The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1941-01-09
DOLLARS CANNOT BUY YESTERDAY"

between two irreconcilable PHILOSOPHERS of
life, has steadily spread. A. whole continent
/ has felt the boot of new conqueror with
plan for world dominion as vast as that OF
Napoleon The worlds economy has I'M
dergone violent change, and stability has
been replaced by chaos.
Here in our own country we have re-
Gently gone through the most tradition-shat-
tering election in our history. The great is
sues of that election were three-fold. First,
whether to elect president for a third
term. Second, how to keep America at
peace. while aiding England with all steps
short of war Third, how to best build
military and naval establishment unpre-
cedented in our history.
The second and third issues are the
most vital this country faces today. They
are not partisan issues.
It is obvious to anyone not blinded by
false and baseless optimism that the great
plans of last summer for building an I'M
pregnable defense at once are not beng
realized 1t is easy to appropriate glgantlc
sums Of money. 1t is easy to make bluepflhts
of tanks and airplanes and fighting SHIPS. IL
is easy to have great defense establish
mcnt "on ORDER But dollars and blue
prints do not worry potential invaders. The
forces which have again brought the world
to Armageddon have respect only for pre-
paredness. The weak are given no quar-
ter Moral principles, Christian teachings,
are scoffed at. That is not pretty. But it is
true
This America we know cannot be sure
of existence unless it solves the problem OF
how to swiftly build our defenses-and to
build them in keeping with the democratic
tradition which they are designed to pro-
tect and to save All the productiveness OF
this nation is needed now-of capital, OF IN
dustry, of government, of labor. The IN
dustrialist who seeks outrageous profits;
the official who plays politics in time of
danger; the labor leader who foments I'M
justified strikes in vital defense industries
cannot be tolerated We must never for
get that we can be destroyed from within
no less than from without.
The American people cannot accept
failure from any man-whether the man
who fails holds a great title or is a lowly
worker in factory There is no excuse for
failure. No nation in the world is poten-
TALLY so productive as ours. None has a
1.-THE Of our rches-riches of manpower no
less than riches of wealth and of natural
resources. In this crisis, we shall really
learn the calbre of our people and our pub
lie men.
1t is said of France that, in preparing
to resist aggression, her government, her
industries and her workers did too little
AMI did it too late" We too are doing too
little. But let us hope that we correct our
errors before it is too late. Whenthe head
Of our Navy observed that dollars cannot
buy yesterday" he stated grim truth that
every American must realize.
81 In. this great national effort there can
be no failure. The thought cannot be
tolerated that Democracy here has fallen
on such evil DAYS that it cannot compete
with the dictators. In England we have
magnificent example of what free men,
fighting TO retain that freedom, can accom-
plish against heartbreakirg odds.
1t was Winston Churchill who said on
taking office that he could offer his people
nothing save sacrifice and sweat and toll.
Here we must absorb an ample measure OF
that spirit No one-else can make our sacrl-
fees for us. The responsibility for the per-
petuation of our way of life falls squarely
and irrevocably on the shoulders of US all.
No one can avoid it.
To say that we have now entered on
the most critical years modern Western
civilization has ever known, is 10 simply state
the obvious We do not know how much
time we will have to make ourselves secure
to guarantee peace in the only way possible
i'm this disrupted modern world, which is
by making ourselves so strong that no ag-
greSsor or possible combination of aggres-
SorS will dare ~ try our strength We do