[speaker001:] what do you think about the uh Peace Corps or public service commitment
[speaker002:] uh that's the first I've ever heard of it I haven't heard of it anything too much about it um
[speaker001:] well I think it was uh thought up when there was so much controversy about reviving a draft and people said well they uh young people who were drafted have to provide military service to the country but there are an awful lot of young people who would benefit from um some sort of public service like the Conservation Corps back in the thirties or
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] uh various other things of that sort and it seems to me that it's it's not a totally bad idea but I don't quite see how they'd make it work
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] how would they decide who goes into uh building fire breaks in Yosemite National Park and who goes to Saudi Arabia
[speaker002:] right yeah I the my first impression was um it would be very very good I think it would be good for people to serve but I don't know if it should be an option it would be great to have some of those organizations like you mentioned that were during the Depression or coming out of the Depression available for kids and I think there are some available now where they are able to work but making it a mandatory thing
[speaker001:] yeah the the difficulty would be in whether it's voluntary or involuntary and the people who were proposing it said that it should be involuntary that it should be like a draft
[speaker002:] kind of right uh-huh
[speaker001:] and some people would get military service and some people would get civilian uh service like working in hospitals this I assume it's the kinds of things that they had conscientious objectors do
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] when people were drafted and they refused to serve in the Army they were allowed to do hospital service or uh things like that and if they refuse or farm work in World War One I remember
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] uh reading about and and I suppose that there is uh justification for taking everybody if you take anybody
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] but I just really think that the difficulties involved in paying them uh sorting them out assigning them training them would be insurmountable
[speaker002:] uh-huh it seems like you'd have a lot more conscientious conscientious objectors if they had that choice
[speaker001:] yeah well it's a possibility
[speaker002:] yeah you know I'd I'd much rather work in a hospital than than to go to war and I'm sure most young men and women would and so uh
[speaker001:] well I think that in the in the cases that like that uh they had to be uh pretty thoroughly examined to prove that they had pacifist and religious beliefs and so forth and that this wasn't something new just to keep out of going to war it was
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] uh something that was a fundamental part of their philosophy of life
[speaker002:] uh-huh well that makes sense and then you run into again to um the bureaucracy in running it you know how you going to cover that many people because we've got a lot more people now than we did then
[speaker001:] oh yeah sure and in addition to that we have the cost because you have to pay something
[speaker002:] so right
[speaker001:] for their room and board and then you have to pay them some kind of a stipend uh even if it's like the Peace Corps where they don't get most of it until they come home you have to have to pay them something
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh plus the training involved yeah that would be expensive in most cases
[speaker001:] oh yeah yeah now I had a lot of friends who went to the Peace Corps uh back in the mid sixties
[speaker002:] because uh-huh
[speaker001:] and it really did seem to be a worthwhile organization but on the other hand I'm not sure what the permanent value of it was I don't know what we got for all the money
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] we had an awful lot of idealistic people who went off to uh what was then East Pakistan is now Bangladesh and to uh Algeria and to
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] uh Southeast Asia and lots of uh out of the way places but I don't know if they really had significant effects in the places where they went in teaching the people how to cope with their lives better
[speaker002:] uh-huh well I know in I personally took a year and a half and went as a missionary and taught Christianity in Japan
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and I was living such a stringent lifestyle that it was very beneficial to me it taught me not to be so self-centered and it you know to think of others
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] but I don't know if I was doing it in different situation you know not a really religious background if if I would get a lot out of it you know I think I did because it you know it emphasized that sort of thing you know a lot of
[speaker001:] sure
[speaker002:] self
[speaker001:] and it was definitely voluntary too they were not drafting you and sending you against your will
[speaker002:] evaluation but right right and that I'm sure that would make a big difference too
[speaker001:] yeah well what about a voluntary program do you think that would be a good idea
[speaker002:] you know we've got um well like I say I know that there are some type of programs that they have available for a youth like teenagers to go and do um work in the national parks and work in uh neighborhoods to do um clean up and that sort of thing but I don't know what organization it's under I don't know if it's a government run or if it's a private
[speaker001:] I don't either
[speaker002:] charity that's put it together but I know that that helps a lot with training and um
[speaker001:] yeah out here in California there's a program like that for uh juvenile delinquents the the ones that are not dangerous and they don't have to be locked up go to these uh camps
[speaker002:] a lot of uh-huh
[speaker001:] and they do forestry work they maintain trails and they uh put up signs and they do fire prevention work and certainly things of that sort
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and that I know is run by the State but there may be other things I'm not so sure what kind of uh training that is for the future for those kids
[speaker002:] yeah how much benefit it'll do them in the long run
[speaker001:] it's probably a a very good way to keep them off the streets and out of trouble but whether it's something that they can put to to economic use later on is a different subject
[speaker002:] right especially in you know if you take a a child that's from the inner city and then put them in the a middle of a park if they go back to the inner city they may not see trees for a while much less be able to take care of them
[speaker001:] that's true good point
[speaker002:] so that's yeah so that may not may not benefit them in the long run
[speaker001:] oh yeah yeah I'm sorry I'm going to have to go but my other line is blinking but it was good to talk to you
[speaker002:] but okay well thank you you too bye-bye
[speaker001:] bye