U.M.T. in Sheep's Clothing

President Eisenhower last week asked Congress to extend the draft and to approve a reserve program that included a modified version of universal military training.

The message asked for a four-year extension of the regular draft, a two-year extension of the doctors' draft, an active reserve program with stiff penalties for absentees, active basic training for National Guardsmen and, most controversial of all, six months' basic training--at $30 a month and without veterans' benefits --for teen-agers who would avoid the draft and accept a 9 1/2-year obligation of service in the reserve.

Congress is expected to pass the draft extensions, but it may be hard to sell the House, always hostile to U.M.T. in the past, on the full reserve program. The Board of World Peace of the Methodist Church has already asked 9,000,000 Methodists to oppose "any system by whatever name" that resembles U.M.T. Congressmen can also be expected to ask the cost of teaching thousands of young men the mere fundamentals of military drill and life in view of a still heavy military budget (see above). Most biting comments are likely to come from those who find it hard to reconcile the Administration's increasing dependence on air-atomic weapons with a plan to train millions of World War II-style infantrymen.

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