Army pros
Is the volunteer army such a good idea?
Is the volunteer army such a good idea? Nixon's most popular campaign promise, the idea of eventually doing away with the draft and substituting a well-paid, well-compensated career military, is one he hasn't abandoned since he won the election.
Now the volunteer army is still a far-off misty idea. Until the Vietnam war is over, Nixon has no intention of cutting down on the troop supply.
But Nixon knows that his one slim chance of identification with youthful voters is doing away with the draft. Conceivably he won't forget the promise and will try to effect the change in the military.
It does sound good. No more hulking dread hanging over young men between the ages of 18 and 26; no more fear of two years of, if not war, at least for many meaningless servitude; no more outrageous inefficiency and overspending in military outposts and budgets.
But a thoroughly efficient, prepared and ambitious military could prove to be a bigger American nightmare than even the draft has been.
For example look at Greece or almost any country in South America: military generais, used to giving orders, can get overbearing. When they run out of orders to give to soldiers, they often decide to start practicing on civilians, even high level government civilians.
A military coup d'etat in the United States sounds impossible and it probably would be. America has a strong structure of government and a generally well-educated population. This is usually not the case in countries where a professional military is also the nation's educated and power elite.
Peace, though, could quickly become boring to an ambitious general. Military career advancements are made more easily in wartime than peacetime; and when a man joins up to defend his country he might decide he wants to defend it actively.
War has been the time-honored balm to military ills. If the military were efficient, ambitious and professional, would America be able to stay out of war for long?
The present draft is a horror in time of war. But are we so sure that a volunteer army might not prove an equal horror in time of war? (AMS)
Junked Male
Letters to the editor
Tunnel controversy
To the Editor:
I was quite surprised to read in the Kansan Wednesday, February 12, the quotation attributed to me regarding the pedestrian tunnel from Zone "X" to the Kansas Union.
Those who were in the audience Tuesday evening when the addition to the Kansas Union and plans for a satellite building were discussed will perhaps remember that a critic of the pedestrian tunnel called it an "insane idea." In reply, I discussed the chronological development of plans for the tunnel, stressing that safety and accessibility to the enlarged Union were the reasons for its inclusion in the present construction. I do not believe that, in my reply, I repeated the word "insane," but if I did so, it was in reference to another person's appraisal of the tunnel and certainly not my own. I did say that I regret very much the fact that some students are
displeased with this portion of the present addition.
The Union Operating Committee, which consists of twelve student members and nine staff, faculty, and alumni members, is working hard to determine the Union facilities most needed in our growing university.
Frank R. Burge Director, Kansas Union
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Paperbacks
For your light moments this spring, consider the following:
THE WRECKING CREW, by Donald Hamilton (Gold Medal, 60 cents), a new adventure in the Matt Helm series and, some will observe, a new movie with Dean Martin and all the girls. To detail the plot of this one would be to tell the plot of most undercover (and that truly has a double meaning re Matt Helm) spy tales of recent years.
BLIZZARD PASS, by T. V. Olsen (Gold Medal, 50 cents), which, believe it or not, is a western. A gang of robbers and their search for stolen money—for the western afficionado only. THE GIRL IN THE PLAIN BROWN WRAPPER, by John D. MacDonald (Gold Medal, 75 cents), which is a new one about detective Travis McGee. MacDonald's books remain some of the best of their type. And THE LIMBO TOUCH, by Jack Weeks (Gold Medal, 60 cents), which is about an attempt to rob the safe of a gambling casino owned by the Mafia. Now there's a switch.
Oath infringes rights
By JOANNA WEIBE
Kansan Staff Writer
In order to receive their monthly paychecks, employees of the University of Kansas are required to sign an oath swearing allegiance to both the United States of America and the State of Kansas. In signing this oath, they are submitting to an infringement on their right of free speech, and giving covert assent to a chauvinistic, Ku Klux Klanish sort of forced patriotism in its grossest sense.
"I do solemnly swear (affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Kansas, and faithfully discharge the duties of my office or employment. So help me God," is the text of this oath, required by Chapter 106 of the 1968 Kansas statutes.
By scrawling their signatures across this
mimeographed sheet, KU's employees, including administration, faculty, staff, and many student workers, agree to an absurd proposition. They are saying, in effect, that they will do or say nothing in opposition to the governmental system which supports their institution.
An employee of the University Daily Kansan, for example, who feels the laws of his state are too lax in supporting open housing, is agreeing to remain silent on the issue when he signs the oath. This limits his constitutional right to freedom of speech.
A similar oath is required of all students requesting National Defense Student loans. This oath includes the phrase that the signee agrees to "support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all its enemies, foreign and domestic."
A number of the University students are not American citizens and it seems ridiculous in the extreme that these aliens be required to support a foreign constitution and set of laws. This constitution and these laws may be the same laws and constitution with which their own country may disagree.
How can an alien agree in good conscience to support a country of which he is not a citizen?
The State of Kansas should have enough good faith in its citizens and employes that it can assume they're going to support the constitution. And whenever the constitution or laws go bad, employees should be allowed the freedom of dissent.
Or, does the State of Kansas think that it's the Ku Klux Klan?