The Daily Alaska empire., 1940-05-23
Nation Supports Defense Plans
Seattle Post Intelligencer

Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
 The countrys response to President Roosevelts national defense message has been almost uniformly favorable.
 That fact is highly encouraging to those resi- dents of the Pacific Northwest who recognize the urgent need of additional defenses for this region as well as for the nation and the whole Western Hemisphere.
 The President is thoroughly informed upon the subject His specific mention of Seattle, Tacoma and Portland is particularly gratifying to The Post Intelligencer, which has campagned assiduousy for better air, land and water defenses in the Coast States and in Alaska. great deal of progress has been made in this direction Twenty five years ago. when European clouds first cast their threaten ing shadows toward the Western Hemisphere this section of the country had virtually no defenses, aside from the already obsoescent coast artillery batteries and few forts established in days of Indian troubles. ....t t.l
 Today the Army has McChord Field and the Navy has Sand Point for bases for air operations in this area Puget Sound Navy Yard is in its greatest period of activity. And the Sitka and Ko diak for Navy patrol planes represent the first steps toward taking advantage of the wonderful opportunities that Alaska offers for strengthened defense
 It is probably true that more has been done in strengthening national defenses in the Pacific North west than in any other section of the country. But it is also true that needs to be done in this region than anywhere else. For there is no part of the globe in which the Old World and the New World in closer proximity than in the North Pacific.
 The development of the airplane, and partcu- larly the development of military air operations in frigid temperatures, have made Alaska an outpost of the greatest strategic importance The question is whether it is to continue American outpost, safeguarding this country from the threat of attack from the North Pacific whether it is to be the outpost of some enemy power, pointed toward a vulnerable Pacific Northwest Fifty thousand Ameri- can airplanes, and bases from which they oper- ate effectively. will answer that question.
 The recent action of the House of Representa- tves, in rejecting the Army request for an appro- priation to start work air base at Anchorage, Alaska, was clearly based upon sectional prejudice, and ignorance rather than partisan considerations
 By citing the vulnerability of such points St. Louis, Kansas City and Omaha, the President used the opportunity provided by his appearance before the joint session of Congress to attack the false notion that the cities and States of the interior have no interest in national defenses.
 When the Senators and Representatives from the East and Mid WeSt-and their constituents understand that Alaska is an outpost for THEM as well for the residents of the Pacific Northwest there will be much less trouble in obtaining the ap- propriations that are required for a reasonable measure of safety The nation at large, be- leve, is nearer to understanding the defense prob ems of this region than it has been before
 We trust that Hitler has secretary keeping track of the countries he conquers, to avoid the