Evening star., 1939-01-26
Senator Holds
War Unlikely
For America
johnson Doubts
Conflict Unless
Muneuvered In

of the United States becoming in
volved in war during the next 20
years unless we start one or allow
foreign diplomats to maneuver us
into one to pull their chestnuts out
of the fire"
He spoke at the closing session Of
the Fourteenth Annual Women's
Patriotic Conference on National
Defense at the MayfloWer Hotel.
National defense does not call for
pell-mell spending or pork barrel
projects in out-of-the- places"
he told the delegates. The United
States cannot 60 too far in protest.
ing relationships when she is
pledged by the Monroe Doctrine to
protect relationships in the Western
Hemisphere.
Another speaker, Rear Admiral
Emory S. Land, chairman of the
Maritime Commission, delivered a.
vigorous plea for support of the new
American merchant marine being
built up through the Maritime Com
mission.
Admiral Land described as "pure
bunk" reports of impertinence of
personnel toward passengers aboard
American ships.
we must promote travel bv
travelling under the American flag"
he said. To-day 10 out of 100
Americans going TO Europe take
foreign ships. have heard it said
foreign superliners would have to
be laid up If American patronage
failed them"
Life Line of Navy"
He described the merchant marine
as the life line of the Navy" and
said the Maritime Commission now
had 50 merchant ships under con-
struction.
A shortage of 10000 Reserve off,
GERS for the first phase of a major
national emergency was cited by
Col. Stephen A. Park, president of
the Reserve Officers Association G..
the United States, in another
address.
the lack Of training facilities and
appropriations which have handi-
capped United States Reserve off,
GERS since the World War.
With the costly lessons of the
World War fresh in their minds,
our statesmenlike leaders in 1920
enacted the National Defense Act
Which undertook to set up a sane,
logical, thoroughly American plan
Tor the Nations defense, including
provision for the training of officers
1or citizen Army" Col. Park said.
AS you know, however, considera-
tlon for the Nations economy. our
ldeallstic attempt to set the exam
pie for the rest of the world in dis
armament and our traditional dis
taste for military preparedness FL
contributed to the failure to carry
out the provisions of this act.
Emergency Faced.
"As result, we now find our
selves facing serious national
emergency, lacking both trained
personnel and the necessary eo,,ip-
ment and supplies. Considering now
tne strength and composition of TIE
Officers' Reserve Corps, we find that
there are at present on the active
llst, eligible for assignment, active
uuty and promotion, a total of 100
llo officers. This is 10000 short Of
the number required for the first
phase OF major national emer-
gency." ''N
Declaring most Reserve officers
on the active list spend more on
uniforms and equipment than they
receive IN active duty pay, Col. Park
SAID the Reserve Officers Associa
tion was seeking from Congress a
500 annual allowance for the first
three years Of commissioned sery-
Ice OF each Reserve officer.
Older Reserve officers, better off
economically, can afford to bllv
their own uniforms, Col. Park said.
whereas younger Reservists cannot
stand the additional financial bur-
den and "the majority of them are
reslgning or allowing their commits
slons to lapse at the end of S or 10
years."
He quoted from the last annual
message of the Secretary of War.
which read: I'VE cannot have anv
assurance that the military situa-
tlon Will permit the establishment
OF training centers where potential
commissioned personnel may under
go instruction for comparatively
long periods"
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, ir..
OF Massachusetts, in an address be-
fore a conference dinner meeting
last night, criticized the United
States for being late in taking a
definite stand for religious freedom,
This country, he charged, took no
direct interest. in the abridgements
OF religious freedom in Soviet Russia
and Mexico.
There are other countries" he
said, where atrocities have been
committed for some time which ap-
parently have not bothered the
official conscience at all. We have
protested the recent actions which
have taken place in Germany and
countries under the influence of her
school OF. thought. We are right in
so doing. I ask, though, with all the
sincerity possess, why was this very
commendable stand of the United
States not taken before.?"
In an address yesterday, Maj. Gen.
j. c. Breckenridge, U. S. M. c., de-
clared "the enemies at home must
be crushed before there is the morale
) necessary for destruction of enemies
from the outside"
The three-day conference was
: scheduled to adjourn today after re-
ceiving and acting upon the report
OF the Resolutions Committee, head
ed by Mrs. o. D. Oliphant, perma-
nent honorary chairman of the
conference.