Evening star., 1940-10-16
By the Associated Press.


BUFFALO, Oct. 16.-FolloUtng
Is the tert Of a speech by Wendell
L. Willkte, Republican preStden-
tidl candidate. in the ne1D
Municipal Auditorium last night:
Tomorrow the young men of our
Nation will go to register for COM
pulsory military service.
Later this evening I plan to talk
directly over the radio to these
young men. The whole Nation has
q vital obligation to these young
men, and I am going to talk here
about that obligation.
Our obligation is tWo-fold.
First, we must see to it that our
Government, when it calls our
young men into the Army, provides
them with the finest equipment that
any armed force possesses anywhere
IN the world.
This must be done in fullest guam
tty and with the utmost speed.
Secondly we must see to it that
these young men, when their period
Of military service is over, shall have
the opportunity that is their right
the opportunity to a good job, to a
chance to earn living, to marry,
and get ahead. This they must have
In common with all other young men
and women growing up in this
country.
Says New Deal Fails in
Two Main Tasks.
Those two objectives are the over
whelming issues of this campaign
defense and jobs.
The present administration has
and is-falling down in the fulfill
ment of those obligations. 1t has
had free hand and it has failed.
Having failed, it seeks to divert
attention from its failure by talking
about crisis and by manufacturing
emergencies. It does this in the
hope OF getting a continuation of
power.
Last Saturday night in Albany,
gave some concrete examples of how
the New Deal, and in particular its
Secretary of the Treasury. have OBJ
structed our defense efforts.
Apparently l touched a sensitive
spot; Secretary Morgenthau has re-
sponded with defensive statement.
He tries to say that the Treasury
Department has not delayed the de-
tense program. And here is his
story. He says-I am quoting from
his statement:
THE Treasury favored a change
In the law which would give greater
hexibility in writing off emergency
investment, and that change has
been enacted into law"
Says Morgenthau
Proved His Point.
am happy to have this assurance
from the Secretary of the Treasury.
1t only goes to prove the point
that I am making.
For his benefit I would like to go
over the record once again. I think
it is important.
The President just last Wednes-
day signed the new tax bill That
bill had in it the provision that the
Secretary now says he favored.
I favored it, too. So far as I
know. every sensible man favored it.
There is no dispute about it.
1t must be a good provision be-
cause the Departments of War and
Of the Navy asked for it. The Ma
tional Defense Advisory Committee
asked for it.
We know that Congress passed
and the President signed it. 1t
must have been a good thing So
when the Secretary of the Treasury
now tells us that he favored it, that
makes it unanimous.
The question I asked, and that
am still asking. is why didn't we get
that provision until last Wednesday.
On April 13, 1898, Admiral Fur
long, head of the Navy's Bureau of
Ordnance, asked for it. We do not
need to go into the technical de-
tails. Everybody is agreed
Navy Was on the Job
Two and Half Years.
Now, that was two and a half
years ago.
The Navy was on the job. What
happened? Nothing.
In January, 1889, four months
after Munich, the Secretary of the
Navy wrote to the Secretary of the
Treasury asking early action.
Then what happened?
Why. nothing happened.
More months passed.
In the middle of 1899. John w.
Hanes, Undersecretary of the Treas
ury, drafted plan for it at the re-
quest of the War and Navy Depart
ments.
Nothing happened.
More months passed
On December 4, 1899, three months
after the outbreak of war in Europe,