REARMING BY AMERICA

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26855, 7 October 1952, Page 7

REARMING BY AMERICA

“Greater Part Still Ahead” (Rec. 10 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Oct. 6. The United States Director of Defence Mobilisation (Mr Henry Fowler) today reported that record industrial expansion is creating a capacity greater than that needed fpr present defence requirements while maintaining a high level of civilian supply. But his report said that the greater part of the defence mobilisation effort still was ahead, and that the most perplexing technical problems remained to be solved. The output of planes, tanks, ships, guns and other equipment had risen since the outbreak of the Korean war from 900,000.000 dollars a quarter to about «,000,000,000 dollars, pr threequarters of the target rate, he said. Of the total of 129.000,000,000 dollars voted by Congress for military procurement and construction since June, IFSO, 41,000,000,G00 dollars had been delivered or used in construction, 58,000,000,000 dollars was now in process of manufacture, and contracts covering most of the remainder would be let in the next nine months. Mr Fowler said the spending peak would not comp this year, but possibly some time in the middle of next year. Referring to specific gaps in the mobilisation programme, Mr Fowler said: “Wr are, or shortly will be, at the stage where it is feasible to accelerate the scheduled production of many important items of military equipment, and to raise our goals if national security requires.”