MAINTENANCE AT FULL STRENGTH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 July 1941, Page 6

MAINTENANCE AT FULL STRENGTH

Demanded by President Roosevelt SPECIAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS SITUATION FAR GRAVER THAN A YEAR AGO (By Telegraph. —Press Association. —Copyright.) (Received This Dav, Noon.) WASHINGTON, July 21. In a special Message to Congress urging longer Army service for draftees, National Guardsmen and reservists, President Roosevelt said German attacks had brought Nazi domination closer to the Western Hemisphere. “We Americans,” he declared, “cannot afford to speculate with the security of America. The international situation is far graver than it was a year ago. It is so grave, in my opinion, and in the opinion of all who are conversant with the tacts, that the Army should be maintained at effective strength, without diminution of its effective numbers and in a complete state of readiness. Small as it is in comparison with other armies, it should not suffer any form of disorganisation or disintegration. We shall be taking a grave national risk unless Congress makes it possible to maintain the present full effective strength, and during the coming year the training of as many additional Americans as we can. When immediate readiness for service becomes more and more vital as a precautionary measure, the elimination of approximately two-thirds of our trained soldiers and three-fourths of the officer personnel would be a tragic error.