GOVERNMENT
Hope for Ph.D. Potato Peelers? Sparks fly as Hershey "views with a l a r m ' shaw's bill to channel scientists into defense labs TnvERYXHiNG but verbal brass knuckles - c ' w e r e used after Selective Service director Lewis B. Hershey stated he opposed Rep. Carl Hinshaw's (R.Calif.) bill to channel scientists into defense laboratories instead of Army mess halls as potato peelers. H i n s h a w p r o m p t l y retorted that Hershey's agency is largely responsible for the shortage of scientists and engineers. F r o m that point on, hearings on the proposed bill to extend the draft for another four years were bypassed for a time while Hinshaw's b i l l ^ H . R . 2847) took t h e spotlight. It was n o t until afternoon next day that the chairman of t h e House Armed Services Committee, Carl Vinson ( D . - G a . ) , a n d Hinshaw agreed between them to h a v e Hinshaw's bill considered separately and n o t as an a m e n d m e n t to t h e present Universal Military Training and Service Act. W h e n the verbal fireworks started, Vinson indicated h e sided with Hershey in being cool toward Hinshaw's proposal. After hearing Hinshaw's further testimony and that of H o w a r d A. Meyerhoff of the Scientific M a n p o w e r Commission, and Ralph W . C h a n e y of the University of California ( w h o app a r e n t l y came overman t to Washingt o n ) , Vinson conceded that t h e p r o b lem merited more consideration and a r r a n g e d that hearings should be held by a subcommittee u n d e r R e p . Paul Kilday (D.-Tex.). Hearings on Hinshaw's bill will begin in a month o r so.
Hin-
After this arrangement, Vinson guided the hearings on the draft extension tô a swift conclusion. U n d e r his guidance t h e committee unanimously approved the bill (H.R. 3005) to extend t h e draft for four years. T h e bill also carried two amendments b y Vinson. T h e first amendment w o u l d exempt any man who joined the National Guard before he reached eighteen a n d a half and who remained in it until h e was 26 years old. T h e second provides that anyone who has served six months or more in the a r m e d services after 1940 would not be liable to a second tour of duty except in a national emergency. The Hinshaw Bill. This bill, labeled b y Hershey as an "escapist plan," would create a Scientific Specialist Board appointed by t h e President to pick out qualified scientists, after their induction, for release from service after three months of basic military training to return to research work. Hershey said h e was disturbed at t h e thought of putting such authority into t h e hands of a separate board "not r e sponsible for t h e defense of the country." H e would not object to an advisory board, however, t o recommend scientific deferments before induction. This is provided the local boards h a v e t h e final say on such scientists "like every other mother's son." A n u m b e r of states already have such advisory committees. "Every mother's son, and the mothers too, will b e better protected," coun-
tered Hinshaw, "if more boys with scientific capabilities are encouraged and allowed to complete their training and then employ it to work on weapons." Later, in more formal testimony, Hinshaw noted t h a t hundreds of men with P h . D . degrees were currently privates peeling potatoes. Hershey dramatically riposted b y conjuring u p a picture of Congressmen, in their wives' aprons, also peeling potatoes and asking: "Are any of you so lucky to escape housework w h e n you become a member of the United States Congress?" In a more serious vein Hinshaw pointed out that in the atomic age winning a p e a c e (or war) through strength will d e p e n d not merely on trained riflemen b u t on m e n with trained brains. It is on these trained brains, the scientists and engineers, that the country's security depends to a great extent. "They must b e the first with the best," says Hinshaw. Instead, he notes, there is every evidence that training and use of such men is inadequate. Another cause for concern, says Hinshaw, is t h e report from the Engineering M a n p o w e r Commission of the Engineers Joint Council that the U. S. is "losing the battle for engineering manpower to the Soviet Union." Hershey replied that no one is sure w h a t Russia is doing. H e a d d e d t h a t American experts have never advised him how m a n y young scientists or engineers should b e deferred or even to define w h a t they want. E M C ' s statement was elaborated with statistics b y Howard Meyerhoff who also spoke for that organization. His main point, however, was that Congress should appropriately amend the act to read: "Universal Military Training and Selective Service Act."
CHEMICAL
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