Evening star., 1940-06-18
Financial Defense
Vital for Arminq,
Byrd Declares
Senator, in Forum,
Sees Need for Congress
To Stoy in Session

ceIldlOT byTu, Democrat, OI VIZ
einia, a member of the Senate
Finance Committee, spoke on FL
nancial Defense" in an address last
night in the Radio Forum, arranged
by The Star. The address was
broadcast over a national hookup
of the National Broadcasting Co.
and was heard locally over Station
WMAL.
The text of the address follows:
1t is so obviously the duty of
Congress TO remain in session that
I thought the proposal to adjourn
had been abandoned until powerful
influences in the last several days
began to work to effect adjournment
on Saturday of this week
If Congress adjourns sine die, it
means that it cannot reassemble
of its own initiative until January
;. 194l, although the membership
of Congress unanimously may later
desire to reaSSemble
These coming 200 days between
now and January 3, when Congress
by law will convene again, may be
the most momentous in the history
of our Republic A motion to ad-
tourn is not debatable 1t must be
voted upon Immediately.
Has Duties to Meet.
The Congress should not adjourn.
1t should not render itself incapable
of meeting the obligations it owes
to the American people. In my
opinion, an overwhelming ma jority
of the people of America opposes
adjournment in this fateful hour.
Congress, in this emergency, has it's
constitutional functions to perform
and its constitutional duties to meet.
We have in America a three branch
Government-the executive, the leg
islative and the judicial Our Gov
ernment can operate only through
the acts of all three In grave
crisis such as this, all three branches
of our Government should be in
position to act, and to act ex-
peditiously for the public welfare.
IT is true, of course. that the
President, under the Constitution,
can reconvene Congress at his pleas
ure, but the answer to this is that
the crisis is here noW-this very
hour. this very inStant-a crisis we
are woefully unprepared to meet.
The President needs and should
have the Congress to sustain him
in his vital actions for our national
security. to work and cooperate
with him in all matters OF national
interest.
In the trying days ahead for our
Republic, the American people must
have and must preserve their faith
and confidence in all three branches
of our National Government. An
example of national unity. such as
Congress in session. cooperating
closely with the Chief Executive.
would strengthen our Government
at home and abroad. The demon
stration of all forces of the Govern
ment in co-ordinated, concerted &C
tlOn-alert to our danger, each
branch of the Government within
its sphere of responsibility making
its vital contribution to our security
would inspire abiding confidence
In our ability to meet any eventuali-
ties of national danger.
Not Prepared in Crisis.
We are facing supreme crisis in
our history, and frankly, we are not
prepared to meet it, We lack mill
tary preparedness: we lack financial
preparedness. The situation is too
serious to trifle with We must at
once realize fully our unprepared
condition. We lack fighting planes
and implements of war of nearly
every other description. We lack
trained men. We lack unity of ef-
fective action to mobilize our vast
resources in the spirit of national
sacrifice and self-denial
What we want is total prepared
ness. and We must have it, This
means we must have united action
based upon united patriotism. We
must realize at once that the cost of
adequate national preparedness and
the indefinite maintenance of a
greatly enlarged military establish
ment Will require sacrifice in the
form of increased taxes on the one
tense spending on the other.
1t should be apparent to all that
we cannot longer continue buving
luxuries for our own comfort on
borrowed Federal money for our
children to repay.
A good general concentrates re-
sources for attack on the weakest
point. Like good general. the
American Nation should now con-
centrate its great resources on our
weakest polnt-national defense.
Financial preparedness is just as
imperative need as military pre-
paredneSS We should be financial
~ sound enough to pay for our ma
tlonal defense program: sound
enough to withstand any emergency
that may later confront us: and
SOUND enough to preserve the free
business enterprise system of our
democracy, this being the founda-
tion stone of our freedom
Let us remember that the pas
sage of appropriations is merely a
step toward national preparedness
Appropriations must be expended
with efficiency and wisdom
France Pays for Error.
Now in America We must have
united sacrifice, founded upon the
tmpelling motives of American pa
triotism and American devotion to
our ideals of freedom. Those of us
who have earnings and property
must make their sacrifice by the
payment of new and greatly in
creased taxes. Those who manu-
facture war materials must make
their contribution in sharply linn
tied profits. We will tolerate nc
war profiteers and war millionaires
in this period of great peril. BY
the same token the laboring man
must be willing to give longer hours
of labor for which, of course, he
will be paid, because labor is the
most essential mart of manlfac-