Evening star., 1950-08-31
Partial Text of Secretary Johnsons Letter to Tourieo

NB &b~B WV ~M N
A partial tert OF Secretar1
Johnson's letter to Representa-
the T1uriello, Democrat, of Ne,D
York tollo,DS:
Dear Mr.. Tauriello:
I greatly appreciate your
thoughtfulness in writing direct
to me in connection with various
matters that are troubling you, as
outlined in your letter of August
%. I note that the envelope in
which your letter arrived is marked
personal and Confidential" I
want you to know. however, that I
have no objection to your publi-
cizing both your letter to me and
this reply. If you care to do so.
1t is apparent from your letter
that you have been misinformeA
with respect to a number of cru
cial aspects of our national de-
fenSe situation. For example: In
your letter, you speak of false
economy" and "pinch-penny
methods"
Vinson Quoted.
With respect to both of these
statements, your attention is in
vited to the speech which the
Honorable Carl Vinson, chairman
Of the House Armed Services Com
mittee, made on the floor of the
Houes Of Representatives on April
4 this year, when he said:
II have not been one who
blindly praises the Secretary of
Defense. The fact is, I have
voiced criticism of the Secretary
now and then for various things
he has or has not done. I will
continue to do so in the future
when it appears that the depart
ment can benefit from counsel or
guidance from the Congress in
reaching policy decisions on ma
tional defense matters.
But the Secretary has fully
earned credit In a specific area
pertinent to this debate, and
believe in giving credit where
credit is due. =" ."
More Funds Approved.
In the speech from which I
have just quoted, Chairman VIM
son went on to point out some
areas in which he thought we
had gone too far-and in part
because of Chairman Wilson's
views, and in part because of
other factors which I discussed
on April 26 this year before the
Military Subcommittee of the
House Appropriations Committee,
the Department of Defense
requested - and the House of
Representatives approved-an in
crease of $3.50 million in the
regular military appropriations
bill for fiscal 1851.
Your attention is also invited
to the statement which Chairman
Vinson made to the press on July
10 this year. in commenting on
President Truman's message of
July 10 to the Congress. On that
occasion. Chairman Vinson said:
a.. This is splendid example
Of teamwork and efficiency in the
Defense Department and I most
heartily commend Secretary john
son and his people for what they
have so effectively DONE"
Eisenhower Testimony.
believe that the specific ex-
amples which I have set out above
will provide you with some infor-
nation that will be useful to you
in appraising charges of false
economy and 'pinch-penny
methods" If you should want any
further material on this point,
you might read Gen. Eisenhower's
testimony of March 20. 1850, be-
fore the Senate Appropriations
Committee. where. among other
things. Gen. Eisenhower said:
'The first thing that the free
world needs is the economic
soundneSs of the United States"
Further, if you should want
statistical information with re-
spect to the increase in American
military strength between March
Of 1948 and June of 1950-that
is, the increase in our military
strength between the time of the
Communist coup in Czechoslo-
vakia and the time of the Com
muniSt invasion of Korea-the
following information might be
helpful to you: Army strength
stood at $4,000 officers and men
on March 81, 1948; before the
Communist invasion of Korea, the
budgeted strength of the Army for
the current fiscal year stood at
$4,000 officers and men. Air
Force strength stood at 100000
officers and men on March 81,
194s; before the Korean invasion,
the recommended strength level
for the current fiscal year was
416,000. The comparable figures
for the Navy and Marine Corps
we're: In 1948, 4S8, 900 officers and
men; pre-Korean figure for fiscal
1851, 461 900 officers and men.
Other Components Stressed.
The figures I have just given re-
late to the regular forces, ex-
clusively. In addition to the
regular forces, an important ele-
ment of our strength are the citi-
zens who make up the National
Guard and the reserves. The
number of citizen-soldiers citi-