The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1942-03-26
FLIGHT
figures on Money for
War Are Kept Hidden
Demos AS We'll As COP
Short in War Plans
Farmers Yearbook by
U. S. Put IN Discard
G RAY rucku

sofUtSs tt6
U. S. Put in Discard
WAsHISGTON-The point al
issue a. 10 which party = and
which president - neglected the
military defenses Of America
during the years when AXIS pow
err were zrming for total war
lies buried In an explosive docu-
nent inside the house spproprt-
atiors committee. Probably
neither Democrats nor Repuoll-
cans viii exhume IL in next falls
campaign. because II reveals
that the war department WAS
sverybcdy's orphan
The important paper lists the
sums which the general staff
wanted from 1879 TO ist1, dur
ing the Hoover and Roosevelt adj
ninistrations. and deep slashes
which both chief executives made
IN the departmental requests.
The committee staged an execu-
tive session row over publication
- the comparative figures. but
Chairman Clarence Cannon ruled
that the embarrassing evidence
should be suppressed.
In general. however. both the
Hoover and Roosevelt budget
directors insisted on cuts aver
aging NJ least 10 per cent Not
Until the year after Germany's
invasion Of Poland did the outlay
show any appreciable increase
Or response to the turbulent
world situation
For the 12-year period from
1879 10 ie41 inclusive the u. ..
spent approximately thirteen
billion dollars On Its fighting
machine and this includes large
ALLEGATIONS for such non-hattle-
field items ~ food. uniforms.
transportation. etc Experts esti-
mate that HitIers expenditures
from 1884 through 1870. when
translated into our dollars.
reached the astronomical amount
q one hundred billion dollars.
In prediction skirmish the
administration forces. have In
dscated that they win accuse
the COP Of refusing 70 90 along
With President Roosevelt N
strengthening the war making
esta biishment. But . careful
study Of military finances for
the period listed above viii not
support such an Indictment
The four Hoover budgets
averaged about $40 million dol
lars, with q low Of 777 million
for 1894. which the former
president prepared. The first
Roosevelt appropriation. which
became effective two years after
der fuehrer rose TO power and
m the twelvemonth during
which he entered the Rhineland,
was only 2s1 million dollars. In
eidentaliy. this small allotment
vas made after General Douglas
A. Macarthur In his final re-
port A. chief Of staff. had plead
% for more money and planes.
tanks and modern artillery.
In 1885, q few months after
FDR had delivered his famous
Quarantine the asgressor"
threat at Chicago. the sum al
lowed the war department was
only AIS million dollars. That
was also the period when Hitler
seized Austria and czechoslo-
vakis. The first real boost
came last year with approval of
m -billion-dollar-plus re-
armament program
The fact is that responsible
leaders in both camps breathe
more easily at disclosure that
this question does not belong in
the realm Of partisan politics.
A futile. northumberland
squabble over ancient history
And old errors would only give
Aid and comfort 70 the other
fellow.
The house vote Of 233-loo
against future publication Of the
agricultural yearbook shocked
old-timers who recall that this
volume once ranked first in
popularity among government
printines. II is as If the con-
fregation Of the little brown
church In the vale" tossed the
Hible out the window. More
than hundred million dollar re-
auctions. the sacrifice reflects
congressional fright over the
nations remembrance against
sxtrsvagance.
Members once scrambled for
~sxtras'' in addition 10 the 400
copies allowed them BY law.
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