Evening star. [volume], May 21, 1940, Page A-11, Image 11

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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Receptive Ear
Needed for
G. 0. P. Voice
Minority Viewpoints
On Economic Issues
Paid No Heed
By DAVID LAWRENCE.
Talk of a coalition cabinet with
Republicans in cabinet posts has
reached the point where President
Roosevelt is seriously considering
sucn cnanges as
will give the ap
pearance, At any
rate, of non
partisanship In
the manage
ment of the Na
tional Govern
ment.
But to estab
lish confidence
among the Na
tion’s business
and industrial
managers, some
thing more than
political window
dressing is
David Lawrence.
needed nowadays. Even if the
President chose half his cabinet
from the ranks of the Republican
party, it would not go to the root
of the domestic controversies which
have been slowing up production
and making America's economic
machine lop-sided. Tor the real
power of Government nowadays Isn’t
vested in the cabinet officers at all,
but in the many boards, bureaus
and commissions which have the
authority to regulate and, by means
of regulation, to impair the efficiency
of business.
If the President were to announce
a return to the plain intent of Con
gress, when it created bi-partisan
boards and commissions, and if he
were to give representation to
minority as well as majority view
points on economic issues, there
would be a different story to tell.
Already Too Much Politics.
The trouble is that the reported
plan of the President to put some
Republicans in his cabinet touches
the political but not the economic
Issues of the day. There is, un
fortunately, too much politics in our
National Government. Even in the
midst of what has been portrayed
as a serious crisis in world affairs,
the spokesmen of the administra
tion are continuing, on the one hand,
their demagogic promises that “labor
standards w'ill not be lowered,"
while, on the other hand, private
assurances are being given that the
request of the Army and Navy for
a modification of the Walsh-Healey
Government contracts law and the
demand'of manufacturers for more
flexibility in the operation of the
wage-and-hour law will be granted.
Even with national defense at
stake, the political point of view
prevails, and rather than alienate
union labor or its leaders who have
a pressure group at hand to prevent
Congress from taking action actually
wanted by the Army and Navy, the
administration is too timid to deal
with the necessities of the situation.
This is one reason why the spec
tacular plans to form "coalition”
cabinets will be regarded only as a
piece of political camouflage de
signed to weaken Republican oppo
“ aition during the coming campaign
and not to assist the country to deal
firmly with all obstacles to higher
production.
Government Has Power.
Sooner or later the public will
grow weary of these political strata
gems and of the selfishness of pres
sure groups, and will insist that the
Federal Government exercise its
regulatory power, both with respect
to production and the worker or
ganizations. There is ample power
for the administration to accelerate
production processes by seeing to it
that existing statutes are not abused.
The problem facing the Nation is
well known to the industrial man
agers. Thus, there is a shortage of
skilled labor. Not enough skilled
laborers are available to run, in
many instances, two or three shifts.
' The law, however, requires time and
a half to be paid if any shift is kept
overtime. The taxpayers of Amer
ica are thus asked to pay far more
than in any country in the world for
the forging of the weapons needed
for defense. Taxes in their turn
place such a heavy load on industry
already that where a good scale of
wages prevails, it is difficult to see
Why national defense production
cannot be accomplished on straight
time Instead of time and a half.
Crippled France’s Defenses.
The French owe their lack of pre
paredness today to their surrender
to the radical demands for a 40-hour
week. America is face to face with
a similar crisis, which the adminis
tration has already begun to side
step. Those who despair of democ
racy being able to do a defense job
equal to that of autocracy and dic
tatorships do not want to see labor
exploited er unfairly treated, but do
expect the Nation's governmental
leaders to assume a practical atti
tude where accelerated production
and war emergencies plainly exist.
After the aviation industry’s rep
resentatives called on the adminis
tration yesterday it was announced
that the industry didn’t ask for a
lowering of labor standards and that
If the request had been made it
would not have been granted. This
Is hardly the* way to begin to fight
a war emergency or to instill confi
dence. The present administration
has a big job to do to win the confi
dence of management and industrial
executives generally, and it is a job
of fair dealing rather than of eco
nomic partisanship.
(Reproduction Rights Reserved.)
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Frank L Andrews, President.
2500 ROOMS $ from $3.50
The Capital Parade
Nature of Nazi Attack Was Reported to London,
Paris and Washington by Intelligence Officers
By JOSEPH ALSOP and ROBERT KINTNER.
As this is written, the outcome of the great and terrible battle in the
fields of Flanders and the plains of Northern France is still uncertain.
It is not yet clear whether human decency can still defend itself, or
whether the source lands of our culture are to be conquered by men
mixed, as his tutor said of the Emperor Tiberius, “of mud and blood.”
What is already too cruelly clear, however, is the battle’s lesson. After a
week of desperately watching the news come in, a weary Army officer
put it:
“At least we know now that the time for incredulity is past. We
must believe the worst we hear, and prepare for it as best we may.”
These Heavy Penalties ,
It is incredulity, pure and simple, which has put the allies at such a
fearful disadvantage in this war for the world. The allies have been
unable to mobilize their forces for
counterattack by day, because the
Germans, commanding the air,
could spy out the concentrations,
and send bombers roaring over to
destroy them.
The thousands of German
tanks have crashed against the
weakest points in the allied lines,
because the German planes, flying
free over the allied armies, have
directed them by radio. The allies'
TUT. TUT_ IMPOSSIBLE/
o
anti-tank guns have proved too' weak to pierce the German tank armor.
More than 3.000 old French 75s, left over from the last war, have had to be
rushed to the front to be used at short range, yet even this desperate
effort may not halt the German tanks’ advance.
This German command of the air, this German power to send
mechanized units smashing through all resistance—two factors which
may perhaps decide the fate of the whole world—are the penalties of
incredulity. The German Army has at least 11 and probably 12 heavily
mechanized divisions. The French and British Armies combined have
only three lightly and two heavily mechanized divisions. In the air
American authorities now estimate the German-allied ratio of bombing
power as at least four to one. Even in fighter and pursuit planes, on
which the allies have concentrated their rearmament, the Germans are
still better off. And all these facts have been available from the very
instant that Germany started to arm, to any informed man w'ho would
credit them.
From the start, the extent and character of the militarization of Ger
many was fully reported by English, French and American intelligence
officers and military attaches. Even the nature of the German plan of
attack was on record—the succeeding waves of tanks scattering the de
fense, the motorized infantry rushing up to occuDy the new salient the
regular troops moving up to free the mechanized forces for another
assault, and overhead the planes, finding weaknesses, preventing counter
attacks, laying down the advance barrage of bombs.
But the allied leaders preferred to believe the comfortable counselors,
who said no army in the world could possess such vast mechanized power
as the Germans were reported to be building. The French air arm was
allowed to become completely disorganized. The British Air Ministry
was well known to be one of the most inefficient in Whitehall The
French said tanks could do nothing against the Maginot Line. The crack
British cavalry regiments resisted mechanization to the last, and tried
to ignore it when it was forced upon them. When the war came, some
of these mechanized cavalry regiments were actually wearing spurs when
not on duty, and in at least one of them the command, “Water your
horse,” was the signal for refueling the machines.
Dangers Ahead
Even if the great battle now in progress does not prove decisive
I there are still grave dangers ahead. We have still to see the mass bomb
» MAtMvJ
A
_ mg attacks on England, by which
the Germans frankly hope to de
.S stroy British war production and
'V make the British ports unusable.
'jfi And there is still in the offing the
- possibility of another German at
tack through Switzerland, and of
Italy’s entry into the war.
It is now reliably stated that
a promise to enter the war if the
^ Germans attacked the Swiss was
, x „ part oi Mussolini's bargain with Hit
ler at the Brenner Pass. Only last Wednesday, fear was so acute that
the French Ambassador, Count Rene de Saint Quentin, is reported to
have warned the State and Treasury Departments that his government
expected the Italians to go in. If they do there will be another 6,000
planes against the inadequate' allied air forces.
In truth, this is the zero hour, when the victory of the men of mud
and blood looms horribly before us. It may not come. Every American
who loves and believes in what his country stands for is praying that it
will not come. But, meanwhile, every American should learn the lesson
of the penalties of incredulity, and should demand that this country’, at
least, prepare for the worst.
(Released by tha North American Newspaper Alliance. Inc.)
Gov. Jones Urges U. S. Pay
Entire Pensions Cost
By the Associated Press.
BATON ROUGE, La., May 21.—
Louisiana’s new chief executive, who
defeated the late Huey Long’s po
litical machine, proposes that the
Federal Government “share the
wealth” by bearing the entire cost
of equal old-age pensions the Na
tion over.
Gov. Sam H. Jones asked the
State Legislature last night to me
morialize Congress to assume the
entire burden of a maximum $30-a
month pension for needy aged.
The Governor said poorer States
were handicapped under the pres
ent system in which the Government
matches State funds dollar for dol
lar.
“Economically this Nation op
erates as a unit," he said. “We of
the South have paid our toll and
tribute to Wall Street, and we are
still paying it. If wealth must be
centered in one section of the Na
tion, then let the burden of financ
ing the legitimate governmental ac
tivities of the whole Nation likewise
be so centered.”
Gov. Jones also outlined his plans
for tearing apart the Long dictator
ship and asked for broad State in
vestigations similar to the Federal
inquiry into Louisiana political
“scandals.”
He proposed repeal of one “dic
tator” law permitting the Governor
to place the National Guard above
civil courts and another allowing
State police to hold persons with
out bond. He also asked for in
vestigation of bank and homestead
(building and loan) liquidations
and requested funds for a crime
commission with extensive powers.
Reynolds Proposes Curb
On Aliens in Industry
By the Associated Press.
Sharp curbs on the employment of
aliens in American industry were
proposed yesterday by Senator Reyn
olds, Democrat, of North Carolina.
Under his suggestion, the number
of aliens employed in each business
operating in interstate commerce
would be limited to 10 per cent of
the total workers employed.
Senator Reynolds made the pro
posal in the form of an amendment
to pending legislation, submitted by
the Senate Civil Liberties Commit
tee, to prohibit use of labor spies,
“strikebreakers” and “Industrial mu
nitions” such as tear gas and ma
chine guns, in Interstate industry.
Senator La Follette, Progressive, of
Wisconsin, chairman of the Civil
Liberties Committee, said he would
make no objection to the Reynolds
amendment, but Senate action was
deferred when Majority Leader
Barkley and Senator Wagner, Dem
ocrat, of New York protested that
no provision was made for the alien
who had filed a declaration of in
tention to become a citizen.
CTHB opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not
1 necessarily The Star’s. Such opinions are presented in The
Star’s effort to give all sides of questions of interest to its
readers, although such opinions may be contradictory among
themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s.
The Political Mill
Surrender of G. 0. P. to Third-Term Idea
Would Bring Despised One-Party Government
By G. GOULD LINCOLN.
The Republicans view with much
distaste—if nothing more — the
"fifth column” which appears to be
intent upon effacing the G. O. P. as
a governmental
factor and to
make sure the
r e n o m i nation
and re - election
of President
Roosevelt. Those
former support
ers of the Re
publican party
who are now
beating their
breasts and de
claring that Mr.
Roosevelt must
be re-elected to
“show Hitler’’
are not many,
G. Gould Lincoln.
out they have obtained quite a bit
of publicity in these hysterical days.
The Republicans are just as
strong for adequate national de
fense against any enemy that may
attack or threaten this country as
is Mr. Roosevelt himself. But they
do not admit that Mr. Roosevelt is
the only man for the American to
rally behind. And as for joining in
a coalition Government, as pro
posed in some New Deal quarters—
even by the President himself, who
has made at least one offer of a
cabinet job to a Republican—they
ridicule the idea. According to re
ports here, the office of Secretary of
the Navy was offered by the Presi
dent to Col. Frank Knox, publisher
of the Chicago Daily News and Re
publican vice presidential candidate
in 1936. And the office of Secretary
of War may be offered, it was re
ported, to Alf M. Landon, formefr
Governor of Kansas and Republican
standard bearer four years ago.
This last stretches the imagination.
Faces G. O. P. Retaliation.
If any Republican accepts ap
pointment to the Roosevelt cabinet,
there is a very good chance that he
may be read out of the Republican
party—so far as the coming cam
paign is concerned. Republican
leaders discussing this matter said
they did not see how a Republican
may be a member of the President's
personal and political family, as
cabinet officers are. and support a
Republican candidate for the presi
dency this year. They are not mak
ing threats, but merely looking at
the matter in a cold-blooded way.
They see no reason whatever for
a coalition Government. None such
was attempted during the Wilson
administration when this countrv
was fighting the World War in 1917
and 1918. All of Mr. Wilson's cabi
net officers were Democrats during
those years. And in 1918 President
Wilson and his Postmaster General,
Albert S. Burleson, called for the
election of a Democratic House of
Representatives. Incidentally, the
country turned down the request
and elected a Republican House and
a Republican Senate.
The New Dealers are using the
argument that the country must
rally back of Mr. Roosevelt to make
the German government under
stand that It Is united. The country
could rally back of Secretary of
State Cordell Hull, or even back of
a Republican if he could be elected
President, Just as well as it could
rally back of Mr. Roosevelt. The
argument of the New Dealers is,
however, that only by backing Mr.
Roosevelt can the country be uni
fied. The argument is entirely
faulty. The country will back Presi
dent Roosevelt while his term runs—
unless he makes mistakes. But that
is no reason why it must elect him
for another term—which violates
the traditions of the American
people.
Means One Party Government.
If the G. O. P. should be effaced
and coalesced with the New Dealers
—to "show Hitler”—there would be
only <me political party in this
country—a one-party Government.
That is Just what Hitler has in Ger
many, Mussolini in Italy, and Stalin
In Russia—the kind of governments
with which President Roosevelt has
said we cannot live.
The war situation in Europe has
greatly Increased the probability of
FORDS
ENGINE HEADS
WELDED
WELDIT, INC. ‘
516 1st St. N.W; ME. 7944
a Democratic victory at the polls
next November. It has made the
renomination of President Roose
velt more likely—although the Presi
dent has not yet spoken the last
word on this subject. The President
has seized the preparedness ball and
run with it. It is an issue which
the New Dealers figure will surely
win for Mr. Roosevelt if he be the
party nominee. It might Just as
well win for Mr. Hull.
No one can tell from day to day
with certainty what the situation is
going to be in Europe when the
election takes place in November—
nor, for that matter, the situation in
the United States. There is the
possibility that matters will be less
chaotic, and that the wave of hys
teria which has been sweeping this
country since the German advance
into the Low' Countries and France
began will subside. That is what
the Republicans hope. In the mean
time, they regard with concern the
defeatist attitude accepted in re
cent days by many of their own
group.
Republican presidential candi
dates are continuing their drives
for delegates to the Republican Na
tional Convention. In some quarters
it is felt that the serious war situa
tion in Europe has lessened the
chances of 38-year-old Thomas E.
Dewey, New York’s racket busting
district attorney. That is not the
feeling of Mr. Dewey and his cam
paign managers, however. He con
tinues to have an amazing popular
support.
Improves Vandenberg's Chances.
If the war has injured the chances
of Mr. Dewey, it has Improved
those of Senator Vandenberg of
Michigan, on account of his wide
experience in foreign affairs as a
member of the Senate Foreign Re
lations Committee. It is true that
Mr. Vandenberg voted against the
repeal of the arms embargo last
fall when the neutrality act was re
vised, and that he has been re
garded as a strong isolationist. He
has, however, come out strongly for
increased national defense.
Fifty-year-old Senator Taft of
Ohio is away at present speaking
in a group of Middle West States.
His managers continue to insist that
he will enter the national conven
tion with the largest bloc of dele
gates The war news has crowded
the activities of the presidential
aspirants off the front page—except
when they mention the war and
foreign affairs.
Senator Byrd of Virginia is sit
ting on the top of the world in
Virginia Democratic politics. No
one has fll#d against him for the
senatorial nomination. Apparently
no one was willing to tackle him
in a primary fight. Mr. Byrd has
been one of the most persistent
Democratic critics of the New Deal.
Two days before the close of en
tries for the Senate race, he de
livered a speech bitterly critical of
some of the New Deal laws and ad
ministration Incidentally, Senator
Byrd, along with Senator Glass, will
head the Virginia delegation to the
Democratic National Convention.
Virginia is one Southern State which
has not jumped on the Roosevelt
third-term band wagon, failing to in
struct its delegates to vote for the
President. They may do so, but it
will be with reluctance on the part
of some of them.
Sewing Room Visits Invited
Special Dispatch to The Star.
FAIRFAX, Va., May 21.—An open
house for the public to see the work
being done in the Fairfax County
Sewing Room, sponsored by the
Works Progress Administration, will
be held all during this week, it has
been announced by Mrs. Eula
Barnes, supervisor. The sewing
room is In the Trial Justice Build
ing.
TRUNKS—
Repairing of Leather Goods
G. W. King, jr., 51111th St N.W.
Old in experience—up to date
/
in method—modern in facilities.
NATIONAL SAVINGS in TRUST COMPANY
Chartered by Congress 1867
15th Street and New York Avenue, N. W.
Member Federal Reserve System • Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
We, the People
Naxi War Power Catches Administration
Short, the Republicans Far Shorter
By JAY FRANKLIN.
The unexpected failure of the French and British Armies to defend
the Low Countries or to stop the Nazis at the Maginot Line has caught
both the administration and the opposition short in their International
speculations.
The Republicans were so sure of the invincibility of the allies that
their ‘‘margin” has been completely wiped out. For it was the Q O P
which "kept us out of the League,
sank our Navy, starved our defense
forces, toyed with such diplomatic
doilies as the Kellogg-Brland Pact
(remember?) and bullyragged Roose
velt as an “alarmist” and “war
monger” whenever he tried to
> arouse public opinion to the grow
► ing danger in Europe. If ever a
party was intellectually bankrupt
on foreign policy and defense policy
it is the O. O. P.—the party of
isolation and arms-embargo.
a(m“nistration is scarcely less embarrassed. They
believed that allowing the allies to purchase planes and munitions here,
under the cash-and-carry” clause in the present Neutrality Act, we
a££ England a11 the support needed to insure
me defeat of the Nazis. They had spent large sums to strengthen the
weaaened and demoralized by 12 years of Republican "economy”
at the expense of our security, and had spent large sums on aviation.
More could not be spent, due to .the opposition of the Republicans and
some Democrats and due to the belief that our security was adequately
defended by the hitherto unbeaten British Navy and French Army.
Defense Program Intensified
•Die swift German thrust and the gigantic battle of the Meuse have
caused a sharp upward revision of the Roosevelt administration's defense
program. It has caused an equally sharp Republican belief that they can
capitalize on the crisis. .
For this reason there was lukewarm response to the hints for political
solidarity and a truce on the elections Instead, there was the inevitable
suggestion for a congressional investigation of the defense problem and a
demand for what is euphemistically known as a “civilian production
£°ard over the defense program by the same industrialists who
have badgered and hagridden every national defense program for the
last 20 years either in the name of "economy,” as with naval appropria
tions, or in defense of “the American way,” as with the T. V. A.
The crisis is so great that the statements and columns and editorials
now appearing in our papers may make humiliating reading even a week
hence.
Two Chief Considerations
Two considerations have become paramount: (1) If Hitler wins in
Europe, it will be our turn next and quickly, before we can get going on
50,000 airplanes. (2) We must make a quick bid for the British Navy, if
England faces disaster. Without it
in the Atlantic our Navy must be
withdrawn from the Pacific, if in
deed it can get through the Panama
Canal safely. Only recently, the
authorities in Panama found several
thousand machine-guns and several
million rounds of ammunition stored
in a warehouse leased by a German
consulate
If we get the British fleet in
the Atlantic and continue the de- -
-WERE you
1 wil-L SOLLOXA/ -
fense of our Eastern seaboard and the blockade of Germany with British
aid, we have a chance of standing off the Nazis until we can get our
air defense stepped up to the point at which we can consider ourselves
safe from attack.
In such a crisis there can be no politics. Roosevelt is our President
now and we must follow his lead
(Released by Consolidated New* Feature*, Inc).
I ---—___
Baker Given 2,214 Lead
For I. T. U. Presidency
, B; the Associated Press.
INDIANAPOLIS, May 21.—Claude
M. Baker of San Francisco, Inde- :
pendent candidate for re-election as
president of the International Typo
graphical Union, has a lead of 2,214
votes over the Progressive candidate,
Francis G. Barrett of New York, an
unofficial tabulation of returns from
705 of 850 local unions showed yes
terday.
The count, made public at the
office of Woodruff Randolph, sec
retary-treasurer, gave Mr. Baker
29,128 and Mr. Barrett 26,914.
This tabulation showed Progres
sive candidates leading by small
margins for 13 of the 15 offices for
which the members balloted May 15.
Mr. Randolph, a Progressive can
didate, also seeking re-election, had j
28,094 votes to 27,728 for John J. i
Conley of Fort Worth. Tex.
The official tabulation is to be
made May 31.
American clothing is in demand
in Sweden.
Second Turkish Mission
To Be Sent to Syria
By the Associated Press.
ANKARA, Turkey, May 21.—A
second Turkish military mission was
reported today to be leaving shortly 1
for Syria to confer with the allied 1
staff, which is waiting there for the j
possible spread of war to Southeast
ern Europe. One delegation already
is in Beirut.
The government, meanwhile, asked
the National Assembly to vote a
new extraordinary credit of 25
million pounds sterling (about $75,
000,000) for the Turkish defense
forces. This would be added to
47 rilillion pounds previously author
ized.
Calcutta Exchange Closed
BOMBAY, May 21 </P).—The Cal
cutta Stock Exchange was closed
today until further notice and direc
tors of the Bombay Stock Exchange
appealed to members to narrow the ■
volume of business.
OPIN WfAVI...SMART...LIGHT...
Again Dobbs helps you break with dull con*
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sacrifice of comfort. Here's coolness without
loss of smart lines. This light open
weave straw is destined to top them all!
CLOTHING DIPT. IS AIR CONDITIONED
Sidney West, inc 14th & G
EUGENE C GOTT, Prat.
Security
Depends on
Unity
Europe's War Crisis
Changes Sentiment
In U. S. Suddenly
By CHARLES G. ROSS.
Thoughts on preparedness—
If there is anything amusing in
the effect on this country of the
tragic state of affairs in Europe, it
Charles G. Boat.
consists in the
sudden discov
ery by a lot of
people who have
made it their
business to cry
down the Army
and Navy that
we need the
Army and Navy.
Time was—
and not long
ago at that—
when anybody
who proposed
even a moderate
increase in the
military estab
lishment was assailed as a jingo.
He was heading this country
straight for war. He had been
taken in by the insidious propa
ganda of the admirals and generals.
He was playing the game of the
munitions makers, the “merchants
of death.” He was proposing to
take bread out of the mouths of
babies on relief to swell the profits
of the Du Ponts. The money spent
for one useless battleship would
build so many hundred miles of
roads, endow so many libraries, put
up so many schools.
Along with this went the talk that
it wasn’t Germany’s assaults on
American rights that put us into
the last war, but British propaganda
and the machinations of the in
ternational bankers. Woodrow Wil
son was a dreamy idealist—or worse
—who was gulled by these evil in
fluences. We were a Nation of saps.
What we had thought was a high
minded adventure was rotten at the
core. We never had been in any
danger and we never should be.
The Atlantic Ocean took care of
that Let Europe stew in its own
juice. We were done with it. Eng
land and France were as bad as
Germany. Anyway, we were safe.
All we needed was the skeleton of
an Army and a little Navy for coast
defense.
Nye’s Thesis Accepted.
Senator Nye of North Dakota had
looked into the sordid matter of the
last war. He knew why we had
got into it. Nye was the man to
go by, not Wilson or Newton D.
Baker. Nye was the man to listen
to now, not the war-mongering
Roosevelt who wanted to take us
into the war on the side of the
allies.
The war, in any case, was a phony
war. Didn't Senator Borah say so?
The sentiment represented by this
general line of talk was widespread
and influential. When the National
Industrial Recovery Act was passed
in 1933, carrying *3,300,000.000 for a
great pump-priming effort, and
Roosevelt allocated part of this fund
to the Navy, there were howls of
disapproval. The President was ac
cused then, as he has frequently
been accused, of favoring the Navy
because of his personal fondness for
ships and the sea. The criticism took
no account of the fact that he was
simply repairing, in some small part,
the arrears in naval strength which
had been accumulating since 1921.
How great are these arrears—how
dangerous in the light of what is
happening abroad—may be gath
ered from the fact that next month
we shall launch our first battleship
since 1921.
The opposition to the President’s
direct action in behalf of the Navy
was kept from being more effective
by the fact of Mr. Roosevelt’s great
popularity and the desperate emer
gency into which the country had
been plunged by the depression.
Those were the tense days in which
almost any act or proposal of the
Executive was approved.
Different Tune Now.
The point is that a very great
part of public opinion has been run
ning strongly against military or
naval preparedness. The services
have been on short rations. Military
and naval men have had to talk
low. The whole public attitude
toward national defense has been
colored by the preachings of the
Gerald Nyes.
It’s a different tune we are hear
ing now and hearing not only from
the long-time advocates of pre
paredness, but from many who only
a little while ago were figuratively
shoving the soldier off the sidewalk.
How did Kipling put it:
"It’s Tommy this an’ Tommy that
an’ ‘chuck ’im out, the brute,’
But it’s ‘saviour of ’is country*
when the guns begin to shoot.”
All of which, to repeat, is faintly
amusing, or would be if it were not
for the seriousness of the need to
make ourselves strong against any
event.
Blame Shared by All. •
It is being said now in some quar
ters that the Roosevelt administra
tion is blameworthy for having let
the military services get into their
down-at-heel condition. To say this
is to overlook a number of important
facts—the arrearage that it in
herited, the pacific disposition of the
American people, the proper pre
occupation of the Government with
urgent domestic problems, the
mounting national debt, the newness
of the threat with which we are
faced. How far would Roosevelt
have got if he had proposed another
billion for national defense a year
ago, or even a month ago? If there
is blame for the situation in which
we find ourselves, where we have
got to build up our armanent at a
furious pace, the blame is on all of
us.
But the present, surely, is no time
to try to assess blame. The only
thing that matters is what we have
got to do from now on. And that
is a task that requires sacrifice and
the utmost we can give of co-opera
tion—co-operation between Demo
crats and Republicans, capital and
labor, industry and the Government.
By pulling together we can lick this
problem, we can make ourselves se
cure, and we can lick it without any
departure from our democratic proc
esses.
But we have got to pull together!
Coronado Celebration
SANTA FE, N. Mex. OP).—New
Mexico this year is celebrating the
cuarto centennial of Coronado's ar
rival. The Spanish explorer ar
rived in the State in 1540.
Australia may develop fuel from
■hale.
I