Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1951-09-23

is his report:
THE Russians, if they should de-
l. eide to strike this fall, could
drive to the English Channel in
matter of weeks.
There would be some fighting, but
no effective resistance. The only
limiting factor, as far as time is
concerned, would be the magnitude
of the effort that the Red Army
chose to make.
Why is it, then, that the Kremlin
hesitates? Why has it held in check
its vastly superior land and air
forces while the infant rearmament
program in Western Europe learns
to crawl and approaches the day
when it will be able to stand and
walk-and fight hard If need be?
The ablest men in Gen. Eisen-
hower's headquarters-and they are
exceedingly able-think they know
the answer. They believe that
Russia is not ready for long war.
The Soviet air defenses, though i'm
proving, cannot turn back the long
range bombers that would hurl
atomic destruction at Russia's in
duStrial heart as soon as the Red
Army moved. And in the critical
ingredients of modern war-Steel,
oil and coal-there is a serious def
cheney. The best guess is that in
these categorieS Russia can now
produce only about half of the ton
mage that would be required to sup
port major war. When will Russia
reach "safe" level of production
In these cateSories? Again, the
answer is gueSswork. But the smart
guessers say that it will take from
two to three years.
Time Foctor
This time element is highly sig
niflcant, for it comedies roughly
with the outer limits of the period
within which the experts assume
that the defenSeS of Western Eu-
rope can be perfected. This is an
assumption that is hedged around
with many qualifications. The Rus
slams might decide to move while
still not fully ready. Some key
European nation might fail to live
up to the schedule for its contribu-
ton to the common defense. The
United States might tire Of its
burden and revert to a too-little-
and-too-late approach to the task.
But If none of these things mate
rializes, If all goes we'll, this grim
race between defense and offense
should end in a kind of dead heat
BY the time Russia is fully ready
for war, the West should be so
strong that an attack would be
prohibitively expensive, If not
suicidal.
The men at Gen. Eisenhower's
headquarters just outside Paris are
keenly conscious of this time factor.
If there is to be another war in
Europe they want to do all that is
humanity possible to prepare for it.
But they believe, with a kind of
dedication, that their primary mis-
sion is to preserve the peace. And
they believe that the peace can be
and will be preserved.
These men, however, are not
suffering from any illusions. Gen.
Eisenhower speaks for all of them
when he likens the job to "a can
of worms"-a job in which one
thing wriggles loose as fast as an
other is put in place. There are
IL original nation members of
NATO-the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization. If the job consisted
of nothing more than marshaling
their resources it would be difficult
enough. But there is much more
to it than this. How are Greece
and Turkey, now voted into mem
bership, to be fitted into a common
plan? What is to be done with
Germany? Where does Tito'S Yugo-
slavia come into the picture? Is
any use to be made of Spain?
Key Mon: Eisenhower
Not all of these matters are re-
sponsibilities of Gen. Eisenhower
and his staff at SHAPE (Supreme
Headquarters, Allied Powers, Eu-
rope). Indeed, on the organizational
chart. Gen. Eisenhower official
position seems to be a relatively
minor one. But the chart is grossly
misleading. For with all due re-
Spect to the important work of the
Council of Deputies, the various
boards, economic agencies and 9TH
er commands, the hope of Europe's
defense rests with Gen. Eisenhower
If Western Europe is jerked to its
feet and made militarily strong
again, the magic of his name and
the spark of his personality will
be the major contributing factors.
What are the chances of success?
A group of American newspaper
and magazine writer's, under aus
pices of the Defense Department,
recently visited the principal coun-
tries involved. A tour of this sort
is necessarily superficial. There is
not enough time for full explora-
~ nF L.