Evening star., 1942-07-28

seuAlt Uub a it0ll~
Henry MeLemers. truth is scarcely
more satisfactory than q marriage
by proxy, and that is said to be rock
bottom. b.
What Washington needs is an
other bureau. a's
We say this, despite the fact We
are taxpayer and are going with
out chicken in our pot pit TO help
support the thousands already In
existence.
1t needs q bureau OF honesty. A
plain, old-fashioned bureau of In
formation, without trimmings. A
bureau where any citizen could ffrid
an answer to the scores of questions
which fly through his nogein daily.
A bureau where he could get q
straight from -the-shoulder yes or
no answer. the sort OF an answer
which would cut through, clear
away, the high-falutin' fog that, en-
shrouds the information that comes
out Of the various Washington bu.
reaus as Of today. 72R
Coz
rea-
This bureau should operate nisht
and day. 1t should be under the
direction Of tough. rough gent vhe
had no political ambitions. had no
axes to grind, and whose chief hope
IN life was = quick ending Of the war
so he could get home to his wife and
kids. 1t should be the sort Of Blu.
reau that paid as much attention to
question which came in on q postal
card, or scrawled on wrapping pa.
per, as the one that came by long.
distance telephone. a.
The trouble with the Information
Bureaus already In operation Is that
they tell the people what they (ths
information bureaus) think the peo-
pie want to know. Actually, they
nave no contact with the people,
haven't the remotest idea what the
man and the woman In the stree&
are worried about, are curious about,
We get around quite . bit. We
bump into hundreds Of citixens
every day. There are scores, oof
questions that Americans would like
answered, and answered with no Ifs.
ands and butts attached. One Of
them concerns the Aleutian Islands.
The Aleutians are still vague pos-
session to most rus. We would IKE
to know just how important they
are. We would like to know II IL is
true, as some say, that It doesn't
matter whether the Japs have q
foothold on them or not, or II It II
true, as others say, that to allow
the Japanese to stay there is to place
us IN jeopardy.
7es
The Government never has made
this clear. Speaking Of the ALEU-.
tians, lot Of us wonder Why four
Senators have been chosen to in.
vestisate the military bases in that
part Of the world. We would nka
TO ask the Information Bureau vhy
Army men. and not Senators, werv
not chosen to study battle instsf-
lations. What is the background a
the Senators that justifes their
choice as experts on war prepsrn-
tions? We say this despite the fsot
that Senator Happy Chandler, chair
man OF the group that is to do the
investigating, Is = close personal
friend, and = man We would waik
over bed Of hot bursoo to befriend.
The Information Bureau could
ease the minds Of 4 lot Of citiSens
by giving a direct answer to GUS.
tions concerning the rubber shore.
age. That Is, If there is q rubber
shortage. One day Washington sass
there Is an acute need for rubber,
The next day the manufacturers
say there is enough for every ma
to have q white-wall tire as q door
step. Two days later there comes 4
report that the synthetic rubber
program is sagging like . tramps
trousers. The next day one reads
tnat soon there will be enough syn
thetic stun to take care of all needs.
What about second front? ~
The Information Bureau could
settle lot Of bets by saying there
Will or there won't be one this wear.
The chances are the Chinese ana
the Russians would like to ret Sn
honest answer, too. II there's isn't
going to be 4 second front until It's
success Is mortal lock, a guarar,-
teed sure thing, then the people
should know. 50
The people also would like, TO
know how It's Government feels
about unified command, q separats
Air Force. the drafting Of Is ana
ID year old boys, the swing to Har-
old 1ckes new and 18th job, rails
ing the pay Of the WAACs, the faif-
ure to make any headway against
the submarine menace and the
worrying about State politics when
the country is battling for its life
IN tough, tough world. ~
We have maintained from the
start that the people deserve to
know the truth. II they aren't
stout enough to stand up under the
bad news, no matter how bad 1t may
be, then the effort to save them
Is, wasted effort. -
So, let's have . Bureau Of Plain
Facts. A bureau where the answers
you get may shock you. but ,an.
swers that will be the truth. never.
theless.
distributed b. McNausht 0yndicate, inc,
k 11l6lI|Al12