Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1943-03-18

have very easy B LIZ
shedding because s
there is great 90
deal of dissatis-
faction in Con- Z| ~
gress as to the way
Lend-Lease is be- - 3 ~
ing administered by Harry Hopkins.
The only thing that saved the meas
ure from defeat is the fact that we
are at war and individual members
did not want to assume the great re-
sponsibility of deciding what shall
constitute our war efforts. One thing
is sure, once the war is over and
the Lend-Lease books are audited
and made public, there will be some
startling revelations.
How Large an Army?
The only question worth discuss
ing in connection with the size of
the army is whether our striking
power against the enemy will be en-
HANGED or lessened by putting nearly
II million men under arms this year.
The President has said that the
size of the army is dictated by mill
tary necessity. But the same can
be truthfully said of the volume of
our munitions output, of our deliv-
cry of weapons to our allies, and of
the size of the crops we must plant
and harvest. In total war military
necessity governs the operation of
our whole economy and not just
armies in the field.
We have no doubt that the United
States can support IL million men
under arms if any such force is re-
quired to make victory certain. But
we also recognize, as General Som
ervell said the other day on his re-
turn from a $4,000 mile trip to the
battle fronts in Africa, the Middle
East and India, that ''this is now
war of transportation" The i'm
pact of our war effort upon the enc
my will not depend entirely upon
how many men we can train or how
many tanks we can make in Amer
lea. 1t will depend entirely upon
what fighting forces we can deliver
and supply in Africa, Europe and the
Far East. .
Must be Done.
General Somervell, when asked
about the possibilities of transport
ing an army of the size now contem-
plated overseas, expressed belief
that at can be DONE" 1t not only
can be done; it must be done, if that
many men are needed, along with
Russia's, Britain's and China's help,
to crush the Nazi and Japanese sys-
TENS. But the time element again
arises. How soon can such an army
be established and supported on the
other sides of the Atlantic and Pa
cific?
According to the Presidents latest
estimate, we now have 100000 men
in uniform overseas. Hanson Bald
win, New York Times military ex-
pert, who recently visited our Far
East front, estimates, on the basis
of shipping we hope to have avail
able, that two million more men may
be delivered to battle fronts this year
That would leave US with an army of
about 48 million men in the United
States at the end of this year. More
will go abroad, of course, in 1914
and perhaps in l943. But in the
meantime would not some of these
men be much more useful on the
farms than in army camps waiting
for transportation? 1t is true that
time is needed to train men for mill
tary service. But even when ample
allowance for such training is made,
it is still difficult to see why the
army insists on having such an enor-
nous number of men in camps with
in our own country.
If the nation had an unlimited
supply of manpower no such ques-
ton would arise. But it must be
obvious to everyone that an overly
rapid gain in uniformed manpower
means a serious loss in civilian man.
power, which must supply weapons
and food to our allies as well as to
our own armed forces. In other
words, manpower can be wasted in
the armed services as well as in
civilian life. And the nation GER
tainly has no manpower to waste
With concern over the food shortage
mounting with each passing week,
the Administration cannot reason
ably ignore the demands that the
distribution of manpower be re-ex-
amined so as to leave no question
of soldiers waiting in idleness for
transportation overseas.
Do We or Don't We?
The Department of Agriculture is
now planning to bring about 20
per cent reduction in our rural
population after the war as a means
of revamping our American econ
omy This is part of an overall
postwar program for the western
hemisphere whereby the United
States is to be the heavily indus