Show Is this where we came in war department thinks not 0 t by BAUKHAGE news analyst and commentator just now washington as warlike as it sounds the emphasis is on defense not offense however there are conflicting views on what we ought to do that sentence just about reflects sentiment here as I 1 write these lines a sentiment that has changed rapidly in the last few weeks days hours and may change still more before these lines are printed that sentence also reflected the sentiment entime nt in washington eight years ago 1 I found it among my cl pp i of the column w which h i c h appeared early in october of ad 1940 I 1 had ut come back from the war depart ment which then was located on const aution a v e nue there gasn wasn t any pentagon build ng then I 1 had been inter dewing an officer md on the subject of our new cit zen army accord ng to many letters I 1 get 1 I wrote what a lot of people want to know Is why we need a citizen army in peacetime 7 A lot of people are ask asang ng that question again today the answer which I 1 reported to you in this col limn eight years ago was th s I 4 speed is what counts in an army today we aren it calling out these boys to fight anybody 11 tte e are arc calling them out to train them so they 11 be ready if we ever need them the united states can al ways raise a big army it if war Is declared but neither we nor any other country can raise a trained army overnight and a lot can happen in the night these days what we want to do Is to train these men for a reserve it was a year and three months after I 1 wrote those words that some thing d d happen not in the n but in the early morning over pearl harbor we d t start it the japs did the decad ng they dec ded that we had to go to war var the lessons Les sores over no time for recess today we have more to say we have learned a great deal s nee nce december 7 1941 we have learned how to f a global war and w n it the quest on Is w 11 we do the things which will prevent a global war that will be something it if we do ie le the wheel seems to have made the circle and some of the boys who were learn ng squads right in 1940 are wondering if th s Is where they came in I 1 had a chance to think about that on another trip back from the war department recently or I X should say the depart ment of nat onal defense its it s a longer journey now than it was to the old temporary world war I 1 bu id ing on constitution avenue the pentagon sprawls geometrically over acres across the potomac in virginia the message I 1 brought back was very much like the one I 1 reported eight years ago it was a reassurance that the request for three billion more dol lars for national defense is what the military men say is the mini mim mum peacetime expenditure to prevent war in other words de tense not offense it was pointed out that if it were necessary now to prepare for actual conflict the cost would ran run closer to 50 billions than three I 1 was most heartily assured that the united states d d not want war that no encouragement whatever was being given those few persons who urged preventive action with less certainty but advanced as an honest on was the statement that rus M sia did not want war either there is no reason as far as we know now I 1 one official told me why by war cannot be avoided provided a reasonable balance is established between the military forces of the two countries now we are in imbalance I 1 it was noted that russia and her satellites now have under arms near ly twice the number which th s country and the anti communist countries of western europe could put in the t f eld it is well to remember too that the russian red army Is mobil zed it is largely concentrated in eastern europe whereas american troops are thinly scattered over the whole earth russia has never really de mob lazed she has more combat planes and men to man them she has a greater land force a numen cally superior art cilery we are strong in bombing planes but she has a stronger defense in fighter and interceptor planes she is believed to be prodoc ng from 75 to planes a year we produced 1700 in ml 1 tary planes of all types last year but our biggest shortage is in ament said a veteran officer one might go on at great length I 1 won t I 1 have rehearsed the sad story of redeployment ever since I 1 f heard it from a general generals s sec detary 9 aho vho ho like most of the rest of us thought it was reemployment in case you have forgotten the un ted states army the greatest military mh m ahne h ne in history was redeployed out of ex stence and under such pressure from mothers and wives and at such a breakneck speed that in many cases it didn dian t leave a pile ot of scrap beh nd it to mark the spot whence it melted and dribbled away the red army didn dian t re deploy it is still largely de aloyed and so here we are again panicky outlook Is not justified one might become exceed angly pessimistic one might grow pan but as I 1 th over the interviews as I 1 recall the faces of those men charged with our nat on a defense as I 1 ponder the words the tone of voice I 1 must say the net impression ol 01 the contacts is to make me feel more hopeful than I 1 had felt before I 1 it was only three years ago in april 1945 5 that thin thi high point of 0 russian american camaraderie was reached when maj gen emil IF reinhardt Rei ahardt of t ie U S first army greeted the major general corn com manding the russian infantry division at a meeting of american and russian un ts at the elbe river in germany I 1 had been pretty depressed when I 1 began the round of calls in the var lous tous little cells that open onto the endless corridors of the pentagon offices large and small with maps on the walls the men in uniform or civilian civil an clothes at desks when I 1 left I 1 had the feeling that here were men wl 0 were looking at the task before them coolly and calmly neither obsessed with a certainty that they were moving into another inevitable conflict nor indifferent to the possibilities that such might be the case we anticipate no belligerent or pro ve move on the part of the russians we don t pretend to be able to say what their plan Is or whether hether th they have one in any case it is not our move whether there is to be peace or war depends upon the men in the politburo we have no way of knowing what the r next step will be we doubt if they have made up their minds and then one off cial came back to the remark I 1 quoted before personal y he said I 1 do not think alsia rants war I 1 am tarn tam that we e do not As I 1 say I 1 went out past the re caption desk through the high doors and out to where the quiet river holds the city in its tranquil em brace it looked no more turbulent no less peaceful when dur ng the war years I 1 used to come out that same door with my notes interpret ing the latest strategic war in nor mandy the breakthrough at st lo 10 the battle of the bulge patton s tact cal miracles washington is calm the other day as I 1 opened my closet door doo r I 1 noticed my trench coat with the faded blue patch with war correspondent correspond ent on the shoulder it didn dian t give me a turn after all we have just won the greatest victory of its k nd in history the completion of the plan to aid europe that and a few bloodless steps which on and not desperation dictate are enough for now even clergymen are able to think fast in a cr s s even though those who are prone to sleep through inter sermons may be inclined to doubt the assert on but up in cambridge mass a policeman was induced to tear up a speed ng ticket when a clergyman he had stopped exola ned you have to be fast these days if you want to save souls june is the dew month in ja pan in th s country we ins st every month is due month |