The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1941-04-24

washington, April ~.
The dark turn which the war abroad
has taken, in general and, in particu-
lar, the desperate fight the British are
making for their existence, ought to
put this nation in a very sober frame
of mind. 1t seems too clear to dispute
that if the Germans succeed, ours will
be an exceedingly painful situation,
not free from peril. ~ 4y
In that unhappy event, some think
that soon or late we would be sub
jected to physical attack; others con-
tend that our danger would be limited
to that inherent in an economic war
fare. But no one denies that we would
be living in a hostile world, forced
to keep permanently armed to the
teeth and without a friend or an ally
upon whom we could depend. In the
light of these facts, it seems time the
national feeling about the war should
become more realistic and the at
titude of some of our public men less
light and airy.
For example, the quips and sallies,
the jokes and laughter with which the
President saturated his Tuesday press
conference last week appeared some
what untimely. In view of the fright
full London bombing the next night
they seemed a little more than that
No one wants Mr. Roosevelt to bury
his sense Of humor, and of course
there is value in being able to relax
and to see the funny side of things at
the most critical of moments. Never
theless, there is a difference between
humor and flippancy, and there is
something homogeneous in the head of
a great nation in so grave a crisis de-
voting forty minutes of his heavily
burdened time to exchanging quips
with newspapermen when he has no
news to impart.
No doubt it was, in the main, mutu-
ally enjoyable, but it certainly was
neither necessary not edifying, and
there were some among those present
who thought the President had DELHI
erately "put on a show" for the bene-
fit of widely known New York
gossip columnist and radio common
tator who attended the conference as
a visitor. That did not seem a worth
while thing to do. In fact, it seemed
an almost incredible thing for the
President, with so many problems
pressing upon him, thus to waste his
time and energy. So far as news was
concerned, the conference could have
been over in less than ten minutes.
Under the circumstances, perhaps if
is not to be wondered that in the
country generally there should be
disposition to regard this war and our
rearmament program as a chance to
reap benefits rather than make sacri-
fees. Mr.. Roosevelt repeatedly has
spoken of the necessity Of sacrifices,
but up to now, except those involved
in increased taxation, no real sacri-
fees have been made by any except
the boys in the camps, whose lives
have been changed by the draft. On
the contrary, nearly every organized
group in the country is set upon
making gains rather than relinquish-
ing anything it has. Certainly that is
true of the farm organizations, which,
demanding their "share of the bene-
fits" have put through Congress the
most gigantic and indefensible of all
farm subsidy bills.
:. Il Is
But the farm organizations are not
unique in this respect. Various Labor
leaders have caught at what appears
the golden opportunity to extend their
organizations and increase the pros
perity of their members. Some en-
ployers have hoped to use the protest
against strikes in defense plants as a
shield behind which to emasculate
effective collective bargaining. And
some Chambers of Commerce have
come to Washington with demands
that defense industries be established