LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE1
Let The People Decide! THE hearings on compulsory peacetime military conscription by the House Military Affairs Committee have brought out 2 salient points: 1. Organizations in this country with a...
...I am convinced they had no chofce...
...Tydings' report on the scenes of destruction and destitution in the Philippines is not a reassuring picture of the kind of climate in which self-government can grow...
...2. Support for the bill comes in large measure from the military hierarchy and a small but powerful and well-heeled Eastern clique which has sought to glorify militarism in America for several decades...
...A Immediate Obligation SEN...
...Let the militarists put this question up to the people in the Congressional elections of 1946...
...Johnson's ringing challenge should be nailed to the mainmast in the drive against conscription...
...America has deep obligations to the people of the Philippines, certainly even more than we have toward the unfortunate people of many of the European countries to whom we have not hesitated to grant far more generous aid through such agencies as UNRRA...
...Edwin C. Johnson, ranking member of the Senate Military Affairs Committee, was on firm ground when, in the June 11 issue of The Progressive, he dared the militarists to let the people decide the issue of conscription...
...Filipino blood has flowed freely to save the lives of our brothers, sons, husbands, and fathers...
...Representatives of these groups, speaking for millions of American citizens, left no doubt of their vigorous opposition to the bill...
...Through the long, bitter years of Japanese occupation they continued guerrilla warfare at great peril to themselves to make MacArthur's triumphant return easier...
...Kurt Schuschnigg, last chancellor of independent Austria who defied and resisted Adolf Hitler and spent 7 years in Nazi prisons and concentration camps—Dachau included—made this comment in an interview with the United Press: "I am convinced that the great majority of the German people hated war...
...Their complete trust and faith in America can be no better demonstrated than by a resolution introduced into the recently convened Philippine Congress...
...Educational skills, physical fitness," and other factors that cannot be acquired *'iti a short time" are vital to security, she said...
...MILLARD TYDINGS, one of the most consistent friends of the people of the Philippine Islands in Congress, has proposed a Philippine policy for this country which should have the immediate and effective attention of the national legislature...
...The other American troops, unmindful of the bigotry of stay-at-home racists, gave the Nisei a lusty cheer and acclaimed them as among the best of American soldiers...
...Hastings told the committee that military training would not guarantee this country preparedness...
...The resolution offers the United States all the military bases we consider necessary for "all time to come...
...In an extraordinary series of appearances, representatives of some of the largest and most influential groups in America have scored the measure as unnecessary to the security of the nation, as an invitation to further wars, as dangerous to democracy, and as a reversal of our historic policy of anti-militarism...
...THE hearings on compulsory peacetime military conscription by the House Military Affairs Committee have brought out 2 salient points: 1. Organizations in this country with a real mass base among the people are unalterably opposed to taking action on this momentous question now...
...The responsibility for this training, throughout the period in which our boys and girls are growing up...
...Among the boys it landed home was a detachment of Nisei-Japanese-Americans who had fought brilliantly in Italy against the Nazis...
...But it would be heartless and brainless to cast "off the war-ravaged islands to shift for themselves without making some effort to assist them in rebuilding their homes and stabilizing their society...
...Tydings' proposals and act promptly...
...Item One: Dr...
...by educational associations, and by the Congress of Parents and Teachers...
...This is an extraordinary gesture of good will at a time when all the rest of the Orient is seething with a justifiable desire to rid itself of white imperialism...
...Independence, of course, has already been promised for next year...
...Thousands and thousands were hanged or otherwise killed...
...ONE of the most impressive appearances was made by Mrs...
...William A. Hastings, who represented 3,500,000 members in the Congress of Parents and Teachers...
...Two Notes In The News TWO significant notes in the news last week carry in themselves a far more powerful and eloquent appeal against the mass indictment of peoples, nationalities, and races than can any editorial comment...
...Item Two: A super-transport, carrying some 2,000 American troops home from the battlefields of Europe, docked in New York...
...Thousands and thousands of Germans were in concentration camps...
...rests with our schools, our recreational centers, and other community groups," she said...
...The Filipinos have demonstrated their deep devotion to America...
...by labor organizations...
...Remembering the special responsibility we owe to the Philippines, President Truman and Congress must recognize the merit of Sen...
...In addition to granting the islands independence, the Maryland Democrat proposes loans, an outright gift of $100,000,000, and a liberal tariff policy to aid in their reconstruction...
...Other^demanded that the plan be held in abeyance until our servicemen can have a voice in whether America is to scuttle a great democratic tradition that has lasted more than 150 years...
...In the dark days of Bataan they stood bravely with our troops to the last...
...The number and nature of the organizations registered against the conscription bill demonstrate conclusively that Sen...
...Sen...
...The bill was opposed by representatives of the Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish faiths...
...And we may be assured thab-it will not fall into hands to be used as an instrument of political manipulation, such as has too often been the case in Europe...
Vol. 9 • June 1945 • No. 25
