Chemical Engineerng
WALTER J. M U R P H Y , Editor
News
Settle the M a n p o w e r Problem Now Τ HE official Administration program for college deferments proposed by Secretary of Defense Mar shall before the Senate Armed Services Committee removed partially at least the confusion and un certainties besetting students and educators. The Marshall-Rosenberg proposals were received with mixed reactions. T h e plan certainly does not constitute an acceptance of the suggestion that no deferments be granted. It recognizes the need for specially trained and educated manpower. An intelligent policy must be formulated and adopted immediately. A large exodus of students lias occurred since the holidays and this trend will be accelerated in t h e next two weeks since most in stitutions start the second semester on Feb. 1. Gen. Marshall was fairly specific in his sugges tions on a policy for the 18-year-olds. H e was less specific on the possible future status of those now in the colleges. Broadly speaking, the Marshall-Rosenberg pro posals seem to be sound. We refer, of course, to the principles enunciated. We are not at all cer tain, however, that the deferment figures are sound. We are convinced that the military are still imbued with the idea that every man in uniform must be a perfect physical and mental specimen. A recent article in Nations Business by Stanley Frank is a severe indictment of such a policy. We agree wholeheartedly with the author when he states: "The armed forces of the United States insist on regarding every recruit as a potential combat man. It is a concept as archaic as a cavalry charge with drawn sabers and as unrealistic as an umbrella in an air raid, yet our military leaders continue to adhere to it despite the experience of disastrous consequences. Their own elaborate tables of or ganization prove that the idea of training every volunteer and conscript for front-line fighting is utter nonsense."
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The author goes on to point out that in the last war 9 5 % of the men in uniform did the jobs needed to keep the other five in action. If we are to have an intelligent use of our limited manpower we must revamp many of our former ideas. Our use must really be selective or we will court defeat if World War III is thrust upon us. The armed forces are not alone in the necessity of changing some very basic concepts. James B. Conant, president of Harvard University, has pro posed that we reduce the four-year college course to three and also shorten the time it takes to get a professional degree. Under present conditions we believe that such programs are required. The Soviet leaders are keenly aware that each individual must be placed where he will contribute most. M. H. Trytten, chairman of the Selective Service Scientific Advisory Committee, speaking before the 37th annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges, warned that the Soviet Union had 1,516 technical institutes in 1945, not counting medical, pedagogical, and other specialized edu cational institutions. In 1939, he added, there were 600,000 students enrolled in those Russian institu tions while, in the third five-year plan ending in 1950, it was expected that 1.7 million would be trained there. These figures speak for themselves. We know of no military or civil leader in the United Stales who does not believe that our one chance of survival is superiority in the sciences and technology. Whether we maintain such a ] ead depends solely on how we administer the manpower problem. If we face the strong probability of 10 or more years of inter national uncertainty we must be sure that we adopt plans now that will not deplete our scientific and technical manpower resources. Otherwise we guarantee a Soviet victory.
1951
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