Evening star., 1951-03-06
Mobilization
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expansion in the training of man
power as well as the production
of ornaments at great cost to the
American taxpayer. The goal in
manpower for the armed forces
has been set, tentatively, at 3 mil
lion by the summer of 1852. The
Army's target for this coming
summer. alone, is % or % infantry
divisions.
Cost Put at SCI Billion.
The dollar cost for purely mill
tary purposes. according to the
presidential budget report, adds
up to more than SOL billion for
the two-year period dating from
the outbreak of the Korean war
to the end of June, 1852.
This figure includes President
Truman's estimate of nearly Sal
billion for military expenditures
for the next fiscal year, beginning
this July. It is only part of the
overall cost. however. Many more
billions will go into on-military
foreign aid, civil defense programs,
and the whole vast area of ex-
pansion in governmental activities
local, State and national.
The blueprints are piled up. but
the program is already rolling.
Industry is buckling into the
tremendous task of spewing out
the weapons. transport, clothing
and all the thousand-and-one
articles needed to put a fighting
man in the field, and keep him
there, in action. But even with
the enormous production capaci-
ties OF American industry. months
will elapse before the United
States is ready to fight.
Little Feeling Of Urgency.
Why?
Some of the reasons are physi-
cal-shortages in critical mate
rails, freight cars and so on; also
the technical problems of tooling
up to make newer and more de-
structive machines than we used
in World War II.
Some are economic-to rearm
without cutting too deeply into
the high American standard of
living, to produce for civilian use
along with, and in addition to,
producing weapons.
But the biggest appears to be
psychological, a question of atti-
tude. So far as I have been able
to observe there is little or no
general feeling of urgency any,
where.
1 have visited parts of the
South. the Middle West and tray
eled the length of the Atlantic
Seaboard in the past few weeks.
My impressions are the same in
every section of the country
let's ke-it in stride attitude.
Some military men and Gov
ernment officials are apprehensive,
fearful OF the possibilities of fur
ther outbreak of war this year,
this time in Europe. But very few
people in factories, Offices, on
Broadway or Main Street, U. S. A.,
or in Government generally, share
opinions that can be classified as
rejecting (a) alarm or (b) a sense
of real emergency.
Contributing Factors.
There are obvious factors con-
tributing to all this.
The attitude of defeatism about
Korea is no longer as marked as
it was in midwinter. While the
great debate on foreign policy has
been prolonged in Washington,
Congress has evidenced no rush
to meet administration demands
for such things as extension of the
draft age to include 18-year -olds
or heavier taxes to finance vast
mobilization costs.
Wnen Cne nation was appre-
hensive, as it was at the start of
the Korean war, and later, when
the Chinese Reds appeared in the
field, the defense effort moved
more smoothly and more rapidly.
Vice versa, when in November
the war appeared to be won, diff
culties and bottlenecks suddenly
reappeared.
The barometers of these changes
are in industrial plants, the rec
ords in procurement Offices and
the story of labor relations.
For example, ordnance procure
ment authorities say that, a year