Evening star., 1951-05-26

was satisfied that the country had
enough tactical aviation to sup
port troops being sent to join Gen.
Eisenhower's composite Western
European defense force.
Gen. Collins-No, sir. I am not
but the Air Force is in the course
of developing additional groups
OF course, it isn't just a question
of getting the men; it is a question
of getting the necessary equip
ment and the training facilities
and everything : !" -
Questioned on War Effort.
When Senator Lodge wanted to
know If the general thought the
Nation was on a sufficiently
Strenuous and rigorous schedule
for building up our military
strength" Gen. Collins replied:
IF we were certain that war
would come, say. a year from now,
undoubtedly we would probably be
working two or three shifts. But
that is all speculative thing
I am sure the Russians would like
very much to have US have an
economic collapse"
When Senator Lodge pointed
out that the country did not col
lapse during World War II and
asked if the general did not think
the country owed moral obliga-
ton to the troops buying time in
Korea" Gen Collins said:
Eyes, sir, I think there is, but
again I am not really qualified
to judge the balance that would
have to be had between what an
all-out effort should be and what
we should do to keep ourselves
on an even keel"
In answer to questions by Sena-
tor Long, Democrat, of Louisiana,
Gen. Collins said he believes we
are winning the Korean war as
it is going and that it is inf1icting
a terrible drain on China"
There is no question about it
that we have beaten up their
two best armies pretty thor
he declared.
Gen. Collins also said he
thought the proof of this is "re-
hected in the fact that they have
not pushed to the SOUTH" either
in do-China or in an attempt
to invade Formosa.
Another angle to the present war
which has not been sufficiently
the general added, is that
it should be quite clear to Rus
sia itself that militant Communism
that it, Communism backed up
by military force-is not going
to have just a free rein in the
world"
Would Not Burn Cities
Senator Long then asked it, in
order to punish China for aggres-
sion, it would not be we'll to car
ry fire bombs into their cities,
simply ignite their cities and burn
many OF them down.
Gen. Collins said he thought
such a move would be "a dreadful
He said he thought
communism in China is operating
as Communism elsewhere-"a small
OF people are dominating
the actions that the government
takes" and that the average peas
ant in the hills probably doesn't
even know that there is a war
going on"
Gen. Collins concluded his dis
cussion of the danger of bombing
enemy installations in a large coun-
try like this:
Where do you stop? Once you
embark on the business of bomb
ing, the other man is going to
move away from you. He just
moves a little deeper and then
you get deeper, and the first thing
you know, you are involved in the
bombing of cities and all sorts of
things, aside from the bombing of
strictly military installations, such
as airfields."
The Army Chief broke in on the
questioning at one point to say
that the lone missing link now in
our basic plan" is an adequate
program, such as the
universal service-training draft
bill passed by the Senate. That
bill now has been deadlocked for
six weeks IN a House Senate draft
Gen. Collins said the country'S
and equipment program
both are in good shape.
1.-THE one thing we lack is a
comparable standby for the pro-
duction Of trained manpower." he
declared, IF it is logical to do it
with respect to equipment, it is
equally logical to do it with respect
TO men, in my Judgment"
Difficulty In Raising Men.
The Army leader reviewed diff
culties in raising men for Gen.
Macarthur last fall and blamed
the lack of a UNIT program for the
absence of well-trained pool of
men.
Il say that, unless we get down
to business and establish some
logical system of doing that, then
we are not making adequate pre-
parations for all-out mobiliza-
tion." he asserted.
Chairman Russell had hoped
to call a conference on the draft
bills today, but some House con-
ferees were not available. He said
he will attempt to set up the con-
ference for Monday afternoon,
meeting for only half a day on
the Macarthur question.
At another point in the testi-
Gen. Collins said ne
doubted that Gen. MacArthur's
recommendations, even if they had
been agreed to by military leaders,