Amherst Head Opposes Conant U.M.S. Proposal

President Charles W. Cole of Amherst, one of the leaders of growing opposition to President Conant's plan for Universal Military Service, last night made his arguments public. Writing for Tuesday's issue of Look magazine, Cole states U.M.S. would create a two year gap in the flow of trained youth, "a break in our lifeline in the most crucial decade in our history."

In another development on the manpower question, Federal Security Administrator Oscar L. Ewing proposed Saturday that colleges accelerate their programs by eliminating summer vacations. He also asked that basic military training be included in high school curriculas.

"We cannot compete with Russia in raw manpower," Cole says," Where we can compete is in trained, educated, skilled manpower." For this reason, he feels that U.M.S. would harm the nation: there would be the gap plus a situation in which many of the men would never complete their education after service. (U.M.S. would draft all men at 19 for two years in the armed forces.)

Not Enough Anyway

Cole argues that the Conant plan would not get enough men for the services anyway; and if we must continue to draft men we might as well maintain a deferment system too, "We can find another 75,000 each year to replace those whose education is being continued," he explains.

He points out that U.M.S. would mean that many men--doctors, trained technicians, for examples--would have to serve twice, once before and once after education. Otherwise, the Army would have no one to fill important advanced posts except the few who would re-enlist voluntarily.

Other objections, Cole states, include the great financial burden placed on schools which would have to do without most of their students for at least the first years of U.M.S. Also, he argues, many important advances in sciences are made by young men; the Conant plan would cut off two productive and formative years in each student's life.