The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-04-02
Hitler Reveals Secret

| 8ir John simon, aB tu&t tune foreign secretary, that Germar1yss air power eqSiailed Britain's. The government at once initiated a great emergency expausion program, nearly tripIing the average expen- diture of the previous years.
 Now again Britain has boosted ! the ante with 1887 air estimates of 1 Rs2, ,oO0, GOO (ezO, ,OOO, ,OOOD, which is R32, 2,OOO,O 900 le2.0O0. .OOO) above last years and compares with an aver ages of &lS,O0O, 900 (9DO, 900. .O00) be- fore Hitleris surprising announce ment. Sir Philip Gasscon, lndersecretary for air, told commons on March l5 that the expenditure this year of Az times the pre-expe1sion period means "trebling the force as well as re-arming 1t with modern cqutp- ment."
 London Area Is Problem Britain's greatest defense prob- lem is protecting the London area, with 1O,O0O,OOO inhabitants. It is the center of government, finance and administration. It has. nine square miles of docks, furnishing food and raw materials for 2O,O00,- GOO persons, and is less than an hours flight from Germany and France. Balloons As Traps
 The most remarkable defense scheme is a vast hedge of balloons around the capital, anchored at a great height, between whcih will be suspended aprons of heavy, dangling wires designed to entangle the propellors of enemy aircraft and crash them. Critics contend that modern planes fly high enough to surmount the balloon barrage. Additional precautions are bat terieS of anti-aircraft guns, search- lights, sound detectorS, 8 network of telephonic communications and a device called a "predictor" which can automatically compute an air. planes future position. Twenty thousand men from the territOrials (rnilitia) are being enlisted in the anti-aircraft division.
 Almost nightly London,s millions hear the drone of airplanes testing the defense devices and organiza- ton. The air raid precaution de- partment has instituted an educa- tional program and organization against gas attack. It includes the training of ambulance units, eStab- lishment of first air posts, fire coln- pany drills and instructions on how $IrM NNmaSNYn 0VNffa00 c rooms in their ehouseS. 4O,0O0,O00 Gas Masks The department is beginning the production of 4O,OOO,0OO gas masks for eventual distribution to every adult and child. For babies, 250,- 900 month arc now being nnanu- factured.
 A hint of how seriously the air threat is regarded is furnished by the suspension of plans to build 8 great new government building in Whitehall. the government center, in which 5000 civil servants would have been housed. The suspension was due to the belief that the Whitehall project would furnish too great a concentration of govern mental activity in war time.
 Although Britain has adopted par- tially the secrecy policy of the totalitarian nations and the exact progress of her air program has been concealed, best informed ob- serves credit the nation with about 1,7SO first line planes, compared to 1,180 in December, 1885.
 124 Air Squadrons \ Sassoon told commons that the air forces in the British Isles would reach 124 /sqladrons within a few months, compared to 53 Squadrons in 1885.
 To man the expanded forces, the air ministry plans within the year to begin training 1,175 men more than the 1,435 trained or partially trained last year. It also plans to enlist nearly 12,000 as ground crews observers and radio men, in addition to II ,000 enlisted last year. The lnin- istry has provided for construction of 48 new airfields.
 Enlisting Youths To start system of reserves, the ministry has outlined a plan to en- list 300 civilians in the newly-cre- ! ated royal air force volunteer re- 1 serve, and also to continue the policy of enlisting youths after they have finished school for one years training as pilots, when they will be put in the reserve corps.
 Sassoon admitted that the pro- gram Is still less rapid than had been hoped, because of the shortage of skilled workmen and draughts- men. It would be impossible to withdraw them from industry with out serious dislocation of business. The program is retarded also by the