Evening star., 1941-02-26
Somewhat Helpless
Plight Of 1910
Revealed to Congress
By the Associated Press.
~@---4ee 1n1rl 70

By the Associated Press.
Congress heard today that Gen.
George c. Marshall considers an
invasion less imminent than a year
ago, when, he said, this country would
have been in "a somewhat helpless
plight" had control of the Atlantic
passed to an enemy"
At the same time, the legislators
learned from the Navy's top-ranking
Admiral Harold R. Stark that while
transfer of more destroyers to Brit
tain on the scale suggested by Wen
dell L. Willkie would not be ad-
visable at the moment" the Gov
ernment's hands should not be tied
in the matter.
Both statements were made public
by the House Appropriations Com
mittee in connection with the fourth
supplemental defense appropriation
bill
U. S. Response Not Anticipated.
Gen Marshall, chief of staff of the
Army, gave the committee a graphic
picture of the defense problem thrust
upon the War Department by the
collapse of France and conceded
that the high command had been
surprised by the public support
given their unprecedented recon-
mendations.
Frankly, we had not anticipated
that the American people would
ever be sufficiently aroused to au-
thorize in time of peace such a tre-
mendous program for the national
defense nor had We anticipated the
complete collapse of the French
government in early June" Gen.
Marshall said, "along with the dead
by hazard to the British of trans
Ter of French naval power to Ger
elany and Italy"
Those surprise factors, Gen. Mar
shall went on, necessitated many
khanges in this country's defense
plans, but he conceded their les
sons did not percolate" through
the Army organization speedily
enough to permit the changes be-
Tore the program got under way, a
failure which he said was partly
responsible for increased costs of
the military camp construction pro-
gram.
Had to Study Campaigns
1T was necessary for US to study
the campaigns, the occurrences in
France and Belgium, in order to
benefit to the full by the lessons
indicated" Gen. Marshall said. THE
last required several months to as
semble the facts from our attaches
and other sources"
Admiral Stark, chief of naval op-
erations, testified in response to
questions that he did not feel trans
fer of additional destroyers to Bri-
tain would be advisable at this time
but reminded the committee 1T is
impossible to foresee what we may
want to do tomorrow or next day,
under present world conditions"
Certain emergency conditions
might arise under which we might
want to make certain transfers of
material" he explained.
Questioned by Representative Dit
to whether there had been any
time definitely set by the President
as to when the Navy should be ready
for business" Admiral Stark replied
in the negative, but said he had
been working on the basis of getting
ready at the earliest possible mo-
ment."
Among other things, the commit
tee learned:
l. The Army is considering a fur
ther but unspecified expansion of
the Air Corps.
z. About per cent or 32,500 of
the Army'S enlisted personnel are
sick, chiefly as a result of the in
fluenza epidemic.
3. That about $1O0000,OOO could
have oeen saved on the cantonment
program if funds had been available
for advance planning.
4. That the Army has been can
vassing every city in the country"
in an effort to find city managers
(See STATEMENTS, Page A-4D