I prefer condition one myself but it likely has something to do with Jeff Cooper and nothing to do with JM Browning.
Cooper may have influenced
your preference but he didn't come up with the concept. The 1940 version of the Army manual calls for carrying the pistol, holstered or in hand, cocked with loaded chamber with the safety switch on "in campaign, when ... early use of the pistol is probable", and it advises against carrying the weapon with the hammer down on a loaded chamber under any circumstances.
Thanks to Vern Humphrey for that.
http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=6037784&postcount=51
If you are carrying a handgun for self defense you are going to have to carry in a ready condition. "Early use" may not be
probable, but quick deployment sure may be
necessary.
I'd be interested in seeing what it says in earlier versions. World War I editions do not seem to be available.
"Condition 1" may seem unnerving to many, condition 2 was recommended against in the manual, and condition 3 does not lend itself best to readiness (try the Tueller drill from an empty chamber).
I see two alternatives: use a different pistol or learn to accept that Condition 1 is OK. Forty three years ago I opted for the former with a Smith model 39, and early this year I traded it for a Smith M&P 9c.
My shying away from the 1911 back than resulted from a preference for a hammer drop safety and DA trigger and from the fact that the "reliable" .45 pistols I had fired had atrocious triggers, miserable sights, and loose tolerances. Those things had been used in WWII. Elmer Keith was no fan of the 9MM, but he contended that the Model 39 was safer and much more accurate than the 1911, and he influenced my decision very strongly.
Having since received advice regarding Condition 1 carry from the writings of Cooper and others, from police officers I know who carry 1911 pistols as backup, and from members of this forum, and having realized that the longer trigger pull of the aforementioned pistols makes me less effective with them than with a good 1911, I recently changed to a 1911.
The manual? I had one once but I forgot what it said years ago.