Evening star., 1952-04-21
Mr.. Loyett on Defense

Anybody looking for good summary of our
national defense program-its shortcomings, its
achievements and it's continuing necessity
should make point of getting a copy Of the
address that Robert A. Lovett delivered last week
to the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
The address Is at once sobering and encour-
aging. In it, the Secretary of Defense has been
at particular pains to emphasize tnat there is
"a grim and ominous thread running through
the entire fabric of world events" and that
nothing could be more wiShful, foolish or dam
gerouS than the idea that the international
situation has improved sufficiently to justify a
relaxation of our rearmament effort. In his
opinion, that effort-although it has made the
American position Infinitely" stronger than
before the outbreak of the Korean war-is still
not good enough, and we cannot retreat from
1t or whittle it down without gambling with the
security and very survival of our free Nation.
As Mr.. Lovett has summed it up, the. nature
Of our task is to create "a minimum defense force
which can be maintained over period of years"
to keep our country powerful enough to prevent
another world war or to win it If 1t cannot be
prevented. The task is unique in our history.
Calling for kind of middle ground operation
between an all-out effort and no effort at all,
1t means that we must simultaneously do such
things as the following: (D Garry on against
the aggresSor in Korea; co mobilize fresh troops
to replace those who are demobilized through
rotation; 81 develop an expandabe mobilization
base; "a guard against upSetting our civilian
economy; and (5) cope with the very real psy-
Geological temptation to be luled by phony
peace propaganda into slackening our present
pace or even abandoning the whole enterprise.
Especially because 1t is entirely new in our
American experience, this kind OF effort-when
there is no full-scale war-is extremely difficult
in terms Of dollars and cents. YET as Mr.. Lovett
has made clear, 1t is also absolutely imperative
in these days of grave tensions, and we have got
to learn to live with it for protracted period. We
have got to understand, too, that its costliness
is not attributable chiefly to initiation or in
efficiency or waste. Although those factors enter
the picture, they are really of minor significance.
Much more significant, for example. is the policy
of simultaneous mobilization and rehabilitation
of troops-a policy that is costing literally bill
lions of dollars and that argues powerfully for
the enactment of Universe! Military Training.
Beyond that the biggest expense item of all,
is the unprecedented complexity of modern arms.
This complexity problem, in Mr.. Lovett's
words, stems from the fact that 1--WE are in an
absolute ferment in both machines and methods
of war as result Of the amazing advances in
the sciences" Today's weapons-planes, guns,
bombs, electronic devices, etc.-are no more like
those Of yesteryear than a 1852 automobile is
like buggy. Moreover, some of them "are so
destructive as to raise serious doubts as to what
would remain of civilization as we know it were
they to be used' Here is the factor that explains
better than anything else why our defense pro-
gram is as costly and complicated as it is and
why we are compelled, as matter of national
self-preservation to press that program forward
without let-up.
Some Americans sincerely believe that all
this may wreck us economically, but Mr. Lovett-
like others uniquely well informed on the subject
has stated emphaticaly that the Nation is
perfectly capable of doing the job. Further than
that, of course, it is a job that we cannot dare
give up if we are to avert third world war or
be victors in it in case 1t comes despite our best
preventive efforts.