Evening star., 1951-01-21

in the year ending June 80. 1852,
even if the international situation
gets no worse. Just how will
this money help accomplish the
budget aims?
Before attempting to answer
this it should be stated that in a
very real sense the budget repre-
sents a triumph for the views of
Defense Secretary Marshall. He
has argued all along that the
Nation should "get set" but not
"go" on a maximum war footing
at this time.
The general has feared that if
the Russians ease up in the Cold
War (they already have given us
nearly seven months since Korea)
an all-out program would become
an unbearable drain on both the
Nations finances and it's morale
The people might then demand
q cut-back. to the level of the
early postwar years or less.
Program Objectives
His voice evidently has won out
in top Government policy circles
because this, in a nutshell, is
what the defense program is de-
signed to do:
Produce enough equipment for
immediate needs. including ma
terial to supply all combat troops
which could be sent overseas in
the first year of global war, and
establish production lines capable
of sustaining a total-war effort.
To accomplish this, the Air
Force, for instance, must step up
its pre-Korean procurement OF
aircraft 10-fold and at the same
time tool operating plants to pro-
duce again as many planes so
that production could be doubled
at any given point in an incred-
IDLY short time. The same will
apply to tank production. This
throws light on President Tru-
mans statement that we must be
ready to turn out $4,000 planes
and $4,000 tanks year.
: There is to be no large accumu-
lation or stockpiling of arms.
w. j. Mcneil, Assistant Secretary
of Defense in charge of the
budget, told The Star in an inter-
view:
GAS soon as we equip our
planned force (the 35 million
mem we then want to cut back
to just enough weapons and ma
teriel to keep production lines in
tact-our pipelines open"
He added that, barring new
''Koreas" or all-out war, defense
spending may level off to about
$35 or $40 billion by 1855. He
said that Defense Department
thinking was that this would be
a financial burden the Nation
could bear almost indefinitely, if
necessary.
Initiation Factor
That it would be difficult to cut
below $35 billion a year with an
armed force of 3.5 million is seen
when it is considered it costs So
200 for the pay and clothing of
each man and woman-close to
S11.5 billion. The costs for main
tanning and operating this force
are about the same. These in
elude such items as gas, oil, spare
parts and civilian labor. That
would leave about $12 billion or
less for other expenses, including
procurement of planes, ships,
tanks, research and development,
etc.
The sort Of defense program
urged by the Defense Department
must be based on extremely care
full "phasing" or scheduling of
procurement and production. A
steady flow of materials, avail
ability of skilled manpower, the
absence of strikes and a halt to
the price spiral are prime re-
quirements.
AS to the factor of imitation, it
Is interesting and disheartening
to note the diminishing returns
obtained by the defense dollar.
In World War II a medium tank
cost SAT, ,000-now it's $154 900; a
Comm. gun at $36.875 in 1915 now
costs $4,000. and money which
would purchase 100 rocket
launchersNat the beginning of the
Korean fighting now will buy only
II.
While there is the intricate
matter of working out long range
production schedules as one i'm
portant reason, continually rising
costs of materials and labor help
explain why defense budget ex-
perts warn that the $50 billion in
obligational authority being asked
this year is only a "guess esti-
mate"
THE chances are that the
estimate will be a bit low, al
though recently we ran into such
things as the downward revision
of the number of tanks needed
and the decision to stop making a
certain kind Of ammunition" Mr..
Mcneil said.
AS for the other major aim be-
hind the military budget, the war
In Korea and subsequent Russian
and Chinese intransigeance has
convinced the most myopic OBJ
server the only possible way to
deter Communist aggression. save
that of abject surrender, is
through the possession of power
full military forces and the de-
termination to use and expand
them. if necessary.
The United States, therefore,
will spend in the next 18 months
enough to acquire forces and
weapons to give us this kind of
military power:
ARMY: A combat strength
equal to "a divisions out of a
total of is million men to be