U.S. War polisies Commission HEARINGS BEFORE THE COMMISSION APPOINTED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF PUBLIC RESOLUTION NO. 98 TO PROMOTE PEACE AND TO EQUALIZE THE BURDENS WAR POLICIES COMMISSION, The commission met, pursuant to call, at 10 a. m., March 5, 1931, in the minority conference room, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C., Hon. Patrick J. Hurley (chairman) presiding. The commission, after disposing of certain organization business, proceeded as follows: Secretary HURLEY. If there is no further organization business to come before the commission, we will now proceed to take the testimony of the witnesses who are present. In this connection I want to report to the commission that the former Secretary of War, Hon. Newton D. Baker, was to have been present this morning. He advised me yesterday that it would be impossible for him to appear to-day, but he could appear at any time designated by the commission next week, and will be glad to appear. Before putting on the first witness I would like to make a short statement for the purposes of the record. This meeting of the commission created by the congressional resolution approved June 27, 1930, is the first of a series of open hearings it expects to conduct. Prior meetings have been held for purposes of organization and to discuss the general nature of the problems that have been placed before the commission by Congress. Upon the initiation of this phase of our work it appears appropriate for the commission to outline briefly the scope of its contemplated investigations. To carry out the task assigned by law there must first be assembled and analyzed such data as will set forth clearly the essential needs of the country in a major emergency. Next there must be determined the reasons why, in the Government's efforts to supply its needs in all past wars, opportunity has been presented to some individuals to reap extraordinary financial profit, while others have been called. upon to bear more than a proportionate share of the burdens. Based upon these analyses the commission must develop basic methods and policies whereby the economic burdens of war may be made to fall with equal weight on every element of our citizenship. This is a most difficult and intricate problem and a correct solution of it is of tremendous importance. Certain sources of information are readily available. There are in this country many men who took a vital part during the World War in producing, assembling, and employing the great numbers of material things found necessary in that crisis. From their composite experience the commission confidently expects to gain great assistance in solving the problems facing it. Certain of these men 1 have been invited to appear before this body and give full expression to their views. Patriotic associations have always taken a definite interest in these questions, and their representatives will likewise be asked to meet with the commission. Moreover, it is appreciated that many other men have had opportunity to study these subjects and have developed concrete ideas concerning them. The commission takes this opportunity to invite any citizen who desires to present his views to make the necessary arrangements through its secretary. The commission has also been promised the cooperation of governmental departments and bureaus. Certain department heads are undertaking to have detailed studies on selected subjects prepared by experts, and copies of these will be included in our final report. The Army and Navy have legal responsibility for carrying on preparatory and planning activities which have for their purpose the guaranty of this Nation's security. The commission hopes to examine appropriate portions of Army and Navy plans that are closely related to the commission's responsibilities in these hearings. The commission has thought it appropriate to ask to appear, as the first witnesses on the program, the chiefs of the veterans' organizations. The first witness we will call is Mr. Thomas Kirby, national legislative chairman of the Disabled American Veterans. STATEMENT OF THOMAS KIRBY, NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE CHAIRMAN DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS, MUNSEY BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D. C. Mr. KIRBY. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the commission, our organization is composed exclusively of men whose disabilities are traceable to the war-officially recognized compensable disabilities. We are the only organization of disabled of any war ever recognized in the history of the country by Federal enactment. With that background, we feel that no cross section of America has had a greater opportunity to appreciate the horrors of war nor a more definite obligation to take any proper action looking toward reasonable preparedness for the future wars that may be inevitable. From the formation of our organization, more than 10 years ago, every national convention has successively indorsed the principle that capital and labor in the next war shall be subject to the same general principles of draft as was the man power in 1917 and 1918. We feel that adequate preparedness no more brings on war than prior insurance invites fire, and any action on our part in supporting this legislation is not in the hopes of war but rather as a peace proposition to prevent or lessen the probability of war. This whole subject is so old and has been discussed so much and presents so many ramifications that we are here to-day to advocate more the principle of universal service than we are any of the details or plans leading up to such an arrangement. We feel that in the past we sent armies to the field; to-day we believe nations go to war and we feel that the arrangements, plans, and programs for mobilization of labor and capital in a future war are just as definite and should be foreseen on the same principle as there should be, and is to-day in the War Department, the draft of a selective service act which could be put into effect immediately. So far as our military preparation is concerned, even those with a superficial knowledge of the War Department's plans realize that we are to-day vastly better prepared, so far as plans are concerned, than we were in 1917, after the clouds of war had hung over the country for years without any definite plan whereby mobilization could be greatly speeded; and to-day, should war come, our armed forces can go to the field, saving literally months, and be better prepared than they were 14 years ago. Furthermore, we feel that the civilian military training camps have been not only a reasonable preparation of a reservoir of our future leaders in furnishing the emergency officers, but also of distinctive value from the viewpoint of citizenship. We feel those young men are taken into these military camps under modified military discipline, at the very age when discipline is most needed, and they come out not only better prepared from a military viewpoint but the whole scheme and program during their presence in those camps is calculated to make them not only better troopers but better Americans. Our purpose to-day, as I have said, is to assure this commission of our whole-hearted consistent and persistent support of the principles for which you are striving. Senator VANDENBERG. Mr. Kirby, may I ask you this question: If, as a general proposition, we were able to procure a common dedication of all of the resources of the country to the national defense, would we not be likely to avoid in the future many of the postwar problems of adjusted compensation for service men, and so forth, which are so perplexing under the system as it has existed heretofore? Mr. KIRBY. In three ways, Senator Vandenberg. First of all, the proper preparation of this country industrially and from the labor viewpoint and from the military and naval viewpoint will lessen the probability on the same theory that if you are walking down the street to hit somebody, you would probably side step Gene Tunney and take the next man. That is the first principle. The second principle is that if we have these postwar problems, of which the chief is the compensation problem, they won't be so great, because our men will be better able to protect themselves than we were in the last war and we will not be going into the war so utterly unfamiliar with our obligations as soldiers, as were some of the exservice men who were sent to the main front with an extremely limited knowledge of rifle fire. The third thing is that, paralleling this universal conscription idea, we have advocated a postwar policy. In other words, after every war we find we have disabled men and we have postwar problems of all sorts in readjusting the ex-service man to his civilian occupation. After the late war the eastern cities were literally piled up with ex-service men from all parts of the country, many of whom had never been in those cities. Some stayed there indefinitely and a lot of them were coaxed home. The biggest hospital at the port of New York was a former department store. We knew the thing was coming and even after we went into the war there was no preparation at all for a postwar policy. So that with a national defense plan prepared in advance to assure universal conscription, we think, paralleling that, there should be a veterans' policy. As you know, Senator, the present World War veterans' act |