Evening star., 1951-01-12

IA 4NU POSEAS A1uFC 44Co w t41C
hills from Washington, in fear of
being bombed Cor something), but
the Capital as a whole is reason
ably confident about the chances
Of peace this year.
The shades of opinion run. as
always, from dark blue to bright
rose.
In between is the widest band of
all, compounded of a good. straight
~>->--------->- --->---------~--~----~
This is one Of series Of stories in which
the writer is surveying mobilization Of
Americas yost resources to NEE the
challenges Of Communist aggression.
Here Relmon NORM tells how the
Washington scene looks to reporter
just beck from Korea.
look at the dangers but belief
that they are not acute, to the
point of three-bell alarm. Some
top officials in sensitive listening
posts in Government say they see
mo evidence yet that they (the
RussiansJ are set for major
move"
Similarly. before he left for his
new post, Gen. Eisenhower ex-
pressed some reasoned hopeful
ness. He told a group of leaders
that if he found anything in
Europe to change his attitude he
would Immediately say SO.
That approach is reflected in
the planning for mobilization and
the method of rearming.
Neither is being pushed in a
spirit of panic. There is no dis
position, this time, to calf mil
lions of men to arms-and then
have them standing around with
broomsticks for want of real
weapons.
In the National Production
Authority, which determines the
requirements of materials for ma
tional defense, the wheels are
moving. You hear both stories :. E. :.
that the program is going too fast
and will upset the civilian econ
omy which is just what the Rus
slams want" . and that it's
going too slow to meet the dead
lines.
In either case, the average
Washington observer agrees that
NPA is far ahead, in admins
trative efficiency. of its World
War II counterpart. the War Pro-
duction Board, for the time it has
been in existence.
If that is the Washington "cli-
mate" there is minority that
disagrees, violently. A two-star
general said he thought war in
Europe was certain, this spring.
Other officials are guessing an
even earlier date.
There are two lines of rea-
soning in this:
/. That the Russians will not
hold still while a joint European
army is being formed under Gen.
Eisenhower. and long enough for
the American program of re-
armament to be fulfilled.
2. That there is no further
point or country in Europe now
where the Russians can move
without precipitating the big war.
Yugoslayia is considered a serious
danger area.
No Menace to Russia.
The counters, however, are
these:
/. The European force. if and
when it reaches the Immediately
unlikely figure Of 100 divisions,
will still be far too small to con-
stitute a menace to the Soviet
Union. 1t might be a fairly eff
fective holding force, for defense,
but much too small for offense.
(The NaZis attacked Russia with
240 divisions, most of them COM
bat-trainedD
2. The Soviet Union is not un-
der any compulsion to rack up
new gains in Europe. She is do
ing very we'll in the Far East.
The U. N. reverses in Korea,
In fact, probably could be de-
scribed as a "baby Pearl Harbor," +"
in terms of their effect on Wash
ington thinking. The economy
philosophy has sunk without a
trace. In Congress and in gov
ernment, generally, there is a
sense of the need for action. Busi-
nessmen who are in Washington
now say that what they want is
ito be told what to do"
Debate Delays Strategy.
Army circles complain of the
difficulty of planning until the
debate on overall American
strategy is resolved, or at least
crystallized into something near
agreement.
You can't do much planning"
an officer said until you know
how many men and what kind
of weapons you may need. And
that depends on where you intend
to fight"
In short, if the United States
intends to make a serious effort
to hold Western Europe, that
means one kind of Army, Navy
and Air Force. But if the deci-
sion should be to base the main
defense on control of the air and
the two oceans, then different
set of ratios would appear.
To that degree, the Kremlin has
succeeded in confusing Washing
ton. But the wheels are moving,
nevertheless, and gaining speed.