The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-07-23

outranked by Russell in length of service in the Senate, continued to sit in embarrassed silence while the mess sergeant, muttering un- der his breath. went away to get his superior officer, first lieu tenant, At one point, South Carolina's Maybank started to say something to Russell, but thought better of it when he saw how de- termined the Georgian was to see the thing through.
 Finally the lieutenant, embar- rassed at having to argue with members of the Senate, came up and informed Russell that no ar- engagements had been made for the Senators meal. But" he continued, since I'm certain some mistake has been made. I'll be glad to pay the check myself and then let the Army reimburse me later"
 Russell back down at this point paid the check, and the sena- torial party left.
 ARMY-NAVY WASTE
 The Army-Navy procurement policy of continued buying for a two-front war when we are only fighting on one front is being subjected to some quiet and ef- fective scrutiny on Capitol Hill. Senators fear this policy may throw our entire economy out of whack in case of sudden peace with Japan.
 What Senators have found is
 that after VIE Day, the Army
 refused to make more than a 20
 per cent cut in military pur-
 chases, though 50 per cent of
 the war was over. Retiring
 War Mobilizer Fred Vinson tried
 to curtail purchases but was only
 able to force an additional 1S
 per cent cutback by December l.
 Meanwhile some experts be- lieve we can safely cut back 30 per cent on Army-Navy buying right now, and by using exist ing stockpiles and surpluses still provide the Pacific War with every single need.
 Inside reason for the terrific
 stOckpiles, vast purchases ana tremendous installations, accord
 ing to Senate probers, is that
 both the Army and the Navy
 are afraid Congress won't give
 them anything after the war, so
 they are heaping up huge
 postwar program now.
 Although our fleet is now more than IA times the size of the Jap anese fleet at the start of the war and more than 40 times the size of the Jap fleet today, the Navy is still building ships which will not be completed before l947 and 1948.
 Also the Navy's plane pro-
 gram next year calls for an even
 larger number of aircraft than the Army has ordered. Both have
 we'll over 100000 first-line planes
 now and they are still buying
 more, although no one can fig
 ure out how more than 30,O0O
 first-line planes. can be used In
 the final stages of the war with
 Japan.
 Meanwhile, both the Army and the Navy have so many pilots they don't know what to do with them. The Army is keeping up a 2,OO0, ,000-man Air Corps at a time when manpower is still short on the home front. Be- sides wasting billions of the tax payer's money, the Army Navy purchasing program is paralyzins all efforts to set up an orderly reconversion program and so pre- vent a sudden, brutal depression three months after V-J Day.
 TRUMAN GETS SORE
 Shortly before he left for Flu. rope. President Truman was in formed of what the Army Navy were doing and became so in- censed that he slipped three oi his friends into key spots in ths War Department. They have or ders to watch for any waste IT procurement or graft, and repor' directly to the White House. Truman has also advised hi old Senate colleagues to cut loos' at the Services on waste. How. ever, both Truman and the mer who worked with him on the ole Truman Committee know thereI l only one way to stop waste +