Evening star., 1941-12-22
tease.Lend Program
Gave u. :. Valuable
Training for War
Aid Plan Taught America
How to Get Supplies
To Fur-Om Places
BY BLAIR BOLLES

of battle in the Pacific, the United
States is operating the longest war
time supply line in the worlds his
tory to keep her own and her AL
lies forces equipped for the fight
in the Far East.
The distance from this country to
Singapore, the center Of the anti
Axis Far East operations, is $500
miles across the Pacific and $4,000
miles by the Atlantic and Indian
Oceans around the Cape of Good
Hope-watery roads now frequented
by Japanese warships and Axis
U-boats with deadly purpose.
This country is just as much the
arsenal of democracy" today as 1t
was before we went to war. The ex-
perience gained in far-flung supply
activities before the war. through the
lease-lend program and the aid-to-
China policy, has taught America
how to nourish warriors in far places
and how to get the goods to the des-
tination. The leaSe-lend program,
high officials say, paved the way for
the United States to cope with our
Far East supply task today.
U. S. Contributions Cited.
The air power of the Dutch in the
Netherlands Indies, the quick i'm
provement in the strength of Singa-
pore and the construction of the
Australian naval base at Darwin,
backstopping Singapore, are all the
result of Americas contribution to
the military strength of powers
fighting side by side with us.
Long ago foreseeing the day when
the distribution of goods to the
forces moving on a fighting circum-
ference with Singapore as center
would be matter of life and death,
the British, with American silent CO.
operation, set up the Eastern Supply
Council-now the key supply agency
for Allies in Asia.
The council oversees the total
mobilization of war resources in the
East. and its establishment mate
rally assisted the defense of the
Eastern members Of the British COM
monwealth of nations from the men,
ace of Japan during the days when
Japan was making up its mind |
whether to strike. The council |
supervises the pooling of the re-
sources of the Eastern countries, and |
the United States has been making |
up the difference between what this |
pool produces and what the total de-
fense requires.
The work of the council not only
stimulated the flow of goods from
the United States but also put In
dia. Australia and New Zealand in a
position to industrialize their econ
omies for war purposes. Until the
last few months, the primary supply
emphasis of the council has been on
the Middle East, readying the Brit
ish for the fight against the Axis in
Libya. but its stress has been quick
ly shifted to the Far East.
Australia Expands Industry.
Through the stimulus of war,
Australia has been rapidly making
herself virtually f-sufflcient and is
producing machine tools, machines,
tanks, modern artillery pieces and
Warplanes. During the last two
years Australia has joined her
southern industrial area to Darwin,
capital of northern territory near
the East Indies, by a new defense
highway connecting railheads of the
Darwin -Birdum and Adelaide-Alice
Springs Railways. BY early 1912
Australia expects to have cruiser
tanks in quantity production for
use in the fighting around the Ma
laya- -Thailand- Burma region.
India, with troops in Libya and
in Malaga, has the raw materials |
to produce 80 per cent of her own |
requirements Of war supplies, ac-
cording to British official informa-
ton sources, and as long ago as |
last spring was manufacturing TO-
900 out of some 10000 items required |
by a modern Army.
Delhi, India's capital, is head |
quarters for the Eastern Supply |
Council Expecting the war that |
has come to us, the American War
Department last summer sent to
Delhi two members of the Army |
Intelligence Staff to keep Washing
ton acquainted with the councils |
operations and to report on Far East
supply needs.
Desert Roads Built.
Until the war came the chief sup
ply destinations of American ships
were Batavia, Singapore, and Ran
COON for the Burma Road) on the
Far East supply front and the Red
Sea and Suez region on the Middle
East supply front.
To keep the lease-lend flow going
smoothly on the way to ultimate des-
tinations from eastern ship unload
ing points, United States engineers
have been putting down truck roads
and railroads across deserts where