Show ECONOMIC highlights repeal of the arms embargo naturally caused most of us to give our principal attention to potential war business from beleaguered beleaguer ed europe of late weve become so accustomed to looking across the oceans that we paid much attention to what is going on at home As a result to quote newsweek in surveying business stimulants many analysts have almost overlooked another i bactor our own national defense r program pr which will become increasingly crea singly important after the turn of the year this country at war and going by the pronouncements pronoun cerne ants of public officials and the various polls poil s which are designed to t 0 measure the pulse of public opinion we arent going to war but at the same time we are going to do our best to make sure that war come to us and the gon gen cral opinion is that the only way to do that is to build a national defense system which will make inake this hemisphere look mighty unhealthy to any possible aggressor to create that system will cost a great deal more money than WP we ever spent for military purposes in peacetime peace time before at the moment we vc are spending substantially more than a month in furthering the arms l dogram it is forecast that by june the monthly rate of spending will reach and very possibly exceed that and during the last half of 1940 the estimates continue arms spending will probably jump far beyond even that figure this years war department adget was some the is now ilaw getting als ip jo its projected budget for the next fiscal ca 1 year and reliable reports say that it will be about a third high lr ir or more than much of the money will be spent with existing basic peace industries dus tries as well as with the makers of guns and shells a modern army moves more and more on wheels and less and less on foot and such articles as trucks arc as vital as the actual weapons ot of combat expenditures of tile navy department part ment will touch a tremendous total close to new ships large and small will wiil bo be built according to current plans other ships will be revamped and a n d modernized purpose is to make our fleet tho the most powerful in the world a distinction which some experts expert think it may already claim shipyard faculties facil ties will be str strained affied to the limit and there is an elc excellent client possibility that once the build building ilic program gats Unde underlay the principal yaras may operate 24 hous hours a day A defense program such as anis obviously touches every facet 0 our industrial life the delanc dem inci for lor power and transportation increases along with the demand for steel and lumber and ma machine bachint chint tools biggest beneficiaries are ane heavy industries which took the worst licking during depression plant improvement and expansion all along the industrial front may bo be confidently anticipated the program will also have a beneficial influence on the unemployment problem hundreds pj of thousands of additional workers will vill be needed in shipyards tool too factories truck and automobile automobile plants etc on top of that atler anere will be room tor for many thousands more in the army and navy at present the army is increasing its numbers both in the regulars and the national guard and it w will not be a great while sa say y those in touch with affairs before the army rolls reach the present peacetime peace time limit of men just how much warring eur europe ope will be able to buy here is still a moot question but whether foreign ord orders ers go above or below expectations it is a certainty that our own defense precautions will be a tremendous temporary stimulant to business in this country |