Evening star., 1942-10-28
Fighting q War

fIghtIng q War
The bad news that comes rolling
IN from the Southwest Pacific should
bring home more clearly to all of us
Just what it means to have to fight
for the right to live. Down in the
Solomons handful of Americans are
battling desperately to hold an is
land outpost. The surrounding
waters have claimed the shattered
wrecks of many proud American
ship. Yet the fight goes on, and
those Of us in the homeland are ex-
periencing, perhaps more keenly
than ever before, the desperate hope
that they have the resources to carry
on.
Wendell Willkie, returning from
his trip to other fighting fronts, tells
OF the "inflnitesimal' supply of war
materials at one supposedly impor-
tant center which finally "trickle out
into the hands of those who so
desperately need them-people who
sometimes do not know whether to
laugh or to weep when these crates
and packages arrive"
Is it a fair inference from all of
this that we, at home, have fallen
down on the job of supplying the men
we have called upon to do the fight
ing? Such a conclusion is not sup
ported by the facts, for we know that
on the whole good job has been
done. But can we truthfully say that
we have done-that we are doing
our best?
Mr.. Willkie remarked that> 1--WE
cannot win this war 40 per cent mo-
bilized." His precise meaning was
not made clear, but most of us under
stand what he was talking about. We
cannot win this war while we cling
to the philosophy of forty-hour
week and actually work an average
OF less than forty-three hours week
mot when the japanese and the
Germans are working half as hard
again. We cannot win this war while
we continue to tolerate the feather
bed" technique Of spreading the
work"-a technique which compels
the hiring of men to stand in"
although they do no work, which
requires that work already done
be torn out and done over be-
cause Of some union rule, or
which sanctions the punishment Of
union members because they speed
up job when the Army asks them
to do so. We cannot win when many
OF our people remain deaf to appeals
to invest 10 per cent of their earn
ings in War bonds We cannot win
when drive for blood donations to
the armed services lags in the Ma
tional Capital. In short, we cannot
win and we should not expect to win
until we come to think of the war in
terms OF how much we can give in
stead Of how much we can keep.
1t is true, perhaps, that our public
officials have been deficient on this
score; that the people are anxious to
do more If some one will lead the
way. But the people need not wait
to be led. If their desire to get rid
Of the obstacles that stand in the
way Of 100 per cent mobilization for
war is sufficiently strong, they will
find the President and the members
Of Congress quick to respond. After
all, there can be no collective resolve
to fight a total war as it has to be
fought until each American, indi-
vidually, has resolved to fight it
that way.
BY this time most of us have read
the letter which Commander John J.
Shea, who was lost when the Wasp
went down, had written to his five-
year-old boy. Fighting for the de-
fense Of our country" he said, "is an
honor and duty which your daddy
has to do before he can come home"
He is one of many fathers who will
not come home, but his duty is done.
It is up to the rest of us-all of us
to do ours.