Evening star., 1940-05-20

quests. 1t Is %
much the same - g''.
kind Of reaction
which the Brit ~ -
ish people have David Lawrence.
been going through as surprise
after surprise has come to them.
But in England and France, where
the parliamentary form of govern
ment exists, the administrations re-
sponsible for the plight of the
country can be changed overnight
In America there has been, curiously
enough, a disposition to gloss over
mistakes of the past and even some
Republicans have yielded so mucn
to the superfcialities of the mo-
ment as to insist that the present
administration be continued in
power for four years more.
There are some, too, who want to
dispense at once with our form of
Government and eliminate the ma
tional election this year. Their sug-
gestion is that the present admin
istration should not be opposed. Yet
it will be too late after next Novem-
Der, when the inadequacy of present
military, naval and aerial strength
is completely known to the Amer
lean people for any change to be
made. The British and French can
change their leadership overnight
The United States by its present
Constitution cannot do so.
Leaders Should Keep Calm.
II ever there was a time when
leaders of American thought in all
parties should not lose their heads
it is in the present crisis. The New
Deal Democrats hereabouts have al
ready thrown their hats into the air,
rejoicing at the prospects of being
continued in office They see in the
whole world situation only a chance
for selfish power. Men of that kind
Will never serve the Nations inter-
ests-they are too much interested
in themselves.
AS for the Republican leaders
here, they have played selfish pol
itics so long that they are bewil-
dered by the recent turn of events
and few have anything constructive
to otfer. America has had plenty of
warnings about national defense,
Ihere are dozens of Winston
Churchills inside and outside of our
Government who can say " I told
you so" today. But the maudlin SEN
timentality of large groups of people
VINO choose the easiest line of
thought-the -hurrah tao
ucs-'still obscures the truth.
What is the truth? Well, for one
thing, the great Government of the
United States, with its dozens of
secret channels of information of a
military nature, in some respects the
best informed in the world, has been
In charge Of a group of officials who
nave not ventured to build up the
aerial defenses of the country either
because they have been doing wish
ful thinking about the allies winning
the war anyway or because they
were afraid to assert leadership and
to Insist on a program of national
defense instead of allowing billions
to be spent on w. P. A. projects.
5000 Planes a Year Now.
What are the facts about our air.
plane strength? From military
sources, we are told that the United
States is just now up to a production
OF 500 planes month or about 5000
q year, but the President in. his ad-
dress to Congress the other day gave
the impression that we had already
reached speed of $4,000 planes for
this year. The facts ought not to
be difficult to establish, but thev
raise the instant query as to why
the airplane program and national
defense have been neglected these
last two years.
Much OF the responsibility will be
found to lodge in Congress, possibly
some, too, in industry. But the
American people look to the execu-
tive branch of the Government for
leadership and they will look there
today for an explanation of the
tragic neglect of our defenses.
When all the facts are sifted, it
will be found that the American in
dustrial machine isn't functioning
properly. The administration has
been much more interested in curry
ing favor with the political groups
that support 1.-THE farm bloc and
the labor bloc-than in preparing
the Nation industrially against at
tacks. The leaders of yesterday in
the British and French governments
did the same thing-they became
interested. in catering to particular
groups and they missed the bus for
the allies. In France, the left wing
today stands discredited because it
permitted the labor bloc and So
called popular front" to wreck the
industrial machine of France so
that the 40-hour week frustrated the
whole armament program while the
Nazis gleefully took advantage of the
situation to put on 60-hour work
week. Results are to be found in the
headlines of the daily newspapers
these last few weeks.
U. S. on the Same Route.
America will go the same route
unless courageous leadership can be
found. If the American people, in
stead of complacently accepting the
Presidents speech last week as the
beginning of genuine program of
armament, were to inquire a bit
beneath the surface and insist on
knowing q few things that have
been kept secret, there might be
more progress made toward achieve
ment of the real goals. There is
for instance, the report made by
the War Resources Board last Octo-
ber, which has never been released
to the public. What did the busi-
neSSman IN that hoard saw then