Evening star., 1942-10-02

ed as regards total units produced
Laughingly, Mr.. Roosevelt declared
he was sorry to disappoint a number
of writer's who had hoped to describe
his tour as political trip, occurring
as it did short time before the
November elections.
He announced that the only per-
sons he saw during his tour in any
way connected with politics were
the Governors of the II States in
which he made official stops, and
that he did not discuss politics with
any of them. Seven of the Gov
ernors were Democrats, four Repub-
licans. He saw no candidates, no
Democratic committeeman, the Pres
ident emphasized.
Among the principal impressions
OF his trip, Mr. Roosevelt said, is the
amazing way in which women are
working into war production. He
explained that he was not referring
to women Office workers, but to
those performing highly skilled la
Dor in running complicated ma
chimes.
Thanks Press for Cooperation.
The percentage nof women work.
ers ran as high as 20 to 40 per cent
in some of the plants he visited, and
in another. year probably will be up
to so per cent in many plants, he
! said
After telling his press conference
some of the highlights of his tour,
the President warmly expressed his
thanks to the press and radio for
their cooperation in delaying pub
lication of any news about his
whereabouts during the last two
weeks
He insisted that there was no sup
preston of news-that the repre-
sentatives of the three press asso-
Citations, the only newspapermen
permitted to accompany him, were
given complete freedom in gather
Ing their news.
Asked if the detailed stories of
the press association men about what
they saw on their tour were sub
jected to censorship, the President
said no-he just read them over.
He said he did not cut anything, and
even added some touches.
His only reference to widespread
complaint against denial of first
hand access to news about his trip
to representatives of individual
newspapers by limiting permission to
accompany him to the press associa-
fINn ronrQCanf q ofiuoc ,,.J~
that it would have been impossible
to take all the White House corre-
spondents with him because it would
have required too many trains.
Halleck Assails Secrecy.
Under regulation of the volun-
tary censorship code against publi-
cation of any news concerning the
Presidents movements without Off
cial announcement from the White
House, newspapers and radio with
held any mention of the Presidents
whereabouts from September II,
when he left Washington, until his
return was officially announced
shortly after noon yesterday.
Representative Halleck, Republic
an, of Indiana seized on this phase
of the tour to declare in the House
yesterday afternoon that the sup
preston" of news was to a degree
neither necessary nor desirable"
Charging that "the political i'm
plications" of the journey will be
very discernible,' Mr.. Halleck said,
The people of this country would
much rather have the President
stay on the job of winning the war
than to mix in politics" He ex-
pressed hope that precedent had
not been established whereby less
er administrators could conceal
their activities. Mr.. Halleck said he
was reliably informed that many
persons had "berated the newspa-
pers for allegedly ,suppressing the
news because of their supposed anti
administration bias" and he de-
clared:
This is decidedly unfair to the
newspapers and to the radio In
common fairness to them, the Presi-
dent should at the earliest possible
moment issue a statement assuming
full responsibility for suppression of
the facts and commencing the news
papers and the radio for their CO.
operation with the administration :"
At another point, Mr.. Halleck
observed:
TT seems a little strange to me
that these alleged inspection trips
of the President always seem to
occur just before the elections come
along"
Senator Taft, Republican, of Ohio
also criticized the extent of Sc
crecy surrounding the trip. He
said:
Il think it is a fine thing that
the President should see actual do
mestic conditions at first hand, but
do not understand the reason for
keeping it secret so long. I don't
see any reason for announcing it in
advance, but I see no reason why,
the day after he had been at a
place, the newspapers could not
publish that he he'd been there"
Eberharter Defends Secrecy.
Taking issue with Mr.. Halleck's S
conclusions, Representative Eber-
harter. Democrat, of Pennsylvania
said they seem to be the same as
to say that we are going to give
just a little bit of information to a
potential saboteur so he would know
just little bit about where the
President was going to be. 1 think
the voluntary censorship in this case
was completely justified. Why should
we take the terrible chance of los
ing our Commander in Chief to
satisfy peoples curiosity?"
Byron Price, director of censor
ship, said the press and radio DEM
onstrated their patriotism and
proved "the workability of volun-
tary censorship" keeping the Presi-
dents trip secret until he was
safely back in Washington.
The trip was conducted with such
extraordinary secrecy that the eyes
of munitions workers in plants Wis
tied by the President grew round
with utter astonishment when he