Evening star., 1952-05-30
Mr.. Boruch on Defense


subcommittee, Bernard M. Baruch has once again
offered good counsel to the Nation. Speaking as
an elder statesman with no interests to serve
except the interests of his country, he has ad-
dressed an eloquent appeal to the administration,
to Congress and to the American people at large
to develop without further delay "a sense of dis
ciplined urgency" in building up armed power
against the worldwide menace of Red aggression.
Mr.. Baruch has called special attention to
what he describes as "the real and crucial issue"
confronting the United States in this sorely
troubled age when the forces of freedom are
locked in deadly and fateful struggle with the
forces of an implacable tyranny intent upon en-
Shaving mankind. He has summed up the issue
in these words: "Our highest military author
tiles have stated, unequivocally, that from now
through 1854 will be the period of maximum
peril for this Nation. Yet we deliberately are do
ing less than we can do to achieve readiness by
that date. Nowhere have seen any justifable
reason offered for such recklessness particularly
since it would cost 50 little in temporary denias
to make our safety secure"
What Mr.. Baruch has in mind in addition
to congressional budgetary cuts, is the so-called
stretch out" of our arms production especially
the program under which plane output has been
slowed down to point where the goal of 143 air
wings is not to be reached until the end of 1856
instead of mid-1954. He also has in mind the
fact that the stretch out" has been decided
upon, among other reasons, to avoid-as much
as possble-the manufacture of weapons that
are likely to be obsolete or obsolescent few
years from now. On both counts, he argues that
the slowing down has been unwise and even dan
gerous-not least Of all because an aggressor
cannot be deferred by blueprints Of things to
come and because reserves of guns, fighters,
bombers, ETC., even If they are going to be out
moded on a near-future tomorrow, are still
potent defense factors today. On the latter point
his chief contention is that If we had such re-
serves at present, the aggressor-who in Korea
does pretty well with some relatively crude arma-
ments-would be less inclined to throw his weight
around
Defense Secretary Lovett and others close to
the problem of rearmaments have offered per-
suasive arguments in favor of the stretch out" !"
and dthey maintain that very real effort is being
made not to abandon, prematurely, either the
production or use of weapons that are subject
to obsolescence. However, even though there Is
disagreement between them and Mr.. Baruch on
this score, they certainly are as one with him on
the following points: C) That as long as the
Soviets hold as terrifying an edge in military
readiness over the West as they do today, as long
as this grave disparity exists "there is no basis
Tor peace In the world; 10 that the situation
in Korea, the mounting tension over Germany
and explosive possibilities elsewhere demand that
we pursue our rearmament goals with the same
urgency as if we were at war;" and 90 that Moth
ing could be more dangerously foolish than in
discriminate cuts and spending ceilings of the
sort that the House has approved in making
economies" in the 1858 budget for our Army.
Navy and Air Force
It is not possible, in short space, to deal
with all the views that Mr.. Baruch has voiced to
the Senate subcommittee. To appreciate them
fully-even those that are debatabe-it is nee
essary to read them in complete text. Neverthe-
less the main thought running through the whole
of his testimony can be summarized readily
enough. The thought is simply this: That the
United States, together with its free Allies, is
even now neck deep in a struggle for survival
and that if victory is to be won in the end, our
whole country administration, Congress and
people-must forget about profits as usual,
social reforms as usual and politics as usual"
We just canot devote ourselves to the usual" in
these days without risking "a horrible retribution
for the future"