Evening star., 1942-02-24

forts of capital. labor and the farm
ers in bringing these obiectives
within reach, Mr. Roosevelt re-
marked that all of America has come
to know now that If we lose this
war it will be generations or even
centuries before our conception Of
democracy can live again. And we
can lose this war only If we slow
up our effort or if we waste our
ammunition Sniping at each other"
Cites Three "High Purposes"
For every American he then pro-
nounced his three high purposes:
That war work should be uninter-
rupted with disputes to be solved
without the interference of pro-
duction, that no group or occupa-
ton should demand special priv
ileges, and that the conveniences
and routine of civilian life should
be modified cheerfully when nee
essary to the war effort.
This great measure of effort and
of sacrifice, even of life itself he
confidently predicted, would be flung
in the faces of the Axis propagan-
dists who have asserted that Ameri-
cans are soft and decadent, that
they cannot and will not unite and
work and fight"
Against these enemies who spread
rumors that "the British are fin
ished, that the Russians and the
Chinese are about to quit" Mr..
Roosevelt replied that "the United
Nations constitute an association of
independent peoples or equal dignity
and Importance. dedicated to
a common cause unified plan
in which all of us must play our
several parts, each of us being
equally indispensable and depend
ent one on the other. @
We will Make Final Peace.
"We have unified command and
cooperation and comradeship.
I'VE Americans have been COM
PEELED to yield ground, but we will
regain it. We and the other United
Nations are committed to the de-
struction of the militarism of Japan
and Germany. We are daily in
creasing our strength. Soon, we and
not our enemies, will have the Of
fensive; We, not they, will win the
final battles, and we, not they, will
make the final peace"
For those who had hopes that
there would be word of encouraging
prospects for the relief of Gen.
Douglas Macarthur and his gallant,
besieged Army on Bataan, there was
little solace as the President
sketched the picture. of the Jap
encircled Philippines.
Actually, he said, the defenders
are fighting by delaying strategy
which has been formulated for 40
years in event of war in these far
islands.
Nothing that has occurred in the
past two months" he went on, has
caused us to revise this basic
strategy-except that the defense put
up by Gen. Macarthur has magnifl-
Gently exceeded the previous eSti-
mates, and he and his men are gain
ing eternal glory therefor"
Repudiates Pearl Harbor Losses.
Vehemently, the President denied
that the Japanese successes in the
Philippines were made possible only
by the disaster of Pearl Harbor
Even without this reversal, which
he said had been widely exag-
gerated," reinforcement of the
Philippines would have been "a
hopeless operation" through thou
sands of miles of ocean controlled
by numerous Japanese island bases.
Specifically, he refuted the
"damnable misstatements" about
the Pearl Harbor losses and re-
capitulated them at 2,340 officers
and men killed, 946 wounded and
three combatant ships "perma-
nently put out of commission"
Specifically, too, he denied that
more than a thousand planes had
been destroyed, and countered this
with a claim that American fighters
have destroyed more Jap planes
than we have lost.
You must" he told the Nation,
have complete confidence that
your Government is keeping Moth
ing from you except information
that will help the enemy in his
attempt to destroy U.S."
Borrowing then from Tom Paine
of revolutionary fame, he warned
again in concluding that these
are the times that try mems souls"
Never before have we been called
upon for such a prodigious effort.