Evening star., 1951-05-02
For SurvivoI's Sake

Big as 1t is. the budget outlay requested by
the President for the Nations armed forces in
the next fiscal year is certainly no bigger than
the real and present threat of Soviet aggression
To cope with that threat we and our Allies must
become as strong as possible as fast as possible.
The stakes involved are very high They amount
to nothing less than the survival of our freedom
in power contest far too pressing and dangerous
to permit us to pinch pennies or waste time
It is for that reason that the President, in
his message to Speaker Rayburn of the House,
has called upon Congress to provide the Defense
Department with $6O7 billion for it's military
functions" during the fiscal year ending June 80,
1852. This sum, which does not include what will
be needed for aid to our Allies or for our atomic
program, or for other projects bearing upon our
security, adds up to the greatest proposed outlay
of its kind in our peacetime history AS has been
made clear in Korea, however, "peacetime" is
hardly the right adjective to be applied to the
present period of grave world tension. On the
contrary, we are living in days when we must
reckon with the possibility that global war may
break out at any moment-a possibility that
makes it imperative for us to prepare for the
worst, no matter how much we may hope and
pray for the best.
That is why the President has urged that
SCOT billion in buying authority be granted to
major emphasis of this budget estimate is upon
building up armed forces and our productive
capacity toward the level of preparedness neces-
sary in the event of all-out war" OF the total
sum requested, the great bulk would be expended
directly on strengthening the military services
with equipment, supplies, bases, camps and other
facilities billion on the Army, including
the National Guard; SIS billion on the Navy and
Marine Corps, and $19y8 billion on the Air Force.
These expenditures-which incidentally will have
to be revised upward if events go against us in
Korea-are designed to support program about
20 per cent larger than in the current fiscal year
and some two-and-a-half times as large as in
fiscal 1880 Further, taken together with such
projects as stockping and arms aid to our Allies,
they represent producing operations that will
require approximately 20 per cent of our total
national output within years time
AS the President has, said such program
even though it calls for substantially less than
the As per cent of total output that was diverted
to military channels at the peak of the Second
World War-"will give us serious production
problems and will require forceful action against
imitation" Our economy in short, is bound to feel
certain wrenches and strains during the build-up
period, and there will have to be heavy new taxa
ton and an increasing application of controls
governing things like the ALLEGATION OF scarce raw
materials. There is no painless way OF doing the
job, but we and our Allies must do it If we are
to be safe. Not to do it would be to hirt with
suicide The Soviet Union-by maintaining armed
forces that far exceed it's defensive needs and by
showing in Korea that it is willing to risk gen.
eral war to attain it's endS-has made all that
abundantly clear.
In the circumstance, as a matter OF self
preservation, we cannot afford to do anything
less than the situation plainly demands. Wha
we and our Allies must achieve without delay ha'
been well summed up by the President in thes'
words: "If the Soviet Union unleashes genera
war, the free world must be in position to stol
the attack aqd strike back decisively and at onc