Evening star., 1942-10-28

address bit of earnest criticism
OF the administration, but he would
be shortsighted who does not see
that in the main no stronger arm
Of support than Mr.. Willkie ex-
tended could have been given to
President Roosevelt as he copes
with the problems of the present
and the future in rela ton to second
fronts, peace terms and the eco
nomic barriers that produce inter-
national friction and eventually war.
One may also differ with Mr.. Will
kie's criticism as to the meager
amount Of lease-lend equipment
that has gone aboard thus far; one
may see the merit of possible
answer the President could make
that global strategy dictated what
we have done to date-and yet one
may see even in this helping hand
to the effort that inevitably must
be made by the President to turn
certain Allied leaders from a psy-
chology Of defensiveness to an offen-
sive OF increasing proportions.
U. S. in Uphill Fight.
The Willkie speech comes at a
time when some Americans may be
dispirited by the terrible toll being
taken of our men and ships in the
Pacific, but this is not the moment
to remind anybody at length that
we are fighting a two-ocean war
with a one-ocean Navy and that
the United States, despite her Prov
ess of the past, is the underdog in
this fight.
Where are our ships? Where are
our troops and transports, our tanks
and our planes? They certainly are
not even in the Pacific areas as yet,
where our own prestige is at stake
because the defense of England has
absorbed much and so also have the
other theaters of war in the Middle
East. We have sent some to China,
some to Russia, some to North
Africa, some to Australia-it' a
small amount to any one place, but
In the aggregate it represents the
where our own prestige is at stake,
l941 and 1912 production of a
Nation that really never went to war
till 10 months ago and in some re-
spects, judging by the selfishness
and the pickering and the political
maneuvering here, has not yet gone
to war.
Mr.. WILKES broad explanation of
what the rest of the world wants
from us is invaluable. 1t is an
honest, frank outspoken speech of
historic Importance. All around the
globe the nations we need most to
encourage will derive inspiration
from it. And within the United
States those who believe that there
should be global peace will find
comfort in the fact that it is
Republican leader who is talking to
a party which has within its ranks
substantial number of patriotic per-
sons who do not believe in our
maintenance of a world organiza-
ton for peace.
Reveals Forthrightness.
Mr.. Willkie may or may not again
be presidential candidate. He may
never hold public Office. But he has
revealed forthrightness on inter-
national issues which is as essential
to the formation of American public
opinion on peace problems as any
thing that has been said thus far,
even by the President or members
Of his official family.
1t is heartening that such speech
could be made by rival presidential
candidate of 1910, for it shows that
despite the presence of isolationism
In the Republican party there is also
substantial opinion growing up
behind the international concept OF
human relations today.
Mr.. Willkie sketches, of course,
only the high lights. A powerful
realism will some day demand that
the abstract principles be translated
into actual workable terms of peace
at time when the war will have
been won and the leverage that in
fluences allies in time of crisis has
long since passed But Mr.. Willkie
has made fine beginning.
He has started a worldwide dis
cussion of war aims and peace aims
He has brought back message of
fraternity expressed with splendid
fidelity toward those he left behind
in the vast expanses over which he
travelled. He has made a great