Union Now?

In the ancient, polite, intermittent, usually private war between the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy, the way was cleared last week for another skirmish.

At hearings before the House Select Committee on Postwar Military Policy, Army leaders plumped solidly for a thorough reorganization of the national military setup. The basic plan: merger of the War and Navy Departments into a single department of the armed forces.

This would place the air force on an equal basis with the other services, although the Navy would retain its carrier-based air arm. Purpose of the merger: to eliminate duplication and inefficiency.

For a sample of this duplication, Congressmen needed look no farther than Washington, where Army's big Boiling Field and Navy's big Anacostia Air Station operate side by side with duplicate control towers, ground crews, weather forecasting. Some critics insist that such duplication of supply and facilities, which is worldwide, has cost the U.S. hundreds of millions of dollars, plus the services of several hundred thousand men.

But when the Army's men, headed by Secretary of War Stimson, had testified, the Navy uttered a "No." Navy Under Secretary James Forrestal said that the Navy was "definitely in opposition" to any immediate step toward merger. Whether merger after the war would be acceptable Mr. Forrestal was not prepared to say. The Navy, he explained, thought the whole matter needed "a most objective and thorough study." With Navy opposition and Congressional indecision, the merger may be a long time coming.

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