St Albans School - Albanian Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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the United States should adopt a permanent system of universal military training after the war as basic in its policy of national securityf, Mr. Hulen had purposely drafted it broadly in order to allow the members to make amendments concerning the age and length of service of the conscripts. In order to familiarize the Class with the topic, Mr. Hulen outlined two bills previously presented to Congress. Both required the conscript to take at least one year's military training, and made him subject to call for a period of four to eight years. At an active and informal 'tquiz sessionv the following Friday, Frank Harman asked Mr. Hulen whether he thought that the reason this proposal was being pushed through now was that its advocates feared that public opinion might be against them after the war. Mr. Hulen replied that this might be the case, for Americans usually become lackadaisical after wars and refuse to see ahead to the next conflict. When Bradford de Wolf and John Hinton expressed the opinion that a ear's militar trainin would reatl im rove the eneral health of the nation's Y Y s 3 Y P U g n p p youth, Geoffrey Owen countered that a man,s entire physical conditions can not be changed sufliciently in one year to warrant conscription. The meetings were en- livened b fre uent clashes between Porter Kier and Frank Harman. Y q On February 16, Congressman Monroney of Oklahoma outlined, from a purely objective point of view, the arguments both for and against compulsory military training. Setting forth Hrst the objections of the bill's opponents, he said that the country should not decide on military training when her judgment is affected by war hysteria. He emphasized that the adoption of conscription by this country would show to the world that we do not believe an enduring peace is possible, and he added that the training which the conscripts would receive would be obsolete by World War III. Presenting the arguments of the proponents of the bill, Mr. Monroney said that public apathy may defeat the bill if it is postponed until after the war, just as a similar bill was allowed to die after World War I. Also, he added, training gives the conscript physical advantages, contact with all classes of people, and knowledge of various trades. Above all, he concluded the nation must be militarily prepared against future aggressors and not trust to the oceans and our existing power to halt an enemy. Since the Albmzimz goes to press before the final vote on the Conscription Bill has been taken, and before the last topic of the year has been announced, it is not possible to record the last discussions and amendments. If, however, the interest in the Government Class continues as it has for the earlier part of the year, the members of the Class can look forward to a year which has been one of the most successful of its history. ORGANIZATIONS 1945 I 3

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its effect on post-war planning. The Club heard an informative address on this sub- ject by Mr. Francis Colt de Wolf of the State Department, who warned that world- wide peace would never exist unless the spirit of the people is behind it. At the final meeting on January 12, the interest in the topic was so great that the meeting was extended an additional fifteen minutes by unanimous consent, an action unprecedented in the history of the Class. During the course of the evening, seven amendments were proposed, of which three were accepted. After fiery discus- sion and defeat of amendments by Orem and Hardison, Monroney presented an amendment stating that no nation in the Security Council should be allowed to vote if either an aggressor or a victim of aggression. It was carried by unanimous vote. Then Reeves' amendment that 'six small powers to be represented in the Security Council should be admitted by alphabetical order, was passed with one dissenting vote. The Morgan amendment which followed, stating that only a majority of the Council should be required to determine an act of aggression, was accepted 8-4. At that point a final vote on the amended resolution was taken, and resulted in its pas- sage by a IS-2 vote. The two following meetings were devoted to the situation in the Pacific and Far East. Mr. Yih Chen, Washington Director of the Chinese News Service, ad- dressed the Club on January 14. After a brief outline of the Chinese philosophy of individual dignity, he described the incidents in the life of a typical Chinese boy of the listeners, age. He stated that since closer physical ties are bound to draw the Orient and Occident together, it is imperative for American youth to become ac- quainted with the nature and philosophy of the Chinese of their own generation, who, the speaker explained, are more serious and mature than American boys of the same age because of the turbulent conditions which have existed in China for nearly three decades. On January 26, Captain Howard E. Orem spoke on the Pacific War. To aid the class members in his review of Pacific strategy, he brought with him a large map and distributed smaller ones to the members and guests. He then described the the moves of both sides in the Pacific, and presented the reasons for them. He com- menced with the Japanese offensive down through the Philippines and the advance through the Dutch East Indies and eastward through the Solomons and the Gilbert Islands. The purpose of this advance, he explained, was to cut off Australia prepar- atory to invading that continent. The second part of his review of the Pacific War was devoted to the American counter-advance back to the Philippines. After explaining the three possible routes, he stated that Admiral Nimitz struck through Micronesia in order to safeguard the drive by MacArthur through New Guinea up to the Philippines, and to remove the major obstacle there of Japanese bases which barred our path. Peacetime conscription became the third topic for Government Class discus- sions when, on February 2, Mr. Hulen presented to the members the resolution That THE ALBANIAN

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ATHLETICS