Mr. Truman Decides

One man who has kept mouse-still while he listened to the squabble over the merger of the armed services is about ready to speak out. Harry Truman has been in favor of the merger for a long time. Last week he turned down Navy Secretary Forrestal's plea to throw the whole thing to an umpire commission. He also confided to friends that he would ask Congress to pass a merger law which would establish an independent air force and put Army, Navy and Air under one Cabinet member.

Before that he took another firm, if tardy, step. He short-circuited the effort to put through Congress a bill authorizing a postwar Navy of 6,000 ships. He asked Senators to hold off until the Army and the Air Forces had presented their postwar plans. Then he would make the overall recommendation for the nation's military establishment based on 1) necessity, 2) cost. This in itself was merger of a kind, in advance.

But the battle was not over, by a long shot. The Navy has good and potent friends in Congress--particularly David I. Walsh in the Senate and Carl Vinson in the House. There is little chance that a bill can be reported out in time for a vote at this session; it will be early January before it reaches the floor. Much can happen before then.

The Navy could still win a partial victory with a compromise guaranteeing that its own air arm be kept inviolate. Said one Navy man: "The Army is strong for a separate air force, Nimitz is strong for air power. Those two positions are not far removed, are they?" Army airmen intent on getting all air power (except Navy carrier-based craft) under one head, would answer, "Yes, they are."

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