Evening star., 1940-05-29

party will short David Lawrence.
ly ask the American people to change
the national administration on the
grounds of incompetence. just as the
British turned out Prime Minister
Chamberlain.
The particular grievance which is
shaping up as the basis for an in
tense battle in the presidential cam
paign is the unpreparedness OF
America at perhaps the gravest
crisis that has come in century in
world affairs.
Mr.. Roosevelt's speech last Sunday
night alienated supporters rather
than helped him. This is because
when a President sees fit to discuss
defense details and combines in his
statement airplanes available and
those ION order" so that the public
cannot tell the difference, it is a
sign that political considerations are
guiding national policy rather than
frank presentations of weaknesses.
Candor Needed for Confidence.
Most people. will 60 along with
the administration when it ceases to
play politics and indulge in adrolt
maneuvers based on the theory that
peace-time methods will be suf-
ficient to meet criticism. The truth
Is action and candor alone will bring
confidence.
The latest step-the appointment of
q seven-man council of defense IN an
advisory capacity-can only bring
from American businessmen signs
of regret and poignant disappoint-
ment that the administration in
Washington doesn't know its selec-
tions are recognized as window
dressing. To put captains of in
dustry into the defense council with
out giving them any authority to act
and at the same time to put in that
same defense council the very men
who have been batting business for
the last several years is not to Gre
ate or build confidence among the
industrial men of the country. The
President has made grievous mis-
take.
The factories and their manage
ments will cooperate to the ut
most-their patriotism will take care
of that-but industry cannot be
sanguine about reaching the goal
efficient production. 1t may we'll be
asked why it is that Germany-a
bankrupt nation with meager sup
ply of gold-can build the biggest
defense system the world has ever
known. The reason is that the Nazis
didn't use gold or money, but labor.
A nation can get along without
money If it can get enforced labor.
No Hope in Blame.
In France, the defense mechanism
fell down because the left wing broke
up armament production with laws
providing a 40-hour week while
German workers toiled 60 or more
hours week. America cannot build
an adequate defense unless some of
the left-wing legislation now on the
statute books is modified so as to
accelerate production in the defense
industries. The President refuses to
accept that view. He may prefer to
take responsibility for a failure of
America to get enough airplanes for
defense, but it may be too late some
day to fix responsibility on any one
man, just as it is today in France
and Britain. Nobody today can
repair the mistakes made two and
three years ago by an incom-
petent administration in Britain and
France.
In America, where criticism is un-
restricted, the people may not wish
to give the Roosevelt administration
any more opportunities to bungle
the defense program. They may
demand an instant change in tactics
or else there may be change at the
polls. In many respects it is a
fortunate coincidence that a presi-
dental campaign is at hand because
the people will have chance to vote
on whether the defense record of the
present administration should be
upheld or repudiated at the polls.
G. o. P. Congress May Watch.
Also, whether or not the President
Is reelected may become a question
distinct from the necessity of elect
ing a Republican majority in both
houses, because evidently the men,
bers of the Presidents own party
are too subservient to his wishes to
take care of the national security of
the people of the United States by
assuring efficient production. When
the President says there is no
emergency which requires modifica-
tion of existing labor laws, he is
committing America to an effort to
build up its defense not only at high
labor costs, but on basis that can
not possibly give America the planes,
the tanks, the battleships and the
weapons of war needed at the earli-
est possible moment to protect the