Evening star., 1942-10-27

"A. P. Wirephoto.
little reason to boast about our per-
formance.
There are exceptions. I have seen
American planes and tanks which
have been in hard and gruelling ac-
ton, and which stood up magnifi-
Gently. I have seen the beginnings
of shipping routes which will some
time carry the kind of traffic the
world is waiting for. I have seen
something of the heroism and the
skill with which Americans-pilots,
sailors, engineers-are blasting the
routes clear for our production when
we get it ready.
When will this be? That depends,
I think, on how quickly we, and our
leaders, can begin to think and act
extensively can begin to mobilize,
not for defense, but for attack. It
is my reasoned judgment that we
cannot win this war 40 per cent
mobilized. There are a great many
people listening to me tonight who
would like to do more if they knew
what more to do. 1t is up to us to
make our leaders give us more to do.
For tell you that if we continue
to fail to deliver to our allies what
they are entitled to expect of us or
what we have promised them, our
reservoir of goodwill will turn into
one Of resentment. We cannot laugh
this off or shrug it away or hide it
behind censorship. Five million
Russians and 100000 Chinese have
given their lives in this struggle.
Each of these countries has lost as
many men as we have in our entire
Army. We owe them more than
boasts and broken promises.
Must Outline Aims.
We are also punching holes in our
reservoir of goodwill every day by
failing to define clearly our war
aims. Besides giving our allies in
Asia and Eastern Europe something
to fight with, we have got to give
them assurance of what we are
fighting for.
The 200 million people of Russia
and the $50 million people of China
people like you and me-are be-
wildered and anxious. They know
what they are fighting for. They
are not so sure of us. Many Of
them have read the Atlantic Char
ter. Rightly or wrongly, they are
not satisfied They ask: What about
Pacific charter, what about
world charter?
Their doubts were expressed to me
in simple, unmistakable questions.
is there to be a charter only for
the millions Of the Western Hemi-
sphere?" they asked. rs there to
be no charter of freedom for the
billion people of the East? Is free
dom supposed to be priceless for the
white man, or for the Western world.
but of no account to us in the East?"
Many of them asked me the ques-
ton which has become almost
symbol all through Asia: What
about India? Now, I did not 60 to
India. I do not propose to discuss
that tangled question tonight. But
it has one aspect, in the East, which
I should report to you. From Cairo
on, it confronted me at every turn.
The wisest man in China said to me:
when the aspiration of India for
freedom was put aside to some
future date, it was not Great Britain
that suffered in public esteem in
the Far East. 1t was the United
| States"
People Of East Doubtful.
This wise man was not quarrelling
with British imperialism in India
when he said this-a benevolent i'm
perialism, if you like. He does not
happen to believe in it, but he was
not even talking about it. He was
telling me, and through me, you,
that by our silence on India we have
already drawn heavily on our res
ervoir of goodwill in the East.
People of the East who would like
to count on us are doubtful. They
cannot ascertain from our Govern
ment's wishy- -washy attitude to-
wards the problem of India what we
are likely to feel at the end of the
war about all the other hundreds of
millions OF Eastern peoples. They
cannot tell from our vague and vac
cilating talk whether or not we really
do stand for freedom, or what we
mean by freedom.
In Africa, in the Middle East,
throughout the Arab world, as we'll
as in China and the whole Far East,
freedom means the orderly but
scheduled abolition of the colonial
system. I can assure you that this
is true. I can assure you that the
rule of people by other peoples is
not freedom. and not what we must
fight to preserve.
Please underestimate am not
talking about the commonwealth OF
free nations. I am talking about the
colonial system wherever it exists,
under whatever nation. We Ameri-
cans are still too apt to think and
speak of the British Empire. We
must recognize the truth that in vast
areas of the world there is no longer
any British Empiref, but instead a
proud commonwealth OF free ma
tions. British colonial possessions
are but remnants OF empire.
We must remember that through
out the commonwealth there are
men and women numbered in mil
lions, who are working selflessly and
with great skill towards reducing
these remnants, extending the COM
monwealth in place of the colonial
system. This, it seemed to me, was
what Gen. SHUTS was talking about
in his recent dramatic speech before
the cheering British Parliament.
India Our Problem.
As Americans We must also recoR-
l nize that we share with these men