Evening star., 1940-10-20
By Richard L. Stokes

spite, by insensible degrees, and almost
by stealth.
The President foresaW the outbreak Of
the second World War two months in
advance, and so warned Senate leaders,
Republican and Democratic, at famous
conference held at the White House on
the night of July l8, 1899 He has been
quoted as declaring at this session that
our frontier is on the Rhine The late
Senator Borah pooh-poohed Mr.. Roose-
velt's forebodings. The President re-
torted that Borah might have his opin-
ions, but that he himself had the facts.
Thereupon Borah exclaimed that he pos
sessed his own sources of information,
and that they were better than those Of
the White House.
Neutrality Act Session Called.
week earlier the Senate Foreign Re-
lations Committee had voted, IL to IL, to
postpone consideration of the adminis-
tration's project for repeating the man
datory embargo provision of the Neu-
trality Act At the White House con-
ference Mr.. Roosevelt became convinced
that unless he called Congress in extra
session, eight or nine months might
elapse before he could send arms am
munition and implements of war to the
Allies, in case they were attacked by
Germany in the meantime. Such an
extra session was called and the admin
istration's neutrality bill was passed by
the Senate, So to 80, on october q, less
than two months after the war began.
Turning now to the debit column, the
following entries appear to be justified by
the evidence:
Despite such warnings as the Ethi-
opian and Spanish conflicts and the oc-
cupation of Austria and zecho-Slovakia,
Mr.. Roosevelt persisted without Interrupt
ton in policy of rearmament that was
piecemeal and often apologetic.
Frances Fall Brings Action.
Not until the invasion of the Low
Countries and the downfall of France
was the administration galvanized into
adequate action. Then, indeed it pre-
cipitated in a few weeks an avalanche
of nearly sl3 600 900 900 in appropriations
and authorizations for national defense.
In many glaring instances, notably a
delay of two years in voting means for
acquiring stocks of strategic and critical
materials and for putting the Garand
rife in mass production, Congress has
been delinquent. But statistics over
period Of seven years prove that in the
main it eventually gave whatever the
President asked for national defense.
Mr. Roosevelt may claim credit for
laying the foundation of a two-ocean
fleet through plans for 10 new super
size dreadnaughts. The difficulty with
the program is that it was overlate. It
can scarcely be completed in less than
five years The first 35 O0O-ton ships are
to enter service in 1912, and those of
As, 900 tons in 1914 and l945. But Japan
is expected to have two As 00O-ton battle
ships ready for duty in 1912.
Navy Largely Overaged.
The invasion of Belgium and Hol-
land and the French defeat caught the
United States in a position of fearful
unreadiness Out of the Navy's 37l COM
bat ships, 277 were overage. The Army
possessed modern equipment for only
u.s. 900 soldiers, and single mechanized
brigade of 1855 officers and men. Out
of total of 2707 fighting planes in both
arms, 1,128 were rated as obsolete or
obsolescent.
Some highlights of the record may be
narrated briefly in chronological order
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler
came into power almost simultaneously
at the beginning of 1933-the National
Socialist chieftain in January and the
American President two months later.
On February q the Reichstag fire rang
the first alarm bell across the globe. In
his inaugural, on March 4, Mr.. Roosevelt
found the world picture to be "an image
of substantial peace"
Reassuring sentiments at the White
House were reflected in the budget for
the fiscal year 1933-34. The President
requested $587 454,277 for national de-
fense, but actual expenditures were only
$40 1853, AL. Corresponding outlays dur
ing previous fiscal years had been, in
round numbers, as follows: 1924-25,
$500 900 900: 192S-29, $679 900 900; 1929
80, s701 90; 1930-31, s699 900 900; 1881
80, $7O2, 900 900, and 1928, s659, 900 900.
For defense during the fiscal year
1934-35, the President asked $579 ,591 ,261,
or $7,8630l6 less than his estimate for
the preceding year. Even this sum was
pared by Congress, in its regular and
supplementary appropriations, to $685.
352, ,238, a reduction of $26,239, ,O32. But
the significant figure was that of actual
expenditures, which increased $169 ,575,-
129 to a total of $7O9 9,933,570. 1t was
made possible by the Presidents record
breaking allotment of site, 1886 1913 from
relief funds, of which $61 ,298 800 went to
the Army and $115,037 ,329 to the Navy.
The fiscal year 1855 marked the
only occasion between 1888 and 1910 on
which Congress gave more to the Army
and Navy than the President asked.
The respective amounts were tS3s, ,l5o,-