Evening star., 1940-10-20

used, due to lack of real materiel.
| SOVEREIGN among issues in the pres
! idential contest is Franklin D.
Roosevelt's record in the domain of ma
tional security, with its kindred area OF
| foreign affairs.
According to champions like Senator
Norris and Henry A. Wallace, Demo-
cratic candidate for the vice presidency,
! the White House incumbent has exhib-
tied such masterful foresight and pene-
tration in this field that his election for
third term is imperative.
Wendell L. Willkie, head of the Re
publican ticket, retorts that after Mr..
Roosevelt had publicly avowed the need
of preparedness, he frittered away five
irreparable years, in consequence of
which the United States, with one
ocean fleet, finds itself embarked upon
an undeclared war of two oceans, in
which preservation or ruin may depend
on whether British sea-poWer holds the
Atlantic another l8 months
Democratic spokesmen answer by cit
ing the countrywide outcry of hysterla
and warmongering which greeted the
! Presidents quarantine" speech at Chi
cago in 1887. This proves, it is argued,
that Mr. Roosevelt's intentions have all
along been frustrated by laggard public
opinion and congressional opposition, in
which Republican Senators and Repre-
sentatives were conspicuous Wlllkie ad-
| ferents maintain, on the other hand,
| that it was the Presidents duty, as the
one officer of the Government intrusted
by the Constitution with national pro-
lection, to drive home his views upon
people and Congress.
Facts on Record.
For relief from this hurlyburly Of
claims and counter-claims, it may be
we'll to consult the actual facts of the
record. 1t includes White House docu-
ments since Mr.. Roosevelt's first inaug-
ural AS far more cogent, it embraces
statistics of the Bureau of the Budget
on Army and Navy estimates, appropria-
tions and actual expenditures from July
| !, 1888, to June 80, 1910.
The administrations utterances and
themselves naturally in parallel columns
of credits and debts. The data in its
| favor are summarized first as follows:
Beginning with May 7, 1888, Mr.
Roosevelts pronouncements were not
lacking in expressions of fear that the
armament race in Europe would event.
! uate in aggression. Italy's attack on
Ethiopia in 1885 was enough to warn
| him of the possibility of second World
| War, in which America might have to
defend herself.
The Executive availed himself of the
! National Industrial Recovery Act of
November, 1888, with its appropriation
of s33OO,OOO 900, by awarding nearly
s277 900 900 of this sum to the Navy for
building new ships, yards, machine tools,
planes and aircraft facilities. The sea-
arm was thus empowered to take its first
major step of rehabilitation from the
| disaster of 1922. AS a result of the
Washington Arms Limitation Conference,
| the United States had scrapped or de-
| militarized warships with tonnage OF
767,O0O and a value of $278,0O0,00
| lOI lldUlOlldl uClCllSC ouA
ing the fiscal year 1933-34, the first
| under Mr.. Roosevelt's control, were the
lowest since the World War. With the
second fiscal year, he began a policy of
stepping up these expenditures in rela-
lively small but persistent amounts.
Starting with 1934-35, the increase of
each year over the preceding one, up
to 1939-4O, was in order as follows:
sl69, ,575, ,129, 2O1,752177, s23,431 900,
s102. 1854 ,442, $134, ,735 and 1896, 1885 1896.
Spending Exceeded Request.
During his first seven years in office,
Mr.. Roosevelt requested an aggregate OF
s6,888,473,519 for the Army and Navy
Congress responded with appropriations
totaling s6,713,494,O9 ,O99 The difference
between what he asked and what Con-
gress gave was STA 4,479, ,420.
The President more than compensated
for this discrepancy by diverting Works
Progress Administration funds to de-
| fense projects. Such allotments began
in 1885, and in five years alone reached
total Of 16838,276.
Actual expenditures by the Army and
Navy during the seven years exceeded
appropriations by $l32, ,783 ,443, and ar
rived by July l last at total of $685.
277,542. The figures of outlay for defense
disclose a deliberate but steady year-by-
year increase, as follows 1933-34, $40
358,441; 1s34-35, s7Os $40; 1885,
| s911 ,685 TAT; 1861, $685., ,116,7 ,748; 1887
| 38, $1,027,843, 100; 1938-39, $1,162, ,576 925,
and 1939-40. 81 ,558, ,762921.
Following the outbreak of the Spanish
| civil war, the President, in January, 1887,
instructed the Navy to build two 35,0O0-
ton battleships Four others of the same
class were authorized, at his instance,
| later in the same year.
Popular reaction against the "quaran-
| tine" speech could have been interpreted
as q notice upon Mr.. Roosevelt that his
| previous policy would remain the only
feasible one, pending IN emergency-that
| Of rearming the country Ia it, own do.