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Show SEN. WATKINS REPORTS By Senator Arthur V. Watkins War, war and war is the record of the Democratic administrations since 1917. This is not a political observation observa-tion it is an assertion of fact. Why have these wars occurred? I am not prepared to state any one reason, but I have a feeling deep inside that United States foreign policy was a major contributing con-tributing factor, at least in World War II and Korea. Where do we stand today with respect to our foreign policy? We are preparing to defend the free world and ourselves too. There are no differences in our objective everyone, at least every morally responsible person, wants to see world peace preserved. The method meth-od of achieving- our objective, however, how-ever, is the center of the "great debate" and the differences which exist within and between the two American political parties. On the question of manpower and the position of the free world to defend itself, I should like to offer some statistics compiled and released by the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate headed by Chairman Connally (D-Texas) : Nine western European nations have a total population of 173 million with 2,103,000 in their armed forces. The United States, with a population of 152 million, has 2,300,000 men under arms and with an immediate goal of 3,500,-000. 3,500,-000. In addition, we now propose the drafting of 18-year-olds. What do the Europeans do on this phase of the problem? We propose to draft 18-year-olds for 24 to 26 months of service. Belgium gives compulsory military service for 12 months, as do Denmark, Luxemburg, Lux-emburg, Netherlands, Norway. France trains her young men for 18 months as does Portugal. Great Britain only recently extended such service to 24 months. Therefore, if-Europe contributed manpower to its armed forces on the same ratio which the United States has reached, the forces of Europe would total 2,595,000 or 400,000 more than presently used. This would more than make up the differential which the United States is supposed to do with 100,000 troops. Now, let's look at the economic side of the picture: Gross national income of the Soviet block totaled 112 billion dollars for 1950. For the western powers the total was 430 billion dollars. The Soviet and its satellites pro- aucea 66 million metric tons of steel in 1950, the western powers 142 million tons. Soviet block crude oil produced totaled 46 million metric tons, western powers, 459. Everyone is well aware of American Am-erican foreign aid for the past few years, but what of 1951. What is our effort compared to the effort of Europe. In 1951, the total military mil-itary expenditures for the nine European countries will be $7,919 millions. The United States will spend six times that much or $48,473 millions. To express It another way, the United States will spend 15.7 percent of its national na-tional product for military pur poses, while Europe will contribute only eight percent of its national product for military purposes. It seems to me that Europe has a long way to go to equal our military mil-itary effort, and if Europe raises its contribution to only a major share of .our effort, United States aid would not be so imperative. We can supply equipment and munitions and use our manpower to preserve the world's greatest industrial empire in all history. Without America's arsenal of democracy, which demands skilled and adequate manpower, the free world cannot withstand Commun ism regardless of the size of our armed forces. |