Evening star., 1951-02-02
Byrd Asks Scrutiny
OF Dispersal Bill 10
Bar 'Hysteria' Action
By William J. EIyin

The dispersal bill should not be
passed lin the hysteria of the
present emergency" Senator Byrd
of Virginia, said last night.
The proposal to move some Gov
ernment agencies to locations
within 20-mlle radius of Wash
lngton in some cases would extend
the congestion and enlarge the
bomb target area. he added. The
Senator said he is reserving judg-I
ment on the plan until I can give
it full study"
Russia has made great prog
ress in the last five years in sap
ping our resources" the Senator
said. He warned that Korea is
only the start of sideline wars.
Russia has the timetable" he
said. She can set the hour and
day of these attacks.
Calls for Radar Screen.
The Senator called for IAN i'm
pregnable defense at home" in
cluding a radar screen around the
country.
In the last five years, he said.
I'VE have followed the false philos-
ophy that we can buy off Com
muniSm.'
I'VE cannot carry the world on
our shoulders abroad and the New
Deal on our backs at home" he
declared.
Senator Byrd addressed an audi
ence of more than 400 persons
attending the annual dinner of
the Arlington Chamber of Com
merce at National Airport.
1T is argued that if we take
10000 Or 10000 workers 20 miles
from Washington. then the city
will no longer be the No. target"
he said. With that I cannot
agree"
Originally. the idea was to pro-
tect records and agencies vital to
the war effort in the event war
should come. But it seems to
me that the list of agencies to
be dispersed announced this week
and the decision to limit the dis
persal to within a radius of 20
miles from Washington does not
square with the announced pur-
pose of the program.
II )11r frlnnHS nf thu
agencies plan to spend 1854
million to start it. I've seen these
things start. Before dispersal is
ended, it will cost far more.
Wants Closest Scrutiny.
IF dispersal is necessary. then
and you and all of us will agree
to it. have not made up my
mind. Virginia certainly wants to
cooperate in all measures for ma
tional security, but this costly pro-
posal should be subjected to the
closest scrutiny"
Senator Byrd asserted that he
has never been an appeaser, but
he added that I'VE cannot tilt our
lances at every windmill" He re-
called Winston Churchill's state
ment: TT is easy to invade Rus
sla, but it's hard to get out"
The people of the United States,
the Senator said, will live for a
long time in a state of near-war.
One of the ''perils at home and
abroad is disunity and lack of
foreign policy such as this coun-
try has never known before"
It's all very WE'LL" the Senator
continued. "to be altruistic. But
we must first regard the security
of the United States. If the dollar
goes down, who in all the world
could take the torch from us? We
would enter an age of interna-
tional darkness.
Korea is mere incident. a
sideline war. Whether we win or
lose IN Korea makes little diff
ference in determining whether
we will win the global war.
Russia Fears Production.
Il question whether we can
survive if we squander the wealth
accumulated by the thrift and
self-denial of Americans for 300
years. This Nation is great be-
cause of its free enterprise sys-
TEN. Because of it, we can out
produce the rest of the world. And
that's what Russia fears-not our
money, but our production.
Senator Byrd was introduced by
Representative Howard Smith,
Democrat. Of Alexandria. Vir-
ginia Delegate j. Maynard Ma
gruder was general chairman in