of us who are engaged in science education THOSE are concerned more than we think in the cur-
avail us in the least. In future wars men will be serving their country in science and in medicine, as they are now. It is important to insure that nothing interrent arguments over postwar military training. We should have learned from the last three years feres with the best possible training of these men. Whatsomething of the relative military value of things. ever scheme of postwar military training we adopt i t We knew a t the start that this was going to be an "all must be based upon the principle of Selective Serviceout" war, and it has been. There are relatively few and the principle must be made to work. people whose daily occupations do not in some way Anyone who has had to do with the advising of colhave a bearing on the so-called war effort. In future lege students knows that if a student interrupts his warswhich will come, even against our best hopescourse of training the chances are very great that he this will undoubtedly be even more so. Many who are will never return to college to complete it. If we allow not in the uniform of the Armed Forces are neverthe- young men who are definitely headed toward the sciless performing services which are of vital military entific professions to break into their courses for one value, particularly those in the scientific professions. or two years while they go through the "school of the The efficiency of our war production is dependent soldier" many of them will be lost to scienceand the upon the state of development of our science and country will be that much the poorer. Yes, we may technology. Some of the most difficult places for an very well need many trained infantrymen in the future, outsider to get into today are scientific laboratories, but to train a whole platoon of them can be of less real because they contain information of the most vital value to the safety of the country than to carry one military importance. Nevertheless, we are permitting talented young man through to the Ph.D. in any one of administrators to risk strangling our future scientific a number of scientific fields. development, as we pointed out last mouth. It should not be impossible to devise a plan of miliWe based our system of military procurement upon a tary training sufficiently flexible to ditferentiate beprinciple of Selective Se.vice, but we have largely aban- tween people. If every young man must have a taste of doned this principle, i t appears. We are making i t military training some of them can have i t while in more and more difficult for young men to contribute college, in something resembling the present R.0.T.C; their particular talents to the national welfare. We Above all, there is no good reason why everyone must beware of making the same mistakes in sober, should be cut to the same pattern. It is indeed a peacetime military training that we are now making in fundamental tenet of our democracy that there should the excitement of war. be equal opportunity for all, but once the varying Our future national defense will need more scientific ability to grasp opportunities is demonstrated there workers than ever. If we permit ourselves to get be- need be no single rule thereafter. The principle of hind the rest of the world in science and technology no Selective Service is the answer to the whole problem, if amount of mere military training of our citizenry will we will adopt it.
