Evening star., 1951-08-19
As senotor Moody Sees 1t Nj
Allied BuiIdup Against Attack
Aqoin Too Little and Too Late

|1s51. or 1852. but three years
hence.
1t contemplates that if our Allies
contribute to the limit of their
financial capacity in the next
three years, there will be big
money gap still to be closed. even
assuming optimistically that in
flation is checked and prices do
mot rise.
All this assumes that our Allies
will perform to the limit of their
capacity. This they are not now
doing, though their increased ef-
fort is substantial. The present
Ibudgeted appropriations for mill
tary strength in Europe are SUBJ
Istantially less than our experts
declare to be within our Allies
capacity.
Not all N. A. T. o. countries are
meeting even these budget pledges.
And there is considerable prospect
that Congress may meat-ax our
share severely.
All of which gets down to the
core of the issue-whether the free
world is ready to impose upon it
self the elf-discipline and sacri-
Ace necessary to insure survival.
Military Goods Rechecked.
Gen. Eisenhower's staff is now
reviewing the military goals to re-
check their validity. But there is
little expectation among experts
interviewed during the writer's
"trip to Europe, which ended last
Wednesday, that the Eisenhower
review will make major changes
jim the requirements in men, planes
and equipment declared to be nec-
Iessary by the N. A. T. O.'s top
board.
The physical buildup Of forces
and production cannot be achieved
overnight. But more money is the
basic need. For the bottleneck, as
Gen. Eisenhower emphasizes. Is
equipment, and it must be paid
for. The question, even more than
who is going to produce 1t, and
where, is who will pay for 1t,
and how.
Unless Gen. Eisenhower unex-
Ipectedly makes a drastic down.
ward revision of the NATO
Boards estimates of needed
strength. Congress. when it gets
the full facts, will scarcely meet
its responsibility if it fails Cd to
bring sitter pressure, perhaps
through conditions written into
the act, on our Allies to step up
their efforts, and 90 cuts the
cloth to fit the danger.
If Gen. Eisenhower is to get no
more equipment than is contem-
plated in the present program.
then specific, selective reductions,
in a manner to force greater use
of Europe's capacity to produce
weapons, can provide that level Of
strength for fewer dollars. Such
cuts would make the program
hrmer. tougher, and more ef-
fective.
Timetable Must Be Speeded.
But once the bill has been
tightened and the firmer base es-
tablished. Congress will face the
fundamental question. That is.
whether it is to stand up to the
unpleasant facts of today'S life;
whether it can afford, after the
water has been squeezed out, not
to increase rather than decrease
the program: and whether it will
be doing its duty if it fails to insist
that those-including some mill
tary leaders-who assume blithely
that we are immunized by some
magic curtain against atomic at
| tack until 1854, act at once to
speed up the whole timetable.
If Gen. Eisenhower confirms
the experts estimates of what
strength is needed. to do anything
less will leave our country and
our freedoms dangerously vul-
nerable.
| This is a time, above all others,
when Congress must realize that
false economy" will invite atomic
! war.