First, the Congress should provide Federal assistance to the States in meeting the present crisis in education. The children in our schools, and the men and women who teach there, have been made the victims of inflation. More children are entering school than ever before. But inflation has cut down the purchasing power of the money devoted to educational purposes. Teachers' salaries, for the most part, have lagged far behind increases in the cost of living. The overcrowding of our schools is seriously detrimental to the health and the education of our boys and girls. Every month that we delay in meeting this problem will cause damage that can never be repaired. Several million children of school age are unable to attend school, largely because of lack of facilities or teachers.

-Address before joint session of the Senate and the
House of Representatives, July 27, 1948.

Elementary and Secondary Education

For education, the first step, which should not be deferred, is to provide Federal aid for elementary and secondary education to help remedy the deplorable shortages and the maldistribution. of school facilities and teachers. At present, our ten poorest States are spending about $64 annually for each school child, while our ten wealthiest States are spending about $177.

-Economic Report of the President, January 14, 1948.

Although the major responsibility for financing education rests with the States, some assistance has long been given by the Federal Government. Further assistance is desirable and essential. There are many areas and some whole States where good schools cannot be provided without imposing an undue local tax burden on the citizens. It is essential to provide adequate elementary and secondary schools everywhere and additional educational opportunities for large numbers of people beyond the secondary level. Accordingly, I repeat the proposal of last year's Budget Message (from President Roosevelt) that the Federal Government provide financial aid to assist the States in assuring more nearly equal opportunities for a good education. The proposed Federal grants for current educational expenditures should be made for the purpose of improving the educational system where improvement is most needed. They should

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not be used to replace existing non-Federal expenditures, or even to restore merely the situation which existed before the war. -Message on the State of the Union and transmitting the Budget for 1947, January 21, 1946.

The American people have long recognized that provision of. an adequate education for everyone is essential in a democratic system of government. It has become evident in recent years that the financial resources of many States and their subdivisions are not sufficient to meet minimum educational standards. Therefore, I urge the Congress to take prompt action to provide grants from the Federal Government to the States for elementary and secondary education. The Budget estimates provide for beginning this program in the fiscal year 1949.

-Budget Message, 1949, January 6, 1948.

Our generous provision for education under the veterans' program should not obscure the fact that the Federal Government has large responsibilities for the general improvement of educational opportunities throughout the country. Although the expenditure estimates for the coming fiscal year are limited to present programs, I have long been on record for basic legislation under which the Federal Government will supplement the re

we must make possible greater equality of opportunity to all our citizens for an education. Only by so doing can we insure that our citizens will be capable of understanding and sharing the responsibilities of democracy.

-State of the Union Message,
January 7, 1948.

The Federal Government has not sought, and will not seek, to dominate education in the States. It should continue its historic role of leadership and advice, and, for the purpose of equalizing educational opportunity, it should extend further support to the cause of education in areas where this is desirable.

-Message on the State of the Union and transmitting the Budget for 1947, January 21, 1946.

Public provision for education has been primarily the concern of the several States, and must remain so. The maintenance of freedom of thought and expression depends in large measure upon keeping our systems of education free from central control,

-Communication to the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, May 26, 1948.

Equal Opportunity

We cannot be satisfied until all our people have equal opportunities for jobs, for homes, for education, for health, and for political expression, and until all our people have equal protection under the law.

-Message transmitting recommendations for
Civil Rights Program, February 2, 1948.

Health and Education

The Federal Government is now spending a large amount of money for health and education programs for war veterans, but general expenditures in these fields are relatively small. I urge the Congress to give early consideration to expanded peacetime programs of public health, nutrition, and education.

-Economic Report of the President, January 8, 1947.

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"...

For the Future Security ...

SO MANY questions relating to national and international security are asked today both in the classroom and in the community that educators must be armed with facts if they are to furnish the correct answers. For the information of SCHOOL LIFE readers, the National Military Establishment was asked to prepare an article which might help clarify for school administrators and teachers the present structure of the Establishment, which today directs the training of thousands of youth who have left the classroom and the community for service in the armed forces. The article was prepared by William M. Hines, Jr., of the National Military Establishment.

F THE CONGRESS ever spelled out its intent in "words of one syllable,” it did in Public Law 253, 80th Congress: the National Security Act of 1947.

Though it is the subject of at least as much public misunderstanding as any farreaching and important new law, the National Security Act's aims are made plain by a declaration of policy at the outset of the text:

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it is the intent of Congress to provide a comprehensive program for the future security of the United States. . .' In a day when war is total and threedimensional--with the fearful fourth dimension of time an ever-increasing additional consideration-the future security of the United States requires unified direction of the Nation's military potential. Though the Armed Forces are and always have been under the command of the President, the growth of the Nation and its government has made this command ever more theoretical than practical. A realistic approach to

unification today requires a central directing agency subordinate to the President and exercising control only over the Armed Services.

No Department of Defense

Congress recognized this need with the creation, under the Act cited above, of the National Military Establishment, headed by the Secretary of Defense. The disparity between the title of the office and that of the official has caused no little confusion in the public mind; there is no Department of Defense, as there is a Department of State presided over by the Secretary of State, or of Treasury headed by the Secretary of the Treasury.

The Secretary of Defense is now the only representative of the Armed Forces in the President's cabinet. His three principal assistants, Secretaries respectively of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, are not of cabinet rank but have access to the President under certain conditions.

Because the Office of the Secretary of Defense is a coordinating rather than an operating agency, it is numerically far smaller than the subordinate Departments of Army, Navy, and Air Force. A corps of assistants in charge of various specialties and five boards, each concerned with a particular problem relating to the national defense, assist the Secretary of Defense in over-all supervision of the Military Establishment. The civilian and military chiefs of the three Armed Services, together with the Secretary of Defense, make up the only other major office in the headquarters organization. This last-named group, the War Council, is responsible for advising the Secretary of Defense on matters of broad policy relating to the Armed Forces and for considering and reporting on such other matters as the Secretary of Defense may direct.

The assistants to the Secretary of Defense are charged with the organization of proper budget and management procedures, furnishing of legal counsel, supervision of planning, and dissemination of public information.

Boards and staffs in the National Military Establishment are:

Joint Chiefs of Staff, charged by law with strategic planning. A Joint Staff is the operating agency of this group.

Munitions Board, headed by a civilian appointed by the President. By close coordination with the military services and with outside agencies, the Board keeps the Military Establishment in touch with the

national industrial and manpower potentials and how they compare with the sum of military and civilian needs. Among its outstanding duties are the evaluation of service requirements under the Selective Service Law and the recommendation of interservice procurement responsibilities by which the service best equipped to buy supplies makes purchases for the entire Military Establishment.

Research and Development Board, its chairman a civilian named by the President, which deals with all matters relating to scientific research and development.

A Military Liaison Committee which provides contact between the National Military Establishment and the Atomic Energy Commission.

A Personnel Policy Board, under whose supervision the personnel plans of the Military Establishment are coordinated.

No part of the National Military Establishment are two Presidential groups, the National Security Council and the National Security Resources Board. Both groups were created by the National Security Act of 1947. The Security Council, headed by the President, has as its responsibility the task of integrating the plans of the Military

Establishment into those of the Government as a whole. Serving with the President are the Secretaries of State, Defense, Army, Navy, and Air Force, and Chairman of the National Security Resources Board, together with others in the President's discretion as prescribed by law. Directly subordinate to the National Security Council is the Central Intelligence Agency, charged with advising the Security Council in matters of intelligence activities of Government departments as relate to national security and coordinating such activities of Government departments. The law provides that the C. I. A.'s chief may be either military or civilian, and states that if he be a military man, "he shall be subject to no supervision . . . other than would be operative with respect to him if he were a civilian."

A Tradition

The National Security Resources Board, headed by a civilian appointee, advises the President concerning the coordination of military, industrial, and civilian mobilization. The Congress, in creating the Board, took cognizance of the fact that modern war

is total; that it touches not only the man with the gun but every individual behind him, all the way to the factory, the farm, and the office in the heart of the homeland. The members of the Board are cabinet officials.

The creation of a National Military Establishment has not altered one of the oldest and finest traditions of the Nation: That the Armed Forces are servants of the people, and that the apex of leadership in the Armed Forces is vested in civilian persons. The Secretaries of the three Armed Services are civilians, but the law with respect to the chief of the Military Establishment contains an additional safeguard, "That a person who has within ten years been on active duty as a commissioned officer in a regular component of the Armed Services shall not be eligible for appointment as Secretary of Defense."

Because a Joint Staff is provided to coordinate policies of the three services, the Secretary of Defense is forbidden by law to maintain a military staff, although he is authorized to have officers of the Armed Services detailed to duty in his office. The operating military staffs are organized on (Continued on page 14)