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Show lis War With Russia I Becoming A Certainty? I Already certain newspaper I men are printing that "war is-certain, is-certain, but at least ten years away." They go into details about a five-year preparedness and industrial mobilization plan which the United States, it is said, is quietly blocking, Along this line, the Navy discloses dis-closes that it is constructing the 45,000-ton battleship Kentucky and the 27,000-ton battle cruiser Hawaii as "guided-missle warships" war-ships" and that the two ships "will lead to a revolution in the striking power of naval warships." war-ships." Along with this comes the statement of various men in pub lic life, including Bainbridge Colby, Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson, that Russia is an enemy of world peace., bent upon war with the United States and anijigus t9 encQmpass ' our overthrow as a requisite to the successful spread of Communism, Commun-ism, These are pessimistic statements, state-ments, somewhat supported by facts. It would be a mistake to ignore the sinister side of world affairs, but it would be a similar mistake to entirely overlook over-look the possibility that peace can be maintained, even with Soviet Russia. The situation in Europe is strained because of the tactics employed by Soviet Russia, to further her hegemony and to denounce de-nounce the United States and Great Britain. It is hard for Americans to understand such an attitude on the part of Russian leaders if they are sincere in their protestations about a peaceful peace-ful world. We have called attention, from time to time, to the view of the Russians themseiyes, who believe be-lieve that the capitalists of the earth will eventually control the western democracies and that thereafter, they will engineer an attack upon Russia for the purpose pur-pose of destroying Communism. This idea seems to be widely prevalent among the headmen of Russia and, if we are to believe some Americans who have returned re-turned from that country, the common people have been influenced in-fluenced by government propaganda propa-ganda to believe that there is the danger of an attack from the United States. In this critical situation, there is danger of a precipitate act which might cause an outburst of war. It is, therefore, the business busi-ness of statesmen to attempt to settle questions without invoking invok-ing a clash. Even here, one must admit, the task is one that requires re-quires the combined efforts of both sides. Peace cannot be maintained main-tained by one country, or one group of countries. It must be maintained by all countries that possess sufficient military power to begin a major war. If Russia is not willing to make an effort I comparable to that made by thei Anglo-American nations, war is inevitable regardless of What we ! think, what we wish and what we do. Nelsdn Says Army Tried j To Control National Economy "Our whole economic and so-' cial system will be imperiled if it is controlled by military men," declares Donald M. Nelson, former form-er chairman of the War Production Produc-tion Board, who charges that the Army tried to gain control of the national economy during the war and says that the Army and Navy, together with James F. Byrnes, the Director of War Mobilization, Mo-bilization, tried to oust him in 1943.. , There is no reason to dispute Mr. Nelson's claim that our economic eco-nomic and social system would be 'imperiled if controllled by military men. In fact, it would be imperiled if controlled by business men. The interests eff the nation are much greater than the interests of any particular economic e military group. During the, war, when production produc-tion was the instrumentality of victory, it was not out of order for military men to attempt to conrol the nation's facilities. Presumably, Pre-sumably, they were the experts in war.making, knew what the Army and Navy required and had the job of whipping the enemy. en-emy. When the critical emergency of the war passed and the nation came back into the routine of peace, there existed no reason whatever for military control. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Armv Chief of Staff, referring to Mr. Nelson's statement, says it "is completely wide of facts" and questions whether the "people "peo-ple who risk all to reserve our system should want tn destroy it in time of peace." Snecifically, General Eisenhower declared that the Army wants to dominate domin-ate nothing but its own affairs. What Was Wise Once Mav Easily Look Foolish The Senate War Investigating Committee is threatening to have something of a showdown with Admiral Ernest J. King in connection con-nection with the $133,000,000-pipeline $133,000,000-pipeline project undertaken to connect this country with Alaska during the war. It is easy enough, in the present pres-ent year of peace, to look uDon expenditures during the dark days of the war and assert that they were foolish, unnecessary and a waste of public funds. The public should understand, however, that the question to be answered is not whether in the light of subsequent events, the construction proved to be unnecessary. un-necessary. The real question Is whether, at the time they were undertaken, they represented an intelligent effort to prepare this country for any eventuality, including in-cluding a disaster on the battlefield. battle-field. We do not think that the case should be tried before the public receives some intimation of the evidence submitted, but we remember re-member very well that when the Japanese invaded the Aleutian Islands, it was considered vital to establish adequate' supply lines. ? to Alaska in order to prevent the enemy from having hav-ing the possibility of capturing that great area as a base. While j it is true that the fear of an invasion in-vasion of Alaska proved to bei somewhat far-fetched, it was! real enough at the time |