Evening star., 1951-08-26

haps almost subconsciously, in
terms in which civil defense really
has no place at ALL
This fact would have been much
clearer to Mr.. Caldwell If he could
have heard what Mr.. Cannon had
to say on the subject two days after
Mr.. Caldwell himself had made his
plea. The witness at the time was
another civil defense man, DR.. Wal
ter L. Cronin, director for the city
of Cambridge, Mass. Here is what
Mr.. Cannon told him.
"You understand, doctor, that
this committee is very sympathetic
toward your objective. We realize
the needs of the situation perhaps
more vividly than the average man
on the street. We have gone into
this in some detail. We are
thoroughly in sympathy with your
point of view and are anxious to
cooperate.
"At the same time you under
stand that we must take into con-
sideration the cost of program Of
this character You are doubtless
aware that every dollar which goes
into this program must be bor-
rowed. We do not have money
enough to pay for one war bill Of
$50 billion we passed in the House
yesterday We will have to borrow
money even on preparation for
military defense.
"You also realize that the greatest
asset in civil defense is that the Ma
ton be so strong that no nation
dare attack us: That is our best
civil defense.
"This matter of providing fire.
fighting apparatus and hospital
equipment is vitally important. But
it is nothing to compare with the
need for making our Army, Navy
and Air Force so strong that there
will be no war -"
Pinning the Point
A few minutes later, MIR. Cannon
pinned down his point. And in do
ing it, he gave clear expression to
a feeling that has been perceived
in Congress before, but never so
clearly stated:
''If war comes we must lose en-
tire cities. Billions of dollars worth
of property will be destroyed and
millions will die. Any preparation
we make for fire fighting and for
disqualification is a drop in the
bucket. Our only hope, and our
present hope, is to altogether avoid
war =.
"Of course, in the meantime we
must, so far as we can, cooperate
with you in civil defense. However,
we cannot hope to provide every
thing needed or even essential"
Dr. Cronin tried to argue: well,
Mr.. Chairman, do you not agree
that If we had a strong fourth
branch-civil defense-that would
even strengthen the hand of
American"
Nothing to compare with the
avoidance of war altogether"
But the Department of Defense
says they cannot avoid it. If we
have war, 70 per cent of the planes
will get through"
Certainly, If we have a war; but
the thing is that we do not want
war and possibly we can avoid a
war by being ready for it. The only
way to avoid war and the only way
to avoid this holocaust in every key
city is to be so strong that they will
not venture to attack"
A Question of Mood
This is an almost perfect express
sion Of the mood that civil defense
preparation in this country is up
against. The talk of a lack of we'll
co-ordinated plans and concepts"
in fact has very little to do with it.
In essence, it is philosophy of
resignation-an assumption that If
the United States ever is hit the
result will be too horrible to be
coped with. 1t is an attitude which
rules out the hope that, by real
preparation, substantial part of
the envisioned horror might be
mitigated. It is point of view
which does not admit that anything
we could accomplish by way of
civil defense could affect our ability
to fight and win a war, If one
should come.
Had they been forewarned, the
witnesses might have been able to
argue against this proposition. They
might have been able to point out
that many factors affect the poSsi-
bility of war beside the military
factor, and that not the least of
these is the prospect of disorgan-
lied defenselesS target for attack.
They might have argued somewhat
as Mr.. Caldwell argues in an article
appearing elsewhere on this page.
They might have questioned the
wisdom of willingly Spending $50
billion to build preventive military
machine, and being unwilling to
spent one per cent of that sum as
insurance against the possibility
that this machine might fail to
keep the enemy from striking.
They might have reminded the
committee that, although millions
may die if war comes, many other