Evening star., 1940-08-28

he de ated David Lawrence.
Britain-then the United States is
In serious danger and cannot rely
on her air force to protect American
cities from bombardment.
President Roosevelt has disclosed
the airplane building capacity of
the United States to be about 10000
year now and will be $4,000 to
$4,000 year by next January, and
will reach a rate of $4,000 a year
by the end of 1941 and $4,000 early
In the year 1912.
Germany'S rate of production to-
day is about $4,000 planes a year
II Britain succeeds in fighting off
Hitler and if the British factories
are not demolished, the United
States may owe her sense of security
to Britain in the air as well as on
the sea.
Fear Failure to Reach Goal.
The President seems to think
Americas progress in airplane pro-
duction Is about as good as can be
expected. He says the businessmen
who have been called here say the
same thing. But the trouble is that
most critics feel that, judging by the
slowness thus far, there will be no
attainment of the projected goal of
$4,000 even In 1912.
Al Unquestionably serious delays
have occurred. Senator Byrd's fig
ures to the effect that only 343 COM
bat planes have been contracted for
In the last 100 days for the Army
and Navy combined are now ad-
mitted by the White House to be
correct, but. it is asserted that this
does not measure Americas progress,
and that what has been placed ''on
order" or what is now lin the works"
should be taken into consideration.
Why hasn't America made more
rapid progress? The President is
inclined to blame Congress. Some
of the New Dealers are inclined
to blame the aviation industry. The
truth is there is some blame to be
distributed in every direction, but
the main fault lies in the lack of
aggressive leadership in the whole
defense program. Businessmen have
been clamoring in vain for some
coordination of the various parts
OF the defense machinery. The
official word comes that President
Roosevelt is the only co-ordinator,
and everybody knows he is busy
with the regular tasks of the presi-
dency, to say nothing of the eXigen-
cies of a political campaign in which
=, he is seeking a third term.
The President has failed to assert
his leadership in Congress. Though
the Democratic party has a sub
stantial majority in both Houses of
Congress, it will be found that men,
bers of the Presidents own party
have thrown more monkey wrenches
into the defense situation than have
the Republicans. Some observers
are criticising Mr.. Willkie for not
influencing members of his own
party, but he is not in the White
House and does not have the same
power over legislators as does the
Chief Executive.
Could Have Avoided Situation.
1t is evident that the defense pro-
gram would have been farther along
if the President had ventured to
lay the situation before the public
and had demanded action before
this. 1t now is admitted, for ex-
ample, that the failure of Congress
to pass a law taking care of tax
depreciation on new plants has held
up the building of new plants. Any
body with a fundamental knowl-
edge of industrial operations would
, know this. The administration was
so told again and again.
The President could have put
through a simple resolution to take
care of new plant depreciation, but
he preferred to wait till he could
tie 1t to excess profits legislation.
This was a mistake which he could
have avoided for he had plenty of
advice and warnings on it from the
members of his own defense COM
missions. But Mr.. Roosevelt was
busy with the political conventions
ano he let the Democratic leaders
dawdle along so that they could go
to the conventions, too.
Another major blunder was the
insertion in the appropriation bills
of an 8 per cent profit limitation.
1t just about wrecked the whole air.
craft program. Who put that in
the bill? Certainly not the business
men and certainly not the Army
and Navy officers who contact Con-
gress. 1t was an idea Matched on
Capitol Hill, presumably to satisfy
radical sentiment, of which there
is an abundance in the Democratic
party nowadays.
But this is one case in which
radicalism struck down an aviation
program at the most critical time
in Americas history. For while an
- 8 per cent profit sounds attractive,
1t isn't really a net profit, but a
gross margin out Of which all sorts
of expenses must be taken before
a profit can be calculated, and one
of the most important items is what
the depreciation allowance of the
Government is to be. 1t is impossi-
BILE to furnish an estimate of the
cost of planes when all the items
O1 COSU dIC llOG hllOWll, dllo dS 1Ol
subcontractors, they refused to take
risks. They are being called un-
patriotic, but it certainly is difficult
to get people even in the New Deal
or anywhere else to lend money
when there is risk of business in
ability to pay back.
Raises Smokescreen.
Business is conducted for the
most part on borrowed money
Lenders want to know how they will
be repaid. They can't pay theil
bills with abstract sentiments. Tht
cry of greed and inordinate profit
Is just a smokescreen which has
done much to confuse the picture
and to put the administration itseli
on the spot. 1t would have been fal
better If the President had taker
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