DOLLARS FOR DEFENCE

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28284, 23 May 1957, Page 13

DOLLARS FOR DEFENCE

Committee Cuts

Appropriations WASHINGTON. May 21. The House of Representatives Appropriations Committee cut Defence Department appropriations by 2,586.775,000 dollars today on the basis that the military threat to the West appeared “somewhat abated” although the Soviet Union is “closing the gap” between Soviet and United States strength. The committee recommended 33,541.225.000 dollars in new appropriations for the Army, Navy and Air Force for the fiscal year beginning July 1. That was 7 per cent, less than the 36.128.000.000 dollars President Eisenhower asked. The committee said the Soviet Union’s immediate capability or desire to start a war appeared to be lessening. The committee said “All available information makes it clear that there is no room for complacency among our people in the. consideration of our defence programme.” The committee listed unrest in Communist satellite countries among weakening influences on Soviet capabilities. But it went on to note the lack of any perceptible change in previously established Soviet policy to dominate the world. Soviet concentration on military items continued to close the gap between the United States and the Soviet Union, the committee said, and made these military comparisons—- “. . . The heavy long-range jet bomber production programme of the U.S.S.R., now somewhat smaller than ours, is increasing. Our present estimate of the quantity of Soviet heavy bomber production has been revised downward since we considered the Defence Bill last year. Our estimates of our own 852 bomber production have also been adjusted downward this year. “The Russian Army is three times the size of our own. and while it does not represent a threat to the Continental United States, it represents a threat to Western Europe and our troops who are stationed there. “There is a popular belief that the Soviets have practically no navy. That is not the fact, but it is true that our navy is vastly superior in striking power except for submarines. It is significant, however, that there are a reported 1650 active ships in the Soviet Navy contrasted with 983 in our navy. “It is even more significant that there are in excess of 450 submarines in the Soviet Navy as contrasted with 53 in the German Navy when World War II began, and which threatened to become the decisive factor in that war.