DEMOBILIZATION TEMPO?-FULL SPEED AHEAD
Howenstine, E. Jay Jr.
Demobilization Tempo?—Full Speed Ahead By E. JAY HOWENSTINE, Jr. AS the war moves into its final stages, the realities of another Armistice loom large. Our relief and joy at the coming of peace...
...The mail bags of Congressmen were reputedly filled with complaints about delays...
...11, 1918, Great Britain had elaborate and carefully prepared plans for demobilizing her Army according to industrial principles...
...must it be delayed more precious months or even years just because civilian authorities have botched the job on the home front...
...This may well happen again in far greater proportions...
...Our relief and joy at the coming of peace are clouded only by fears of threatened unemployment and depression...
...Powerful deflationary and inflationary forces lie in wait, ready to suck the unguided transition economy either upward or downward in a vicious spiral...
...Thus, the fear of unemployment was removed...
...If unemployment becomes threatening, they say, slow down the rates of military discharge and industrial reconversion...
...With the psychology of the British Army rapidly reaching a crisis, Churchill was brought into the War Office on Jan...
...In fact, for several days after the Armistice, Secretary of War Newton D. Baker discussed in press interviews how American demobilization would follow industrial principles...
...Men were to be discharged by occupation, those most essential being released first...
...But what happened...
...Before military demobilization gets into full swing, American business will have an opportunity to retool for peace...
...Men who had served 4 years in the front line trenches were not essential to the resumption of industry and hence were the last to be demobilized...
...Demobilization was stepped up as rapidly as possible...
...Those with "pull" and a job waiting for them secured prompt attention...
...As a result, men who had served and suffered the longest were forced to remain in camps or drafted for the Army of Occupation...
...15, 1919...
...In a single week in January, 1919, more than 30 cases of insubordination among British troops were reported...
...Many men in the Armed Forces have delayed marriage until "after the war...
...Those without skills who had been in the carnage from the beginning had lost connections and had no job waiting for them...
...Armies of occupation were recruited from youth that had not seen active service...
...If we are to get through the reconversion period without mass unemployment it will be due only to careful and intelligent economic planning by business, labor, and Government—not to delayed military and industrial demobilization...
...The logic of this view is varied...
...If maximum speed in military demobilization is to be achieved, no brakes should be placed on industrial demobilization...
...they were also the first to be demobilized...
...Others believe that an army of unemployed is one of the surest and quickest tools to deflate wartime wages and bring about a return of normalcy...
...The planners failed to foresee realistically just how demobilization on industrial principles would operate...
...Here is an array of powerful, explosive pressures that no President, no Congress, no War Department can ignore whether in 1918 or 1945...
...Whether the country is booming or haunted with millions of unemployed, the war machine, both human and industrial, will be demobilized with a speed that will amaze everyone—and ironically enough this will not be half fast enough to satisfy us...
...Detailed industrial planning for peacetime markets will then prove its value in greatly accelerating the changeover...
...Moreover, if there is a s'carcity of job opportunities, certainly the soldier should have at least the same chance to get the available jobs as the civilian, who has not suffered the risks of military service...
...Full speed ahead—yes, but with intelligent, well-laid plans of Government...
...11 was modeled'after the British pattern...
...Dewey and President Roosevelt to come out so strongly against any hint of delayed demobilization...
...By Nov...
...Still others favoring rapid conversion have their eye on lucrative postwar markets...
...There is no other practical alternative except full speed ahead...
...In some instances, for example, at Folkstone on the British side of the Channel and in Calais on the French side, actual mutiny broke out, with considerable bodies of men entirely out of control for several days...
...The opposite of controlled demobilization is, of course, full speed ahead as soon as the firing ceases, regardless of consequences...
...if workers are in great demand increase the tempo...
...When the emergency has passed, every man has a right as a free citizen to do what he wants most of all—to go home...
...16, discharging 200,000 men by military units without regard to the occupational and industrial needs of the country at the time...
...In this country, War Department thinking and planning right up until Nov...
...Intelligent Planning The Answer lt is the thesis of this article that all plans for military and industrial demobilization must start from the - premise that an Army of free men will not tolerate, delays in demobilization for any except military reasons...
...Likewise, Congress has taken the very sound position opposing continued work on war contracts "merely for the purpose of providing business and employment...
...The simplicity of this line of thinking has great appeal, particularly to those deeply fearful of the return of mass unemployment...
...Some military men, some economists, and some business men have maintained that the rate of demobilization should be determined by the ability of the economic system to absorb returning soldiers and war workers...
...The pay of the Army was more than doubled...
...After World War I, these very forces sent the economic system under the "hands off" policy of President Wilson first into a sharp slump, then into a vicious spiral upward, only to land in a precipitous crash with over 4 million unemployed in 1921...
...None were to be mustered out faster than they could be absolved by the economy...
...One thing is certain...
...A brief look at the little-known, but highly important, experience of the Anglo-Saxon nations after World War I spells the above thesis in bold-face type...
...Aside from the matter of sheer political pressures, however, all considerations of justice dictate as rapid demobilization as humanly possible...
...The Dangers Ahead The first few months of peace will be crucial...
...The men in the Armed Forces have served their country willingly in a great crisis...
...Wives, sweethearts, and mothers were insistent that their loved ones be brought home at once...
...It is not at all certain, however, that Congress has been equally positive in laying plans to make sure that GI Joe will have employment opportunities once he is demobilized...
...Moreover, he promised that within several weeks the rate of discharge would reach 30,000 men a day...
...Fortunately, Congress has already settled the issue of military demobilization in the War Mobilization and Reconversion Act with the stated policy that: "The War and Navy Departments shall not retain persons in the Armed Forces for the purpose of preventing unemployment or awaiting opportunities for employment...
...Fortunately, American military and industrial demobilization proceeded at a rate sufficiently rapid to avoid the pitfalls confronted by the British, but even so, it was far too slow when judged by the reaction of the people...
...Employers desiring certain favored workers were impatient at the least delay in demobilization...
...Soldiers were released only in accordance with their length of service, age, and wounds...
...Mark ye...
...those who had served and suffered least were returned to the best opportunities of civilian life...
...The last men to be drafted into the Army were the essent ial men in industry...
...According to Winston Churchill, within 60 days the well-disciplined British Army was on the verge of mass mutiny...
...The risks of unemployment and depression resulting from such a drastic curtailment in war expenditures are admittedly great, but they are much to be desired to the risks of large-scale unemployment, disgruntled soldiers, and a continued scarcity of goods midway in the transition...
...Every day spent in delay or lost motion will mean far greater complications a few months later...
...Here is a proposal for getting through the transition period without an army of unemployed...
...Undoubtedly it was an appreciation of the political dynamite in the issue that caused Gov...
...In 10 days the entire system of demobilization on industrial principles, which was proceeding at at least one-half the American rate, was junked, and military principles were made supreme...
...Full speed ahead will disastrously upset the American economy unless practical, courageous, and comprehensive postwar plans are ready to be put into operation as soon as peace is declared...
...In the halls of Congress, Senators and Representatives raised their voices in scathing criticism of the Army and War Department because they were not demobilizing 4,000,000 men overnight and the demand was made that the British and French lend us their ships in order to help bring home at once our 2,000,000 soldiers abroad...
...Can the war economy be demobilized without disastrously upsetting the economic system...
...Peyton C. March on Nov...
...Suddenly, came the first demobilization order from Gen...
...As after the last war, all contracts except those near completion and those needed for continued military operations, ought to be canceled the moment firing ceases...
...There is little doubt either that the American doughboy still in uniform shared the anxiety and impatience of the home folks...
...To some, the all-important consideration is immediate reduction of governmental expenditures to achieve a balanced budget and stop a further rise in the Federal debt...
Vol. 9 • April 1945 • No. 16
