Evening star., 1941-10-12

w. AVERELL HARTMAN,
Chief of Americas special mission
to Russia.
Will his promises Of aid to Rus
Sia mdterialiee in time to SaUe the
Soviet Armies?
Wide World Photo.
pending on items involved, the prom
ised torrent appears even now to be
distant, three, six and u months or
more In this category may be listed
signal and radio apparatus, smokeleSs
powder, high explosives, armor- piercing
shells, 5O-caliber machine guns, 8lmm.
mortars. anti-aircraft cannon. field ar
tillery in general, anti-tank guns, me-
dium and heavy tanks, bombing planes,
merchant shipping and naval combat
vessels.
Until the present. defense ALLEGATIONS
as a whole have been divided thus:
For the use of the United States it.
self, 81 per cent, and for victims of ag-
gression, 13 per cent. In actual produc-
ton, however, President Roosevelt in
sists that the division has been and
continues to be $3.50. Aid to China
seems to have beer confined mostly to
credit advances, military and medical
missions, cargoes of asphalt for the
Burma road, some score of pursuit
planes and a small group of bombers.
So far as could be learned when this
was written, the Government has sent
to Russia since June % three shiploads
Of high octane gasoline, one cargo of
light arms and ammunition and 100
obsoescent fighting planes. A cargo of
American tanks and planes is reported
last week to have arrived in Russia.
No Tanks in First Appropriation.
Despite a magicians flourish Of bill
lions in ALLEGATIONS and contracts, the
Presidents second report to Congress
revealed that during the first six months
of lend-lease operations not one cent OF
the original $1,000 900 appropriation
was spent for tanks, other combat We
hicles and ordnance tractors. Out OF
motor equipment valued at S24 ,4Ol ,592
which during this period was trans
ferred to foreign custody on American
soil, 81 per cent was taken from ex-
isting Army stocks and paid for with
previous appropriations. The other
third apparently comprised service We
hicles, accessories and spare parts. The
Presidents next report, due December
IL, should show an emphatic betterment
in this category.
Further lend-leaSe expenditures for
crucial items, still over period of six
months, were disclosed as follows: Naval
combat craft, $557; small arms ammu-
milton, $610; pursuit, interceptor and
fighter planes, Sc, ,984; and bombardment
planes, 1896, 1914. The last figure would
represent the cost of 16 Flying Fort
resses. Between March and September
the lend-leaSe administration trans
ferred to foreign ownership only So
876 729 of aircraft and aeronautical
eouipment. Nearly half was obtained
from Army stocks and charged to earlier
appropriations. A large proportion OF
the second half seems to have consisted
of trainer, observation, transport and
utility planes, accessories and spare en-
gines, propellers and parts. 1t is reported
from London that not a single lend-lease
plane has yet reached the British Isles,
and that all American fighters and
bombers in service there represent CASH
and-carry purchases.
Supply Raids Only Help to Reds.
20
Presidents figures show, 81 per cent have
gone to Britain, including the Middle
East and Africa as we'll as the United
Kingdom. Yet the fact seems to be that
for another half-year the great bulk OF
military supplies sent to England will
consist of British orders, paid for with
British money.
The conclusion can hardly be escaped,
in view of such data, that any substantial
American help given to Russia for several
months to come must be assembled by
dint of merciless raids on United States
Army stocks and current new deliveries.
and also upon supplies originally in
tended to equip Great Britain against in
vasion, and for defense of Gibraltar, the
Suez Canal and the Near East.
If the hurdle of production were
vaulted, the formidable one of transpor-
tation would still remain. In 1896 Con-
gress created the Maritime Commission,
with mandate to build a strong feet Of
merchantmen. Under long-range pro-
gram launched in 1888, the commission
in three years has placed in service ITO
new ships, with an aggregate tonnage of
about 100000. sinkings Of allied and
neutral merchant vessels during tho last
two years have totaled 1890 900 tons.