Evening star., 1940-05-21

make speedy and adequate prepara-
ton for the safety of our own
country?
Calls for Larger Army.
The ingenuity of an evil mind
and a goddess heart is an extremely
dangerous thing. Are we Of the
class of those who having eyes see
not, and having ears hear not" the
things which 50 vitality concern us,
and must We sit idly by and quietly
turn back a few pages of current
history for few object lessons, and
continue to dream of peace when
there can be no peace? Shall we
continue to indulge in the illusions
Of hope that all may be well and
continue indifferently to the cruel
and cold facts within our possess
sion?
No, no, a thousand times no! We
must and will move rapidly to the
completion Of a powerful, highly
and completely mechanical Regular
Army, equipped with the best and
most deadly weapons yet conceived.
To neglect matter so important is
sin against free people.
II we do not believe Washington
was right when he urged full prepa-
ration for war was the surest guar
antee of peace, then we must only
take a look back to 1882 when, un-
armed and defenseless, yet rich and
prosperous, Manchuria was ruth
lessly invaded and overrun by a
military depotism, then stand on the
side lines and look upon bleeding
and unarmed millions of Chinese
as they are murdered by the speedy
mlnlons OF death from the sky, both
on land and on sea; or we might
turn to defenseless Ethiopia and
watch again the supine submis-
sion OF pitifully unarmed people
to the power of a great military
machine, and on we march until we
behold the bloodless conquest of
Austria; the complete subjugation
OF Czech-Slovakia; the bloody mur-
der Of Poland; the inexcusable and
ruthless invasion of heroic and
honored Finland; the invasion of
the Netherlands and Norway; then
Holland, and now bleeding Belgium
and heroic France are at the gates
OF the slaughter house.
1t has been said that "procrastina-
ton Is the thief of time" and we
must look the facts squarely in the
face and fearlessly and faithfully
do our duty. What then is our duty?
how can we avoid involvement in
Europe's bloody war? We are the
richest land on earth in everything
necessary to our protection. Our
wealth OF minerals and soils. the
unlimited productivity of our mines,
farms and factories, and the un-
excelled genius of our people are
equal to the task, and we must for
the protection of ourselves and our
neighbors, whose cooperation and
help we enjoy, build, not the
largest, but the mightiest and most
effective Army on the globe, but
tressed and reinforced by our
splendid civilian components. Our
nag, the symbol of liberty, must
float above the swiftset and most
powerful Navy that every piled the
seas. Our Army and Navy must be
accompanied by the best air force
in the whole wide world. Our men
must be the best trained and equip
ped soldiers and sailors in the
world. No more must we permit
our soldiers, always worthy of the
best, to go to battle front except
for the defense of our own country
and its cherished institutions, and
then fully protected and equipped
with the best that money can buyl
Sees World War Duplicated.
I have talked quite freely and
assuringly about what we must and
will have, and now I shall spend
few moments of time trying to tell
you something about what we now
have, and I am sure that since we
are witnessing, in striking man.
ner, an exact duplication of the
historic conflict of 1914 to 1918,
and upon precisely the same ground,
except with added speed and in
creased fury, I could not do better
than to draw some comparisons
OF our military position now with
our situation at the beginning OF
that world conflict in which we un-
fortunately were involved in actual
combat.
We do not yet, by any means,
have all we need in the way of sup
plies, equipment and ammunition,
but let me assure you that know
of my own knowledge that vo,lr