Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-09-02
The Stettinius Report

White House criticism OF Wendell
Willkie for divulging portions of the
confidential" report of the War
Resources Board, headed by Edward
r. Stettinius, cannot be ts zen. too
seriously until the real reasons for
President RooSevelt'S refusal to
make the report public are known.
The natural presumption is that
the report was withheld from the
public because it contained informa-
ton in the nature of military or in
dustrial defense secrets. 1t is diff
cult to sustain that conclusion, how
ever, in the light of the Presidents
recent assertion that he saw no more
reason for publicizing the Stettinius
report than for making public
report on the Civil War. That rather
casual dismissal of the matter sug-
gests that the document is of his
torical importance only. If that be
the case, what is the reason for the
secrecy concerning it and why should
Stephen Early, presidential secretary,
become agitated because Mr.. Willkie
read a few paragraphs from the
report to newspapermen?
There is, of course, the possibility
that the Stettinius report set forth
the facts as to the deplorable made
quacy of our defense establishment
and the inability of industry, under
then existing conditions, to appre-
Gladly remedy the defects. If that
were the case, there can be no criti-
ciSm of the Presidents refusal to
publicize the report, which was sub
mitted to him about six months ago,
but he would most certainly be
criticized, and properly so. for wait
ing so long. to begin correcting the
deficiencies.
The excerpts quoted by Mr.. Willkie
on Saturday, however, have nothing
to do with military secrets. They
merely set forth the belief of the
War Resources Board that system
based on voluntary cooperation
would be the best method of con-
verting American industry from
peacetime to wartime production and
were used by the Republican candi-
date to bolster his stand in opposi-
ton to the Overflow Russell amend
ment to the selective service bill,
which empowers the Government, if
unable to reach an agreement with
the owner, to take over, subject to
subsequent condemnation proceed
ings, any industrial plant or facility
necessary to the national defense.
The excerpts quoted by Mr.. Willkie
merely express preference for the
enlistment of industrial support of
the preparedness effort on a volun-
tary basis. They do not in any sense
preclude resort to compulsion in the
case of any essential industry which
might refuse to cooperate with the
Government. Since the avowed pur-
pose of the Overton-Russell amend
ment is only to invest the admin
iStration with power to deal with
instances in which voluntary CO.
operation is refused, it is not easy
to understand why Mr.. Willkie feels
that the quoted sections of the Stet-
tinius report support his position.
But Mr.. Early's attitude is even less
comprehensive. He suggests that
Mr.. Willkie was guilty of some serious
improperly in publicizing few ex-
cerpts from the report, a contention
which does not hold water when
appraised in the light of the
nature of the quoted material and
the rather extraordinary circum-
stances surrounding the history of
the StettiniuS document.