The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1939-1949, 1942-09-10
ECONOMIC HIGHL1GHTS

Il On the first day of September, the
greatest war the world has ever
known entered its fourth year. Those
three years have witnessed series of
almost uninterrupted trillmpfls for
Hitler and his satellites. The time
table of conquest makes almost in
credible reading. Poland fell in %
days, Denmark in one day. Norway
In two months, Belgium in ID days,
France in 43 days. OF all the ma
tions Hitler invaded, Russia alone
remains. 1t is very likely that the
/ historians of the future will write
that Russia was the savior of the free
i world. Whatever happens, the mag
/ nificent resistance of the Red army
/ will mark one of the mightest and
braWest pages in the long and SAN
/ culinary history of combat.
| On December z, 1941, Japan joined
/ hands with the Axis. And the Jap
i timetable of conquest is comparable
to that of Hitler. Guam was taken in
five days. Wake Island was con-
quered in IA days, after superb
/ defense by handful OF United
States Marines. Malaga, with its sup
posedly irnpregnaIble naval base at
Singapore, fell in 81 days The Phil
lippines were forced ito surrender in
ia little less than five months. In
short, the war so far has consisted
largely of series TO disasters for
United Nations forces-and a series
sof great victories for the dictators.
That Is simply matter of record,
and it does no service to the demo-
cratic cause to attempt to hide the
| truth. ..... ..---. .'....u
| BasicaIly, the cause of all this is
simply explained: The enemy was
ready for war, and we and our Allies
were not. The enemy understood
/ precisely what total war means
and we did not. In Germany and ia
4 pan there are no strikes. There is no
shilly -shallying on the part of the
Officials of the government. There is
| a grim and all-encompassing effic-
iency. The Axis means to destroy us
utterly, and every resource at its
command Is devoted completely to j
that end.
| So much for the debit side. On
the credit side there is also a great
deal to say at the end of three years
of war. The quality of the United
Nations fighting men is first class.
Only little of the long and bloody
story now k1oWn-but that little is
magnificent The Raj after DUN
kirk, the Russians before SeVastopol,
the Dutch amman and sailors in the
East Indies, the u S. army i'm Batan,
| the marines i'm the Solomons- in |
those campaigns free men wrote
| with their blood a glorious saga of
courage and achievement The Ger
mans and the Japs have paid a ire
Imendous price for ti1eir victories.
| There is much to he said also for
American war production The bur-
den of supplying the troops of all the
United Nations, falls squarely ON us.
No other nation has even 1.-THE of |
-FOUR potential productive capacity
And it can he said to he the ever
lasting credit of American industry
trtat the changeover from produc-
ton for peace to production for war,
was generally made swiftly and eff
fectively But there are many bad
ESpots still. We have not yet achieved
lin many vital lines, the essential
production goals which have been
Laid down. There has been mis-
management in labor, in government
land in industry itself These bad
Espots must he erased before we can
carry the war fully ito the enemy. No
iAmerican should feel optimistic to-
day. He must not forget that this
war can be lost if we fail to coordi-
nate our efforts. 1T is a favorite say
/. ing in Washington that "tfle Amer
i &Oo>o>o)o-o>o)