When Congress passed the Reserve Forces Act last August, it provided an alternative way for those under twenty years of age to fulfill their military obligations. Working under the principle that the United States should have a small standing army supported by trained reserves, legislators hoped the Act would induce young men to enlist in the reserves for eight years, limiting their active service to only six months.

Under the Act, Army officials made optimistic plans to handle the large number of volunteers expected to sign up for the program. Before the end of the year they hoped to have 5,000 youths in their six-month training period. Pentagon executives expected that next year's quotas would be even larger. An Army publication pointed out this week, however, that "unless the public relations and recruiting efforts really get rolling this month, the 1956 monthly goal of 6,333 is still far from realistic." At last count, under 3,000 men were in active service.

The poor turnout does not stem from poor publicity. Certain bad features of the Act itself account for the dearth of applicants. Although the volunteers may defer their term of active service temporarily, they must begin it before they are 21 years old. They must also serve 71/2 years in the ready reserve, including 48 weekly two-hour sessions and a two-week training period per year.

The first of these provisions deters some college students who do not want to interrupt their education. Others, even if they have finished their active training before college, see great disadvantages in serving 71/2 years in the ready reserve. Like those who do not matriculate, the college student who wants to remain in good standing with his unit must attend 90% of his reserve drill sessions or risk vulnerability to the draft.

Despite these disadvantages, the Act as a whole has many good points. As President Eisenhower noted when he singed it, the measure "provides a statutory means of assuring that our Federal Reserves will be composed of prior-trained men on a planned basis." It also doubles the current Reserve manpower ceiling.

The President signed the bill reluctantly, however, and immediately announced he would seek its revision during the next session of Congress. One of his objections concerned the Act's failure to authorize the drafting of men into the reserves if volunteers did not fill quotas. Congressmen had claimed that this proposal came dangerously close to Universal Military Training, insisting on a voluntary recruiting program. But if legislators really want to enact provisions for only a small standing army, they must devise a system which is either less voluntary or more attractive for potential reservists. As matters stand now, the Reserve Forces Act is only a poor compromise between the draft and UMT.