Evening star., 1949-10-13

The tert of Gen. Bradleys
address before the American
Forestry Association, at Akron,
Ohio, last night tollo,Ds::
The world today stands almost
transfixed in awe of the tiny but
powerful atom. It's power to destroy
overshadows in every mind its power
for helpfulness.
So long as we alone held the
atomic weapon we could be sure that
no atomic bomb would start another
war. Hoping to turn its power to
peaceful gain, we offered it to inter-
national control; we used its silent
threat to deter any quick aggression;
and we used the breathing time for
peaceful reconstruction.
Just as we knew that Soviet scien-
fists soon would solve the atomic
riddle, so did we realize that on Red
Atom Day a new phase of our
struggle for peace would begin.
AS calmly as they have taken the
pronouncement of that discovery,
Americans and their friends await
further information on our collective
security plans.
Time for Review.
Although defense problems cannot
be entirely solved by spending do
believe that we must now review our
rate of spending for certain previ-
ously planned installations and de-
velopments of our national security
establishment. For Russia's atomic
explosion takes its earliest effect on
our defense pocketbook.
I believe it will call for even more
wisely placed security investments
and some sensible thrift. For as Mr..
Bernard Baruch has stated, we must
not "delude ourselves into thinking
we can spend our way out
AS your military counselors. the
Joint Chiefs of Staff can make the
estimates and draw up the plans.
However, modern war is so compli-
Gated and complex that there will
always be different views on how our
present defense dollar should be in
vested. In the end, the American
taxpayer must pay the bill for his
own security; thus he is vitally in
terested in this problem. The present
unsettled world conditions make the
question of defense an important
one for every citizen.
International Facts of Life.
Facing the awesome possibility of
a war at some indefinite time in the
future, and knowing that we cannot
tell exactly when that sometime
might be, we realize that we cannot
maintain sufficient armed forces and
modern weapons to provide absolute
security. On the other hand We have
the comforting knowledge that the
United States of America, and its
newly allied friends of the Atlantic
Pact, will never start a war for any
purpose. This increases the posi-
bility of having no war at all.
However, facing all the inter-
national facts of life, you realize
that there is a large land-based
power in the world today that might
start war.
Whether motivated by misplaced
fear of attack or by schemes for ag-
gression, Russia has maintained an
army Of two and one-half million
men. Her air force numbers over
100000 men, with somewhere be-
tween $4,000 and $4,000 aircraft.
And, adapting German submarine
models, she has developed a very
modern undersea force. Since We
Day. she has devoted a large per-
centage Of her industrial capacity
to the maintenance and moderniza-
ton of her armed forces.
And two weeks ago, the Soviet
Union-the only possible enemy in
sight for the next 20 years-threw
into the balance its newly revealed
possession of the atom.
Army Rebuilding.
Keenly aware of our position,
Americans have not been living a
grasshopper summer to be con-
fronted now with the chill of un-
preparedness. Our own Army, al
lotted 1876 cents of the security dol
lar, has been steadily rebuilding,
while carrying on the occupation
duties to which it is assigned. The
Air Force, given "a cents of the de-
fense dollar, has progressed steadily
in size and ability, and the Navy,
allotted for the present fiscal year
32.4 cents of the defense dollar,
stands second to none in the world.
Hence you will see that our three
services have approximately equal
shares Of our defense dollar.
The American people realize that