Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 15 July 1950 — Page 10

HOWARD NEWSPAPER <@b--"PAGE 10 Saturday, July 15, 1950

Telephone RI ley 5551

MEME} Give Light end the People Will Fins Thow Uwn Woy

Slow to Wake (CONGRESS displays some encouraging signs of realization that, in the world’s present state, business can't be “as usual” for it. : os ~The Senate has voted to forget, at least for a while, its plan to put up a new office building for Senators. That would have required a $10 million appropriation this year and as much more later. ™ The House-passed bill to cut excise taxes more than a billion is headed for the Senate Finance Committee's shelf, where Treasury Secretary Snyder urged that it be sent. It is unlikely to come down again unless the war clouds pass. Higher taxes doubtless will be required. Leaders of both branches are conceding that events in Korea have made a congressional adjournment Aug. 1 impossible. . 3 ce. ; a n= . THERE is increasing sentiment for prompt enactment of the Hawaii and Alaska statehood bills. That would be > helpful action in this crisis, serving renewed notice of |. America’s determination to defend freedom in the Pacific i: area. 7 : But Congress still is slow in waking up to the compelling need for government economy in non-military B

President Truman: told his news conference yesterday that requests for increased military appropriations are under consideration. There is no doubt that they will have to come—no room for doubt that they must be very large. The Senate Appropriations Committee has increased many non-military items in the huge omnibus bill passed by the House before the Communists attacked South Korea. : " The Senate, now debating that bill, should cut such items deeply and cut out those not clearly and urgently essential. Government projects and activities which it may have seemed desirable to undertake or expand a few weeks ago cannot now be financed safely on a lavish scale out of a swelling federal deficit. : We Need Tanks First 3 ARREN R. AUSTIN, American delegate to the United _ Nations, has just given an example of the kind of fuzzy thinking that got us into the mess we have found .in Korea. It is necessary now to spend American lives to push back Communist aggression in Korea, he said, but a “relatively small investment” in the technical assistance program “can help avert loss of such lives in the future and in other localities.” People who now “scratch the earth with sticks” must be shown how to use the plow, according to Mr. Austin, because those who barely know how to use a wheel in peace-time cannot expect to use a machine when they are attacked. Nothing Mr. Austin is saying here explains why the North Koreans were able to beat the ears off the South Koreans. But was it not because Russia gave the North Koreans machines and taught them how to use them— gave them, not plows and tractors, but tanks and fighter planes?

J In YR TE RAL

In seeking support for President Truman's Point Four Program, Mr. Austin would have done better to have passed over the Korean situation altogether. Improving living . standards in an marked ‘out for attack did not discourage Red on; if anything, it invited the attack. By a 8 . =» =» ~ COMMUNISM is winning its way by the sword, not by proving that it offers a better way of life. Why can't our policy makers get that through their heads? = + A “relatively small investment” in technical assistance? Between 1946 and 1048, inclusive, we invested $360 million in a relief and technical assistance program in South Korea, something like $18 for each South Korean. That was eight times as much as Mr. Truman has asked .. for the first year of the Point Four Program for the whole world. How then can anyone expect the Point Four Program to stop communism? Given a long period of years and untold billions to spend, we might be able to win over all the backward peoples of the world to the American way of life—if--we didn't go broke in the process. But the Russians aren't allowing us ‘any time. They are attacking with tanks, and we apparently have nothing heavy enough to stop them. Hadn't we better drop this fuzzy business until we get some heavier armor?

~ Tito May Be Next THE reported movement of Bulgarian army units toward ‘the Yugoslav frontier, and similar warlike gestures by Red Romania and Hungary, suggest that Moscow may _. have concluded this is an appropriate time to settle its If such is the case, Tito has little claim upon the ~ sympathiés of the Western world. Sie «+» = Since he was kicked out of the Cominform, this one-

- Miscow stooge has tried to keep one foot in the. in door. He joined Moscow's puppets in bowing to Chi His delegate to the United Nations voted military measures to stop the Red aggressors in Should Tito

on the sword he helped to forge, retributive justice. : "owe

» Tal W plans to ring the world with bonfires

s as well as the times for deployment

d, we must not fall into the trap, of letting |

is Times Briefing Them

‘THIS. "1S YOUR CHANCE TO CLEAN ue!

WASHINGTON, July 15—American GIs, fighting a losing battle against Russian-made

* ‘heavy tanks in Korea, could use some of those

Uncle Sam lost, sold or gave:away a few years back. : . It wasn’t too long ago that Uncle Sam was peddiing surplus tanks to all takers at a few cents on the dollar, In July, 1947, for instance, we sold 10 light tanks, worth $270,000, to Belglum for 000.InDecember, we disposed of 21 more, worth $568,000, to Canada for $17,000. : In January, 1948, we sold nine tank engines, track : : ; assemblies and spare parts, worth $166,000, to Venezuela for $8000. In March, $49,000 worth of eng.ues and spare parts went to Guatemala for $2000. In April, we closéd a real with Ecuador for 21 tank engines and spare parts, worth $409,000, for $20,000. In September of that year, we sold Mexico 12 tank engines, worth $291,000, for $14,000. ne The Hoover Commission's national security task force said we made 86,000 tanks during World War II. Army statistics indicated we had 25,045 at the end of the war. In 1048, the

Task Force said, the Army could account for.

15,960 tanks. The Task Force said the Army

others.” The Task Force said it believed the Army didn’t know how many tanks it had. The Task Force charged that the Army was asking for money to modernize more tanks than were in stock. The Army overlooked the fact, the Task Force said, that 102 had ‘been sold to the

Marines, and asked for money to modernize .

them, too.

Materiel Unaccounted for MOREOVER, the Task Force said, the Army couldn't account for “the vast quantities of materiel on hand at the end of hostilities. The Army says it has materiel sufficient to equip only 18 divisions, although at the end of the war it-had 89 fully equipped divisions and great additional quantities of materiel in the pipeline. “(Loss) of easily replaceable materiel is easily understood, but the loss of complicated, hard-to-produce military equipment is another

SIDE GLANCES

comm 1900 ov mex GIR md

MISSING TANKS . . . By Jim G. Lucas

‘Wasted War Machine Needed

matter, especially as the military was put on notice six months after the end of the war as to the seriousness of the international situation.” The late James V. Forrestal sald the same thing in his final report as Defense Secretary. “Because of too-rapid demobilization and lack of adequate planning,” Mr. Forrestal said, “vast quantities of munitions were left on the battlefield, at debarkation points or were destroyed. This must not happen again. Blame for failure to retain more than we did cannot go to anyone. It was the composite product of the nation’s relief at the end of the fighting, of an almost frantic drive to demobilize, and of an irrational belief that the translation of the abstraction of the United Nations into a printed charter was an adequate guarantee against future aggression. Thus, we scrapped our war machine, mightiest in the history of the world, as a manifestation of confidence that we would not need it any longer.”

9000 Tanks Missing THE CASE of the missing 9000 tanks was first told to Congress by ex-President Herbert Hoover on Apr. 11, 1949. The next day, exy Secretary Kenneth C. Royall said Mr

. Hoover was “totally incorrect.” :

Mr. Royall said 7170 tanks were found to be obsolete and were transferred, sent abroad as military aid or lost “for similar reasons.” He said the tank transfer to the Marines was dis-

,covered and “adjusted accordingly.”

Mr. Royall said equipment for 35 divisions was sold to civilians, destroyed, demilitarized, given to the Red Cross or UNRRA, salvaged or made part of the Greek-Turkish aid program. Equipment for another 23, he said, was out of balance as to quantity, or needed repair. The rug was pulled out from under Mr, Royall the next day. Defense Secretary Louis Johnson, at his first press conference, agreed with Mr. Hoover who later said his facts were “taken from their original source, confirmed by officers in charge and rechecked with independent sources.”

Could Be Used Today THE HOOVER Commission Task Force sald that—whatever the reason—it was evident we no longer had the tanks or the equipment for 71 demobilized divisions. ; “Whether or not the equipment was perfect,” the Task Force said, “its possession today would be of great comfort and value to the peaceful countries of the world.”

What Others Say—

AS I look out into the future, I see better things for the individual than I've ever seen before.—Thomas J. Watson, chairman, International Business Machines Corp.

IF THE (Republican) Party becomes progressive, as it was in the days of Teddy Roosevelt, we're going to defeat the Democrats in 1952—Gov, James H. Duff of Pennsylvania.

veterans who have kept: their

GI insurance active. = » =

VU. 8. CONTRIBUTION to

WASHINGTON, July 15— Payment of first GI insurance divi__dend is going to run into payments of the second one, which will, start the first of 1051. There are still about $230,000,000 as yet undistributed in the first payment. The unpaid-cases involve policies - with lost records. The second dividend, which will continue into the future as long as the life of a policy, will go only to those.

spending agencies there would a lot . squandering

of public funds. Be wise.

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LOSING FACE . . . By Ludwell Denny

WASHINGTON, July 15—The Korean War is beginning to have a bad effect on America’s reputation in Europe. This is particularly true in France and West Germany.

help protect them if the Red Army moves

westward. : This is the reverse of the first reaction, whe our intervention against North Korean aggression raised our popularity and their morale. The fickleness of some of our fair-weather friends in Western Europe may be shocking to the American public, but it is less so to Washington officials. They are well aware of the weakness of European morale. They know that European confidence in the United States is far less than could be expected in view of our Marshall Plan and military ald program,

West Europe Suspicious

IN FAIRNESS, however, it is pointed out that all of Western Europe cannot be lumped together in this matter. In countries such as Britain, there is widespread knowledge and appreciation of American aid, some understanding of the Korean problem, and general confidence in America. Even in France there is a large minority whose attitude toward the United States is trustworthy. : But, after all allowatices are made, a significant part of the West European press and public is suspicious of us. : Communist propaganda is a factor. In France and some other countries the Red press is larger and more influential than the size of party membership would indicate. Constant

‘War Is Bad on U. S. Reputation

theless, rather than major cause.

Suffering From Shock

THE BASIC reason is that Europe is still suffering from war shock. Her rapid economic advance, with our help, has not been matched by psychological and political recovery. In many places and at several population levels the fear complex is more potent than courage. Cynicism among intellectuals and fatalism among peasants is more prevalent than hope. As a result a fighting spirit for democracy is not common in Western Europe today. The typical attitude is that this worid struggle is between two giants, Red Russia and capitalist America, where others should not stick their necks out. The average West European today does not want to serve in the defense forces or to pay taxes for preparedness—not even for his own country, much less for an “AmericaRussian War.”

Morale Recovery Slow SO HE flops back and forth between a phony “neutrality” and a desire for American projection against Red conquest. And when a handful of underarmed American troops cannot turn back Red Korean tanks quickly, too many West Europeans react with a mixture of scorn for our “failure” and fatalistic fear for their own safety. The most hopeful thing that can be said about this unhealthy spirit is that it is not as bad as it was a year ago. There is recovery in morale, but the process is slow. Meanwhile their attitude toward America is neither reasonable nor generous.

UNPREPARED FINANCIALLY . . . By John Love

War Adds to Inflation Dangers

WASHINGTON, July 15—The Korea undertaking catches the country unprepared financially. Further government outlays imposed on an existing deficit in a time of high business activity spell inflation. It isn't war, says President Truman, but it can hardly be called peace either, Whatever it is, it takes more money. Though the outlays are mild, so far, they pile on top of a national budget already in deficit. They add to the inflation dangers even though the deficit is lower by a billion than was expected in the spring. Nobody yet has an idea of the cost of the Korea expeditions, and won't have much of one until they near a safe end, or even until we know what to do with Korea when she's pacified. A couple of hundred millions are earmarked but that sum looks more like a first installment. The airlift to Berlin in 1948-49 cost $265 million,

Russ Intervention Threat

THE expense of Korea would be easier to guess at if we could be sure the Russians would in no way intervene, This contingency will account for the greater part of the indirect expenditures yet to be made. Inflation occurs in all wars. Even this little war, if it can be kept little, will lead to the creation of more money for the public to spend after the government spends it. Deficit outlays always do that. J They will also take a certain amount of additional supplies out of the stream of production,” without, on the present outlook, doing anything to increase the total. With more money from one direction and fewer supplies available from the other, we get inflation.

There are several means of holding down -

inflation in war ‘time but they are never fully effective. More money can be raised in taxes, and for that reason the chances now look poorer for a cut in the excises. Money can be taken out of the flow of purchasing power by selling government bonds to the public.

Allocation Problem

CIVILIAN supplies can be channeled into the hands of those who most require them, others kept from bidding for them but no moves are yet visible for accomplishing this. Demands for steel have been at or above the capacity of the mills for many weeks and they can’t be accommodated in greater amount for the present. In-

: By Galbraith NEWS NOTEBOOK . . . By Peter Edson Men po New Gl Insurance Dividend Set for Early 51

retary of State” As photographers tbok their final ‘shot of Secretary Chapman, one of them said, “Thank you, Mr. President.” Cracked the grinning Chapman, “Fastest set of promotions I ever had in my

THE PARKWAY around life” _ Haines Point, in Washington, =

was recently rechristened 'Ohio

any small business should be

formal allocations by the producers probably are already in effect to some extent and may have to be made more rigid. The building industry has a quantity of work under way. Its needs may require special treatment. These would depend on the amount of new work to be started in the next few weeks, competing as it would for supplies of mdterials. The government will have to cut down some of its expenditures in directions not required by the emergency. This may be hard to do politjcally, but it will have to be undertaken. Any number of people interested in this or that welfare outlay will protest that their favorite item is needed to preserve “morale.” This occurred in 1941 and 1942, but a lot of slashing was accomplished. The welfare state may be on the way out for the time being.

Expand Social Security

THE Social Securty program is being expanded, but it's a means of taxation for ex~ penditures for the general purposes of government. People of 65 would do well to postpone retirements for the present. There are many differences between this country’s economic condition today and that of 10 years ago. In 1940 defense orders could be placed and workmen hired without running up costs rapidly, Today there is little “play” in the system—we have almost full employment. Deficits incurred today add to an already huge national debt—now $256 billion.

Views on the News By DAN ‘KIDNEY

MODERN science set out to awn supersti- -

tion and now more people than ever believe the world is coming to an end. ; > © CLAIMING to be bigger than the census figures isn’t the sort of thing to make a city attractive in our A-bomb age. ” . > &

BOOK publishers should have learned by now to bring out only loose-leaf editions of the

"atlas, :

. > ¢

WE MAY yet prove that the firt Hundred Years’ War was not the ‘worst.

lleve his conscience he advértised with this slogan: “Even If1t Is -Good Medicine, It- Is Bad Doctrine; But If You Will Have It, Remember Old Gooch.” The banker concluded by saying that if the experiment, * though good medicine and bad doctrine, must be had the place for it was In the Federal Reserve. ;

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