The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1941-02-06
THE TRUTH ABOUT DEFENSE

THE American people need to be Informed
frankly concerning the progress or lack of
progress of the defense program. They need this
information for the sake of the program itself
Only through knowledge of where the gaps and
botteneckS and SnagS exist can their full efforts
and cooperation be enlisted to end them.
The country is not today getting full and
clear picture of defense progress. What it is
statements and some warnings not to expect toe
much. At a few points the veil is lifted, while
at others efforts are being made toward still
stricter censorship of the news
In certain directions secrecy is obviously need
ed No one would expect or want our forces to
make known the details of an advanced bomb
sight mine arplane detector And it is not
always easy to draw the line between what should
be secret and what public. 1t may be, for eX-
ample that it is undesirable to reveal exactly how
many airplanes we have of each type on hand or
being currently delivered. A balance must be
achieved between the knowledge which ones own
people ought to have for their own guidance and
knowledge potentially useful to possible enemy
which that enemy's agents have presumably not
been able to obtain for themselves.
The mistake most frequently made by mill
tary organizations, however, is not to give the
enemy too much information but to keep theil
own people too much in the dark. The military
mind seldom has great respect for lay opinion
it believes that public interference is neces-
Sary nuisance to be reduced to the greatest extent
possible. But the history of warfare shows time
and time again occasions when public opinion
forced reforms on the military mind that would
otherwise have been made too late or not at all.
In the World War II the campaign in the
Northcfle press that led to the organization of
the munition supply and the provision Of adequate
quantities Of high explosive shells. The same
campaign contributed to the formation of the
Coalition Ministry. The Northclnc press must
also be given substantial credit for it's insisence
on the Importance Of ailplanc production at that
time. Yet NorthcIif1e had to fight the official
censorS, who would not allow him to print the
stories his newspapers were receiving from the
front on the ammunition shortage of the British
forces there. In the present war; unfortunately
there no Northclt1e in France: the French
people had implicit faith in their military leaders
and in the strength of their defenses; but the
French military leaders were too welded to out
modcd methods Of warfare to provide the neces-
Sary tanks and alrpanes or even to agitate for
them with sufficient Vig0r If the real facts had
been known to the French public, reforms might
have been forced in time.
AS long as this country remains even in tech
ncal state of peace, certainly it's course regarding
the publicity to be given to defense progress is
reasonably clear 1t ought to publish at regular
Intervals probably each month, fairly comprc-
hensivc statements of the progress of the defense
program. When new ships are commissioned, the
country should learn Of them. There should be a
monthly statement Of our military airplanc pro
ducton, with at least enough analysis to be mean
ingful. Actual combat planes, for example should
be separated from mere training planes; perhaps
bombcrS should be differentiated from pursuit
planes There should certainly be no effort tC
suppress at one point information that has al
ready been made public at another. The Amcr-
can people have a right to know what their
country has to fight with. If the country is
strong, it does little harm for a potential enemy
to know it. If the country is weak at some point
the authorities Will naturally CndCaVOr to concca
this weakness But the worst thing that c0ulC
bD tn