Evening star., 1942-10-02
Never Outright Break.

duction Board, who had accom-
panied Mr.. Roosevelt to Detroit, said
this was "the most amazing produc-
tion job I've ever seem
At the Ford Willow Run bomber
plant, the President rode along be-
side twin assembly lines a quarter
of mile along, stopping for a
minute to shake hands with two
midgets who work in confined spots
in the big bombers.
Watches Navy at Work.
Moving deeper into the Midwest
he looked in on thousands of men
who enlisted in the Navy getting
their training at the Great Lakes
station on the shore of Lake Mich
igan. Again at Lake Pend Oreille
amid the forests and mountains OF
Northern Idaho and third' time at
San Diego he saw additional blue
jackets in the making.
The inspections ended with calls
at another Consolidated bomber
plant at Fort Worth, a Higgins In
| dustries boatyard at New Orleans
and at Camp Shelby, near Hatties-
burg. Miss, and Fort Jackson, out
side Columbia, S. c.
1t seemed to amuse the Presi-
dent to appear suddenly amid the
machines and workers and a war
factory and find men and women
gaping at him in astonishment
Most of them obviously had not
been tipped off that the President
was going to turn up among them
In an open car.
The reasons for the secrecy be-
cam apparent with the disclosure
tNat Mr.. Roosevelt had entered a
zone of actual military. That was
in the Far West. where he fire.
quently was in sight of the sea.
japanese shells have dropped along
that coast. But nothing happened
to jeopardize the President on the
entire circuit of the country.
When he wasn't inspecting he was
visiting members of his family at
brief pauses at Seattle, Coronado,
Calf, and Fort Worth. or he was
sitting In his private car aboard his
special train working on official doc
uments or waving at every section
hand or farmer he glimpsed along
the right of way
People waved back without ever
knowing who was greeting them.
Saw Seriousness Of War.
At some spots along the way the
President saw evidence of a deadly
seriousness about the war. He OBJ
served row after row of afraid
shelters, camouf1aged fields and
buildings. smudge pots ready to
erupt smoke screens, canopies of
barrage balloons. some of them OBJ
tanned from Britain under lease
lend arrangements, and nests of ma
chine guns and anti-aircraft weap-
ons.
At naval hospitals Mr.. Roosevelt
met men wounded in all the major
battles of the Pacific. At Bremen
ton Navy Yard he saw wounds being
healed on fighting vessels damaged
at Pearl Harbor. At Mare Island
Navy Yard he saw an American
submarine with nine significant Jap
enese naval flags painted on her
coming tower. symbols of that many
victims, rs we'll as a two-man Jap
sub which failed in its mission at
Pearl Harbor.
At the Mare Island Naval Hospital
the President talked with LeoTopa-
cinski. Marine who killed SO Japs
at Tulagi before they wounded him,
and with Thomas Borghetti, a sea-
man who had been aboard the
cruiser Houston on three presiden-
tial voyages. The cruiser was lost In
the Java Straits, and Borghetti
agreed with his commander in chief
that 1t was too bad about the old
Houston
There were no formal speeches
along the route. Twice Mr.. Roose-
welt talked briefly and informally.
At the Bremerton Navy Yard on
Puget Sound he told thousands Of
workers that his trip across the
country had made him more and
more convinced that the people Of
the whole Nation are In this war to