Putting bargaining between
the union and the companies back
on a local basis has hastened the ^
end of the strike in many places.
Ouster of five Communist min
siiers from the cabinet looks like
on attempt by the Ramadier gov
ernment to put France’s political
house in order to get another loan
from the United States. The one
billion, fhree hundred seventeen
million dollar loan obtained here
last year is about gone. France is
reported to be planning to ask for
seven hundred million dollars
more. In view of President Tru
man’s policy and congressional
oppositipn to American financial
aid to Communist dominated
countries, French Premier Rama
dier probably thinks France’s
cnances of making another
“touch” in this country depends
upon elimination of the Commun
ists from his cabinet.
There’s an old saying that the
way to fight fire is with fire. The
only way the United States can
combat Russian propaganda
abroad is with American informa
tion. The $31,000,000 appropria
tion sought by the state depart
ment for its “cultural relations”
program may be excessive. But
reasonable provision for continu
ance of the American foreign
broadcasting program ceitainly
should be made.
According to the Soviet govern
ment newspaper — Izvestia — the
newspapers of Russai are free and
honest, while those of the west are
corrupt, dishonest and distrusted
by their readers. The Russians
also claim to have democracy.
Their notions of what constitutes
freedom of the press are as fan
tastic as their interpretation of to
talitarianism as democracy.
Freedom of the press in Soviet
! Russia means government control
of the press. Here in the United
I States it means freedom from gov
j ernment dictation. The bill of
i rights of our constitution, which
I is the foundation of the American
! free press, provides that “Congress
shall make no law . . . abridging
1 freedom of the press.”
Congress has talked a lot about
Presidential succession. One im
portant point which has been ig
nored until recently is Vice Pres
j idential succession. When a Presi
dent "dies in office, the Vice Pres
ident succeeds him. No provision
has been made for a successor to
the Vice President, in such a case.
To remedy that, Congressman
Gary of Virginia has proposed a
constitutional amendment provid
ing that when a Vice President
succeeds to the Presidency, Con
gress shall hold a joint session and
' elect a new Vice President. That
suggestion merits serious consid
eration.
NEW YORK, N. Y. (JP) —/The
twice-widowed “umbrella bird” at
the Bronx zoo soon will have an
j other mate, the New Y$>rk Zoolog
ical society, has announced,
l The word came by telegram
( from Charles Cordier, a collector
for the zoo, who went to Costa
Rica last month to search for a
new male specimen.