Evening star., 1943-03-10
TIE Sufer Bet

FC SUlCi Del
Secretary of War StimSon has
made a reasonable. clear and con-
vincing statement Of the imperative
need for maintaining the Army at
its presently contemplated size If
there is an adequate answer to the
facts and persuasive arguments
which he set out in his address last
night it has not yet been developed
And it is to be hoped that those who
would bolster our civilian economy
at the expense Of our armed forces
will desist from that course until
such time as they are prepared to
show wherein the Secretary of War
was in error.
MI. StimSon pointed out that the
size of the armed forces was fixed
only after the most careful con-
sideratiOn of our needs, both civilian
and military. And then it was fixed
in accordance with a definite and
Iong-range plan for the prosecution
of the war.
TIE first step consists Of the train
ing of the men-a painStaking
process under which the recruit is
inducted, schooled as an individual
and then gradually brought along
through larger and larger units until
finally he emergeS as one cog in a
full division composed of many di-
verse elements. This is a process
which requires at least year. Once
set in motion, this stream of training
cannot be disrupted at a moments
notice. If we curtail the rate of
induction this summer, it will be
next summer before the effect will
be felt in the form Of smaller num-
Der of trained divisions available for
service. But if subsequent expert
ence should demonstrate the error
of a curtailment this year it would
be too late next summer to do any
thing about it, We would have to
suffer the consequences, for mod
ern army or modern division can
not be pulled out of hat.
A second important point to re-
member is that our plan of campaign
for next year necessarily is based on
the assumption that certain num-
ber of additional trained divisions
will be ready when needed. We are
committed to this plan of campaign
and it has been getting results. The
enemy is on the doWngrade and the
prospect of a shortened war rests on
the plan to deliver additional blows
against him next year But if these
blows cannot be delivered as planned
because of cut in the size of the
Army, it is only reasonable to sup
pose that the enemy will be better
able to organize his defenses and
thereby prolong the war, with cor
respondingly greater loss of Ameri-
can lives.
Mr.. Stimson did not attempt to
ignore or evade the contention that
we cannot maintain the Army as
planned and still supply it, transport
it and meet minimum civilian needs.
Instead. he met it head on, his reply
being that the industries producing
weapons, ships and civilian goods
can produce enough with the work
ing force that will be available if we
have the determination to do so. 1t
is the duty of every citizen, he said,
to no Mt
own community and see whether
production in industry and on
the farm cannot be increased
enormously; whether absenteeism,
threatened strikes, complacency,
business as usual, or even insistence
on hoped for standards of living are
not going long way to prevent what
could be accomplished by an all-out
war effort.
This, then, is the real issue
whether we should timidly resign
ourselves to a smaller and weaker
Army or whether we should make the
effort Of which we are really capable
to raise and maintain the Army that
the experts believe to be necessary.
1t is question of which is the safer
bet"-tO follow the advice of those
who have made careful study Of
the problem and upon whom rests
responsibility for the conduct of the
war, or take the counsel of those who
seem to think first in terms of what
cannot be done. With these two
choices before us, it Is difficult to see
how any one can advocate the latter.
A Moving Tale
Regardless of housing shortages