Evening star., 1941-07-09

ss$ssSs sss1'~' '& with Noah, and
MeLemor. no que ST ions
asked. 1t deserves a bouquet big
enough to cover Derby winner.
Just try to name another couh-
try where the citizens bear up as
bravely under a diet of pessimism
as they do in the United States.
Englishmen are told that the r.
A. F. is assuming control of the air.
Germans are fed blue plate spe-
cials of confidence three times
day by that master propaganda chef.
Goebbels.
Russians are told not TO fret even
if they find the enemy mixing green
salad in the buffers pantry, that
their countrys war machine Is
mighty enough to triumph in the
end.
Italians are bolstered bv a daily
reminder that there are several
thousand of their generals who haya
not yet been captured.
Even the French. with the hang
mans knot on their necks and the
trapdoor creased beneath their feet.
are force-fed optimism by Petan
and Darlan.
But the American citizen, VIII
does he get?
r y
Just the opposite Of all this. y
are citizen, just as l am and
know what We get every day.
One minute we read that v
haven't enough tanks to press pa
of pants and the next We are in
formed that our airplane produ~-
ton is months behind, even unC'r
the reckonings of the Julian cal
endar.
On page ONE we read that our
generals are too old and are still
using tactics that went out with the
crossboW and the catapult Else
where We read that We are short of
aluminium, steel, gasoline and every
thing else in the dictionary that
begins with vowel or a consonant.
Morning, noon and night We are
told what we do not have. There is
a lack of air bases, of anti-airCraft
guns, of mosquito netting, Of enter
tainment for the soldiers, of co-ordi-
nation, OF everything else under the
sun.
Day in and day out some one in
high Office tells us of these short
comings and then paints the enemy
as being just around the corner.
cooking his pistol and putting extra
lead in his blackjack.
Now this is where the morale
comes in.
Does any of this faze the American
citizen?
Does it make him look under the
bed for a cultural accent? Does il
cause him TO hire a horse and ride
from house to house sounding the
alarm?
Not one bit.
He whistles a bar Of Beat Me.
Daddy, eight to the bar" writes his
favorite movie actress for an auto
graph. practices a few puts on the
living room rug, swigs himself Ten
Collins, and sleeps the sleep Of a
talcum- powdered baby.
Boys. that's morale.
With capital M. ..
You have to have the heart of a
pedigreed lion and the confidence of
a mausoleum salesman in an epi-
demic to feel that way.
It's a dangerous morale. II can
lead to all sorts of trouble, but the
men who are trying to perk up
Americans, trying to rouse them in
the face of approaching peril, might
Just as well face the facts.
And the facts, as I see them after
banging around in 48 States for the
past 10 years, and meeting folk from
loaded dice statesmen to Governors.
are these:
Americans don't scare easily.
| They have deep and abiding
faith in the ability of their countrv
to give all the other nations on earth
head start and still beat them.
They don't want to shoot the works
until they can shoot the enemy a.
the same time
They can't conceive of an enemy
strong enough to really threaten
them.
Maybe that's all wrong. II It is.
there will come time when they'll
realize that they must put all shoul-
ders to the wheels of production and
the stocks of guns. Then they'll
do it.
Then they'll win.
That is. I feel they will.
But, of course, I'm biased I'm one
of EN-.
| distributed BY McNsusht Syndicate frcD
1