Salt Lake Telegram | 1937-02-26 | Page 4 | Action by Congress Predicted to Strengthen Coat Defense

Action by Congress Predicted . To Strengthen Coast Defense 'WASHINGTON, Feb. M (INS) Congress will take action at this session to strengthen sea coast defense de-fense of th Pacific coast. Representative Rep-resentative Dockweilcr (D, CaU aaid today. . Aa a member of th house ap prcprlatlon subcommittee In charge of the army supply bill, Dockwllr la expected to handle appropriations agreed upon by th budget bureau for this purpose. pur-pose. One of th most striking pro-poaala pro-poaala la to mak th first start lu carrying out terms of th Wilcox Wil-cox "frontier air base" bill by authorising money to buy -land for a new army air field In the Pacific northwest The army, it was learned, also Is making aa Intensive study of the Alaskan situation preparatory to asking for an air base there. "Th budget has already agreed ta mors than 12,000,000 for sea-coast sea-coast defenses and I expected our subcommittee to raise this to W,-000.000 W,-000.000 as a part of th five-year program to strengthen defense on the Pacific coast," said Dock-weiler. Dock-weiler. "The situation which I discussed last year, of the presence pres-ence of Japanese fishing vessels apparently seeking (American defense) information and the unprotected un-protected condition of long stretches of the coast, still exists."