Evening star., 1941-08-22
Arms Output
Up 70 Schedule,
President Says
Senator Byrd's
Figures Incorrect,
Roosevelt Asserts
By JOHN c. HENRY,
Star staff Correspondent.

SLdT oldII Correspondent
HYDE PARK. N. Y, Aug. IL
President Roosevelt told press con-
ference here today that American
military production has averaged up
to advance estimates and that some
body had sold Senator Byrd. Demo-
crat, of Virginia. down the river"
on false figures for his recent
charges of failure of the defense
effort.
Only in the case of airplane pro-
duction was the Senator substan-
TALLY correct, the President said. re-
futing the overall charge of pro-
duction shortcomings by citing sew
eral statistical illustrations provided
for him by the War Department.
At the same time. the Chief Ex-
ecutive emphasized that he has
never felt satisfied" with produc-
ton implying that he desires an
ever-increasing pressure to mobilize
industry to its peak capacity but
that no major changes in adminis-
tration of the program are neces-
sary.
Answer Fish Argument.
In the course of his conference
the President also repudiated the
argument of those attacking admin
istration foreign policy, hitting spe-
officially at the recent contention of
Representative Fish. Republican. of
New York and representative from
his district, who said that America
would suffer economically from
German defeat.
Mr.. Roosevelt recalled the now
historic error of the late Senator
Borah in the summer of 1899. when
the Idahoan declared he had better
information than the State Depart
ment and that he knew there would
be no war that year.
A few weeks after the Senator
had made this assertion at a White
House conference the German
armies invaded Poland and all of
Europe was soon at war.
The President described Senator
Borah today as q great statesman
in many ways and by virtue of his
long membership on the Senate For
eign Relations Committee possessed
of information superior to that
available to foreign policy critics of
today. making the point that they
are even more completely wrong
than was the Senator.
Extends Army Service.
As a direct answer to Mr.. Fish the
President said he did not think any
comment that could be printed was
necessary.
Immediately after his press con-
ference today the President issued
an executive order extending by 1S
months the periods of service of
Army draftees. Reservists and Ma
tional unless such
persons are sooner discharged"
The order implements the re-
cently-enacted military service ex-
tension law. The War Department
announced this week that many of
the draftees would be released by
the end of this year.
In his reply to the Byrd charges.
the President said ne had requested
statistics from the War Depart
ment and had been advised that
unfortunately" the Senator had
been mislead by somebody and that
his figures were completely mac
curate except for plane production.
Obviously. Mr.. Roosevelt con-
tinued. certain production infor-
nation cannot be made public, but
some illustrations which reflect the
degree of inaccuracy of the whole
picture as presented to Senator Byrd
were made available.
Tanks Used in Egypt.
Fer example. the President be-
gan. the Senator said that not a
single tank had been delivered to
the British. Actually. he went on,
hundreds of tanks of modern design
and produced within the past year
have been delivered to the British
and many already have given ex-
cellent fighting performances in
Egypt.
AS for anti-aircraft guns, which
the Senator said were to be de-
livered at rate of only four per
month this year, the President said
the program calls for 81 deliveries
per month and the War Depart
ment believes this figure will be
reached.
BY contrast with the Senator's
charge that only fifteen 37-milll-
meter anti-tank guns were being
turned out each month, Mr.. Roose-
welt said deliveries in July had to-
tailed 70; in August, $50. and that
260 were scheduled for delivery in
September and 800 in October.
Similarly, to charge that only
fifteen 81-millimeter mortars would
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