Evening star., 1940-06-12
Every Day Counts

LII pulIulllS up aIlltIlCd ) ueleIlSc,
every day counts. Yet, twenty-seven
days after the President addressed a
| joint session of Congress, asking for
additional appropriations and au-
thorizations for expanding the Army
and the Navy, for more planes and
for more men under arms, only one
bill, the Navy bill, has become law.
The President signed that yesterday;
and two collateral measures, giving
legislative authorization for enlarge
n1ent of the fleet and the naval air
forces, reached his desk.
Both the Army and the Navy regu-
lar appropriation bills were in the
legislative mill when the President
addressed Congress on May 16 The
Army bill had passed the House and
was in Senate committee, calling for
$784, 4,999,094. The Navy bill was in
conference, carrying appropriations
OF 1868 3.797,476. Both bills we're re-
called for additions in cash expendi-
lures and authorizations for con-
tracts. the Army bill being raised to
s1822,552,958 and the Navy bill be-
ing increased to $1,492, ,542,750.
But the Navy bill was signed only
yesterday. The conferees on the
Army bill are yet to reach agreement.
1t has required almost a month for
the legislative wheels to begin grind
ing at the speed necessary in an
emergency. While the results are
now beginning to show in completed
laws and appropriations, the time
required for defense program is
indicated by the fact that Congress,
working at relatively high speed, has
merely begun to translate into law
the various proposals necessary as
foundation for our enlarged program
of national security.
Still in the mill, for instance,
are such important bills as the
supplemental defense measure re-
quested by the President for
increasing Army and Navy per-
sonnel; the relief bill authority for
certain non combatant training,
which has passed the House and is
now before the Senate; a measure
pending in the House to give the
President limited authority to call
the National Guard to active duty:
a measure strengthening the Federal
Bureau of Investigation; several
pending bills to expedite the
re-armament program by such
means as permitting longer working
hours in navy yards, and the special
defense tax bill, which lifts the debt
limit by four billion dollars and
provides for the raising of something
over billion dollars through special
taxes This measure passed the
House yesterday and is expected to
receive Senate approval next week.
From all indications, this legisla-
tive program will be finally
disposed of in time to permit
adjournment of Congress before the
opening of the Republican conven-
ton.
But it is unwise even to consider
the adjournment of Congress. Con-
greSS should remain in session and
promptly begin consideration of the
vital question of what we should do
about launching a program of uni
versal compulsory military training.
Last week the President Endorsed a
newspaper editorial urging the i'm
mediate adoption Of such training
program, but on Monday Majority
Leader Barkley, after a conference
at the White House, prophesied that
no bill for compulsory military
training would be passed at this
session of Congress. The United
States is the only great power in the
world which does not have peace
time CONSUMPTION and, despite the
vast amount of preliminary work
that would have to be done before
such program could be undertaken,
Congress is talking of adiourning
without doing anything about it.
Apparently the House and the Senate
have not taken to heart the lesson
of the tragedy which has befa1len
Great Britain.
But this is merely one item of un-
finished and unstarted business
which adjournment would leave in
suspension for six vital months. The
world that we have known is chang
ing with breath-taking rapidity and
each successive change is a new
threat to our national interests. In
all probability, Americas destiny,
for better or worse, will be shaped
by the unforeseeable events of the
next half year, and it is preposterous
for the members of Congress to talk
of abandoning their post of duty to
return to the hustings in such a
critical time.