Re-education of the Returned Soldier and Sailor

Abstract

IF THE estimates of a long and bitter war now current in Washington are correct, the undeniable demands for manpower and womanpower for the purposes of the war's machinery will be increased to figures which relatively are far greater than those involved in any previous conflict in which the United States has participated. It is conservatively estimated that if the war runs for two more years, i.e., into the fall of 1945, there will be directly involved in its activities more than forty million men and women. Of this number, some twenty-nine million will be engaged in war industry. The remainder (variously estimated and depending upon the size of the army finally agreed upon) will be soldiers and sailors, marines, coast guardsmen, air force personnel in all branches of the service, plus the various women's services and auxiliaries. A total of eleven million persons seems to represent a median estimate for the armed forces, although of course, in the War Department itself there are advocates of an army which will reach the proportions of twelve or thirteen million men. This is a colossal effort wholly unprecedented in our history or, in fact, in the history of other nations, with the possible exception of Germany.