The Chief Reports

General George Catlett Marshall, Chief of Staff and field commander of the Army, last week made the plea that no politician had dared to make. In his biennial report, publicized with plenty of Page One fanfare, he asked:

> Amendment of the laws limiting the service of drafted men, reservists and National Guardsmen to one year.

> Amendment of the laws restricting the service of citizen soldiers to the Western Hemisphere.

It was high time somebody began to talk on the subject. George Marshall and the Army knew it would have to be done sooner or later. The National Guard outfits longest in service are due to go home on Sept. 15. The first of the draft recruits will begin to dribble back home two months later. And under present law, the Army could make no move outside the hemisphere without Congress' say-so, thus advertising its intention to a foe who moves with lightning speed and without warning. This week's occupation of Iceland was a move the Army could not have joined on anything but pipsqueak scale.

George Marshall talked bluntly, as a soldier should. What he had to say about extending the one-year draft period could be boiled down to a terrifyingly simple conclusion: Unless the citizen soldiers now in the Army are kept there, the U.S. will have to rub out what it has done and start over again. For, in expanding the field Army from some 210,000 regulars (Sept. 1, 1939) to 1,448,500 (last week), the staff has had to spread its three-year professionals perilously thin. Only two divisions (First and Third) are now made up exclusively of three-year enlisted soldiers. The rest are compounds of draftees, reserve officers, regulars. In the 18 National Guard divisions, bulk of the Army's man power, the complication is worse. In all the 15 regular divisions (including Armored Force), 75% to 90% of the officers are reservists. Recall under the one-year law would put these divisions out of business.

"In the light of the situation," wrote General Marshall, "it is believed that our interests are imperiled. . . . Whatever we do for the national defense should be done in the most efficient manner. Differences of views regarding national policy should not, it seems to me, be permitted to obscure the facts relating to the preparation of the armed forces for service. . . ."

Of Congress General Marshall asked one more favor, which he will get with less debate. He wanted quick passage of the bill, now before Congress, that will give teeth to the clean-out of inept officers from the regular Army.

That request of George Marshall's drew no fire from legislators, for regulars swing no political cats. But his other requests produced plenty of fireworks from such lawmakers as Burton Wheeler, Hiram Johnson, Charles McNary. Best guess at week's end was that Congress would wait to hear what the public and Franklin D. Roosevelt had to add.

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