Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-04-01
u. S. Secrecy
Holds Down !
War Fervor
Story Of Progress Should I
Be Told, PegIer Says
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER

always feared the worst, a trait
which may account entirely for
my dismal failure in draw poker.
But on a recent evening in
Tucson, / attended a mass meet
ing called for the purpose OF
expressing alarm at our laggard-
ness in the war, and at the
height Of the speaking, which
touched some rather lofty peaks
of indignation, il occurred to
me that these people probably
did not know how we'll or how
poorly we have been doing and,
in short, did not know what
they were talking about.
WHO of us know how many
w soldiers are under arms,
how many guns and tanks and
OF what kinds, and how many
planes and of what types, and
how much ammunition we have
today, or what are the rates OF
production and increase, or how
our production of ships compares
with the rate of losses?
haven't the faintest idea, but
take comfort from the realiza-
ton that when we became
warmongering nation, as Hitler
called us. we were almost dis
armed and have achieved such
weight and power as we now
possess. aside from the navy, in
less than three years. including
a period of six months during
which we just forgot the enemy 4
to roll on the barroom floor amid
the spillings and sandwich rinds Y
and butts in one of those quad
rennial political frenzies which
always interrupt our functions
and embitter us among our
selves.
II has been less than three
years since General Hugh Drum
presided over humiliating out
ing =of@the armed forces up
around Plattsburg in which the
lnexperience of the officers was
purpoSely made conspicuous so
that-the-people would realize
with shock, how puny we were
in a world of marauding mill
tary giants.
E'ROM one place and another.
often through the mention
OF union troubles on the prof.
ects, we have been hearing
within the last Is months of
powder plants which were not
even drawings three years ago,
and those people who live In
certain areas where the planes
fly over singly and in twos and
threes and by the dozen must
realize that there was no such
traffic across the skies when
President Roosevelt went before
Congress at the fall of France
10 outline the dangers and the
/ task.
The tough, unlovable Tom
Girdler, man more like John
l.. Lewis than either of them
would like TO admit, was still
making steel and was catching
Hades from all sides for beating
the ears off Lewis in Johns
revolutionary attempt to extend
his dictatorial power into an
area where he would be a very
/ dangerous man today.
Just now Girdler is making
planes Tor the war and, accord ;,
ing TO my reading, is turninel
them out on an assembly line'N
the first American factory in
which that has been done with
these big jobs. although Henry
Ford is fixing to do the like at
Willow Run, but not for some
time yet.
We had neither the-soidirrs-
nor quarters in which to house
them nor weapons to arm them
so short a time ago, and the
motor industry, now abandoned
and its plants converting TO war
production, was still spawning
cars for individual use.
We had no powder factories
worth mentioning and we were
turning out our tanks at a gov
eminent arsenal which COM
pares to the present capacity as
thinkers bench 10 a great fac
tory.
/ CAN'T even speculate on the
output today. but we all know
1t is considerable and growing
as compared with zero-plus
when we began this job, and I
suggest that the office of facts
and figures might substitute a
little practical information on
this matter for some of its in
spirational stuff without COM
municating TO the enemy infor-
nation which he doesn't possess
already.
After all, we have in our
midst the accredited representa-
tives of several nations which
are more friendly to our enemies
than TO us, and 1 think we NAV
assume that they are keeping
the Axis reasonably informed OF
our more lumpy achievements
We boosted much of our in
dustrial war effort in the other
one, but ! have a pleasant sus-
picion that right now in this ona/
we are producing much norg>