Friedman Tells How to End Draft

CHICAGO, Dec. 6 -- Milton Friedman, professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, argued the case for a volunteer army at the conference on the draft here today, and many delegates found to their evident surprise that they agreed with him.

Friedman cited a report indicating that if the government spent an additional four to six million dollars a year on military salaries, it could attract enough men into the army to end the draft, and still maintain a three million man force.

A Defense Department official questioned the professor's figures and the as sumption that the enlistment rate would rise with an increase in salary. Friedman replied that the surest way to see who was right was to raise pay and watch what happened.

Congressmen Donald Rumsfeld (R-III.) and Ronald B. Kastenmeier (D-Wis.) added their support for the volunteer army but indicated that it would be difficult to get a feasible plan through Congress.

The conservative economics also predicted that since a volunteer army would have fewer men to train, the number of men staffing training centers could be reduced.

The University of Chicago Conference goes into its fourth and concluding day Wednesday still undecided on how the draft should be reformed or whether it should be kept at all.

Some conference participants, including Gregory B. Craig '67, president of the Harvard Undergraduate Council, said they feared the political consequences of a volunteer army. A professional army, they said would be likely to sieze control of the government.

Speaking quickly, Friedman answered these objections by saying that the army behind Napoleon had been conscriptive, as was the one that took control in Argentina recently. Besides, he said, it was the officers, not the men, who presented a threat to civilain control.

So long as the United States recruits its men for the service academies from all parts of the country and maintains ROTC in the colleges, an elite officer class will not be formed, Friedman said.