Evening star., 1942-02-08
We Can Lose the War.

| ''~~A~eAAA 49, ASotJ NAA SSVOA Va 4AAopS-
rials for the War Production Board,
delivered an address in New York
Friday night which should be taken
to heart by every American who is
inclined to discount the gravity of
our present military position in the
dangerous assumption that ulti-
mately we are certain to win the
war.
Mr.. Bats remarks were blunt and
to the point. This is no time for
self-hypnotiSm," he said. We're big.
We're strong. We're tough. But so
is the other fellow. Not enough of
us realize that we can lose this war"
Too many Americans, reading that
one of our pilots has shot down two
or three Japanese, or that a tiny
American mosquito boat has success
fully engaged larger enemy war
ship, are inclined to let down bit,
to forget that time may work against
us as well as for us. They prefer to
think of the things we will do to the
japanese and to the Germans when
we get the men and the equipment
to the fighting fronts, forgetting that
at the present rate of enemy ad-
vance we may soon find ourselves
driven from our outposts and de-
prived of all bases from which we
might effectively take the initiative.
This year-the next few months
will be the critical stage of the war
for us, no less than for the enemy.
If we can hold our advance positions,
then we can reasonably count upon
our swelling strength in men and
materiel finally turning the tide in
our favor. But If the japanese can
drive us out of the Far East and
consolidate their position there, and
if Hitler can muster strength this
spring for a drive through to the
oil fields of the Middle East before
the Allied forces there can be suf-
ficiently reinforced, a very real pos
sibility of military defeat will be
upon us.
We cannot afford to ignore the
fact that as of today the Japanese
are steadily marching forward to-
ward a realization Of their. goal.
They may suffer colorful setbacks in
some newspaper headlines and in
some military communiques, but the
bitter truth Of the matter is that,
while driving into Burma, they have
also isolated our two principal out
posts-Manila and Singapore-and
are battering their way relentlessly
through the East Indies, the last
barrier between them and ready ac-
cess to the Indian Ocean. Nor can
we afford to Jump to optimistic con-
illusions because Hitler has been set
back on his heels by the Russians.
We must remember that he has been
set back, not beaten, and that he is
capable of striking again with great
force when the winter breaks.
We cannot hope to prevent these
potential military disasters from be-
coming realities by banking on the
war equipment which we will be
producing by the end of 1912 or in
1943. Those future supplies will be
essential in driving back our enemies
after they have been stopped, but
they will have to be stopped with
the supplies which we have on hand
and which can be produced during
the next few months.
Now more than ever 1t Is true that
there is not day, not an hour, to
be lost. 1t is no exaggeration to say
that our cne real hope of victory lies
in convincing the complacent Ameri-
can that he must plunge into the
foht on the home front with every
thing that he has-not tomorrow, or
next week but today.