Show GENERAL HUGH S JOHNSON 0 49 0 st 6 washington D C RUBBER TIN HOKUM it would be worth a good many billions not to mention a great re employment sm strengthening of our defense and reduction of our danger to debunk the hokum about our being so dependent on the british britis h and dutch east indies for rubber and tin that bunk plus gro gross ss exaggeration aeration of our tiny commercial stake in china projects the sphere of our naval strength far west of any line of defensive necessity in the pacific on every occasion we build japanese enmity that in t turn urn requires even greater naval strength in the pacific we maintain the whole fleet equipped for this great distance which is a far greater radius of action than western hemisphere defense requires we are truly told that we have not nearly the naval strength we need for that defense yet here we are frittering fritt ering away much of that strength chiefly on this rubber and tin argument every time somebody mentions the fact that bolivia is a prolific potential source of tin we get a dose of clever propaganda that the ore has to be sent to england to oe smelted smelter that bolivian rese reserves arves of ore arent great enough and that they require a mixture of other tin ores we have no tin smelters sm elters eltes but why we because a british cartel controls tin it want us to smelt tin or buy in bolivia that good enough now there is no mystery about the tin smelter to build the necessary smelters shelters sm elters and use bolivian tin at once fits with every sound american policy and not to do so collides with all it employs american rather than british labor it builds up western hemisphere trade and ties us closer to south america it strengthens our defense and reduces our danger and dependence on distant sources why such a move number one in in our new national defense effort I 1 cant say on the basis of known facts and recent surveys that bolivian tin would be enough but but neither nei has it been demonstrated by any such means that it be enough certainly nobody has taken any steps to make it enough I 1 am told by metallurgists that they cain can 9 easily asi 1 y lick the few bugs in th the e use of bolivian tin there is a very wide field for the conservation of tin it is largely used for attractiveness where black sheets would serve as well there is a vast field for substitutes particularly ticul arly glass finally tin can be reclaimed after original use we throw it on the garbage dump any truly alert defense policy would act immediately here a 0 the case of rubber is similar it may be true although it seems incredible that we cant now rely on getting rubber from its native home in south america but it is no longer true that we have to go half way round the world to get it we have no less than six all american rubber substitutes two of them are far better than rubber yes they cost more but if we relied on them entirely and so went into mass production they wo would uld cost very little more maybe not as much as the process is perfected in use As matters stand at this moment due to their longer life and better quality the true cost would be no more if you consider this great new field for employment of american labor to replace asiatic coolie labor our economic advantage would be much greater if to that advantage we add as in the case of tin the avoided cost and danger of maintaining an american naval threat in asia then all considerations of both economics and defense simply shriek for immediate action here what is a council of national defense tor for anyway temptations now that the course and leadership of the republican party is settled there are only two major uncertainties to fertilize with worry more gray hairs the war in its relation to us and the november elections superficially there is a temptation to write a third the convention course and leadership of the democratic party but we know that there is no uncertainty mr roosevelt will be nominated by acclamation he will write his own platform there is no more reason for a democratic convention than there would be of a meeting of the reichstag to decide whether mr hitler shall continue in the proposal for a western west ern hemisphere cartel we see a colossal attempt to imitate hitler it is assumed that if he is victorious all european industries will be operated as one their products pooled and bartered to latin america at a sweated price so low we cant compete therefore we shall buy all the products of latin america our high cost industrial products are also to be subsidized and pooled for sale south to under price low cost european industrial production at a loss to our whole people of perhaps a billion adear |