Evening star., 1940-09-03

Mr.. Roosevelt's @I IL
question Is this: SsS<sI fIiI;I;;
How does 1t s's 80;
happen that $$$$
Wendell Willkie,
a private citizen, David Lawrence.
has released publicly private and
confidential document which is the
property of the President Of the
United States?"
Mr.. WILKES rejoinder was that
since Mr.. Roosevelt told his press
conference the other day that the
report In question was as obsolete
as a Civil War document, there
ought not to be any reason for
keeping Civil War documents con-
fidential any longer. But there Is
q much more important question
which the entire press Of the Nation
will wish to ask. Since when does
the White House control the avenues
Of information in America and
decide what shall or shall not be
published2 One of the tenets Of
democracy, as enunciated in public
speeches by the President, Is free
dom Of information. It has always
been the custom Of the American
press to regard any Government
document as the property Of the
American people and not the private
property Of the President.
A Case in Point.
4 case in point occurred a couple
yesrs ago when Mr.. Roosevelt en-
deavored to sell the private and
confidential transcripts OF his SEMI
weekly conferences with the press
A protest went up from editorial
writers from one end of the country
to the other. but in recognition Of
the criticism, the White House de-
cided to make available to the press
for publication copious extracts in
advance of the sale of the books
containing the press conference ma
terial. There was no doubt then
that the American people took the
position Mr.. Roosevelt did not have
any right to regard public papers
as his private property or the pri-
vate property Of the President.
But the Stettinius report was the
work Of the businessmen who were
first appointed by the President to
make q survey Of Americas needs
In the event Of a war emergency.
These men we're not paid for their
services by the Government. They
were advisers and any one Of them
had right to send copy OF the
document to anybody in the press
or to any private citizen. These
men kept the report confidential,
however, in Difference to the wishes
of the President.
Just how copy of the report
became available to the Republican
presidential nominee Is not known,
but since there were many copies
distributed in the Government de-
partments when the report was
drawn, it is not surprising that a
copy leaked out. But it would not
also be surprising II some one who
had a right to the copy first hand
gave it to Wendell Willkie as a
protest against the Presidents OBJ
vious attempt to keep the report
secret for political reasons.
Favored Special Agencies.
Why did the administration want
to suppress the Stettinius report?
Because it was the work Of disin-
terested advisers, who told the Presi-
dent, In effect, 1t was more impor-
tant to delegate authority to special
agencies to deal with the defense
problem than to rely on the New
Deal setup. To have made public
that report would have been to
expose the administrations politi-
cal behavior in handling the de-
fense problem.
What is being revealed here is a
totalitarian concept of government
by the President and his advisers.
1t appears that since Mr.. Roosevelt
is seeking a third term, no one
least OF all the Republican nominee
has q right to question him and
ask him to discuss the state of ma
tional defense. Mr.. Roosevelt Is
evidently trying to rule out national
defense from discussion at a time
when the security and safety OF the
country constitute the most impor-
tant issue before the American peo-
pie. Since when does a President
have the right to tell private citi-
zens, candidates for ONCE or any
body else, what they may or may
not discuss or make public concern
ing the lack Of efficiency Of the ad-
ministration, especially in national
defense?
There Is at the White House either
q misconception Of the intelligence
of the American people or a strange
belief in their gullibility. Thus it
Is announced the President has no
time for political campaigning. Then
he makes tours Of defense inspec-
ton" and "non-political" speeches.
For three years he has been impor-
tuned to dedicate Smoky Mountain
National Park. He has three times
arranged to go and three times can
celed for some reason Of "crisis,"
but now, during the battle Of Brit
ain, he goes. But why now? Be-
cause Mr.. Roosevelt wanted to have
an excuse to go to Tennessee so he
could focus attention on the T. v. A.
and the power problem, which, If
Senator Taft or Tom Dewey had
been the nominee, would not have
taken the President away from his
all-important duties OF national cri-
sis during the battle Of Britain.
Judgment Is Seen Faltering.
The real trouble Is that the Presi-
dent is having dificulty defending
an untenable position and hence
his political judgment is not what
1t used to be- The Roosevelt Of 1896
or 1882 never would have publicly
upbraided Hiram johnson as not a
liberal, would not have made a
speech about planes "on order"
would not have told correspondents
one day his opposition to the Ma
loney amendment. on the conscrip-
ton bill and then on another day,
when asked to comment on the Rus
n