Evening star., 1953-04-27

review the whole munitions pic
ture and weed out high cost arms
plants in move to keep America
strong in peace and war.
Fantastic" Mr.. Kyes called
some of the planning done by
Treoty Curb Will Tie Presidents Honds.
Gen. Smith Worms. Poee At
the Truman administration. A
speech he prepared for the United
States Chamber of Commerce
convention contained the sharp
est criticism to come so far from
the new administration of the
Truman regimes rearmament
program.
Bases Widely Diffused.
The No. 2 man in the Defense
Department announced:
Because in some instances
the mobilization base is too wide
ly diffused, there will be situa-
tionS where a sufficient quantity
of the item manufactured is not
required to maintain a minimum
economic production flow in all
facilities.
I'm these cases, certain of the
facilities will be forced to stop
production, and where necessary
for the maintenance of the
mobilization base. arrangements
will be made for standby, while
in others, the tools will be
handled in such a manner as to
assure their availability. The
general policy will be that of
retaining the low cost producer
of desired goods, as against the
high cost producer"
But Mr.. Kyes said also "care-
full consideration" would be
given to preserving industries
vital to defense which do not
have full opportunity in civilian
economy, noting that "the air
craft industry is an example of
this type"
Reflects Wilson's Views.
The major policy statement by
Mr.. Kyes presumably reflected
the current views of Secretary of
Defense Wilson, who has been in
Europe. Both men are former
top executives of General Motors.
A month ago Mr.. Wilson was
known to be questioning the
wisdom Of the broad base"
mobilization program instituted
by the former administration.
In his prepared address, Mr..
KyeS used sharp words in talk
ing of the rearmament program
started with the beginning of
the Korean war in 195O-"fan-
tastic paper targets" "exag-
gerated figures" poor planning
and inefficient execution"
He cited as examples: "One
mobilization plan resulted in re-
quirements over and above as
sets on hand which would cost
$3.50 billion for hard goods
alone" And: Most of us would
question the combat capabilities
of a years surplur of calculating
machines"
Hits Faulty Conception.
He declared:
I'VE have been and are paying
dearly for two mistaken concep-
tions with respect to national
security. First: Unsound and
unrealistic calculations of re-
quirements for materials, equip
ment and supplies on the part
of the military. Second: A neg
lect of the needs of a minimum
military posture in time Of
peace"
He summed up his views on a
mobilization base this way:
When choosing an organiza-
ton large or small" to comprise
the mobilization base, he said.
there are six criteria: Cd 1t
must have the management and
technical knowledge required:
(2) it must have adequate ca
pacity; CD it must have enough
capital to as not to be fully de-
pendent on Federal aid; a. man.
power must be available; (5)
generally. no facility should fall
below requirements for min
imum economic unit; 60 it
should not be given more de-
fense business than it can
handle efhciently-up to three or
four times it's civilian dollar