Evening star., 1942-03-17
Woodrum Outlines
5-Poinf Action Plan
To Speed Victory
Forum Speaker Calls for
Cur in U. S. Spending
Not Essential TO War

A point victory" program in
rolving reduction of nom -essentia
government expenditures and sus
pension TOR the war of all laws tha
Impede production was suggeste,
last night BY Representative Wood
rum, Democrat, of Virginia, speaking
on the Radio Forum.
The Forum Is sponsored by tn
star and the speech was broadcas
over the blue network, being heart
locally over Station WMAL.
The text follows:
Many years ago, when I first cam,
to Congress, I happened to be in thu
Senate chamber on one occasion
when some member OF that body wa!
discussing project to install a radio
broadcasting outfit, so that the peo
pie back home could know what w
are doing" 1 remember SO well tn,
late distinguished Senator from Ar
kansas, MIR. Caraway, pacing up anC
down the back of the Senate cham
ber in characteristic fashion, stop
ping to interject this remark: Mr.
President, I have no objection Il
installing radio so that the people
back home can hear what we are
saying. but I hope we will not make
1t = two-way radio so that we can
hear what the people back home
are saying about US; that would be
unbearable."
This bit Of rare humor and wit
may contain very significant
thought at the present moment
What are the people back home say
ing about Washington. We, OF
course. receive many letters every
day. We hear the radio commentat-
ors and read the newspaper edi-
torials, but from the great mass OF
the American people we heard little
! think it might be we'll if the Con-
gress of the United States could stop
right now for a few weeks and 60
home to our people and find out
what they think and hear what they
are saying. 1t would doubtless be
most interesting, and perhaps dis
turbing to some of us.
People Confused, Uneasy.
The American people are confused,
uneasy and alarmed, and they have
cause to be in that condition. Not
that I think for a moment that our
system or government is breaking
down, or that any representative
official in Washington is being guilty
of the offense of deliberately trying
to hurt the American people, but the
people have cause to be alarmed, be-
cause our Nation is in grave peril
and this is no mere idle, rhetorical
statement. 1t is cold, grim fact.
1t is a fact, however. which some OF
us have apparently not realized and
are not yet willing to face. But there
will come day
The peril is on two fronts. First,
the battlefront. and, second, the
home front. On the battlefront,
we are faced with a war waged
against us by foes who are deliber-
ate, shrewd, ruthless, efficient and,
by years of toll, thoroughly pre-
pared. We are faced with a war
which was not of our choice and
which I believe we could not have
avoided by any honorable means.
There are some so unreasonable as
10 think that even since December
r, we should be in position to
take the offensive and lick the Axis.
It IS very interesting to listen to
gome of those who are now standing
at the wailing wall, complaining
about our lack of preparation and
the slowness of our defense program.
When we come to analyze some of
these complaints and examine the
records of the compliments. we find
that many of these same citizens by
their utterances and actions before
Pearl Harbor were telling us that
cit could not happen over here"
and that those of us who advocated
strong preparedness and help to the
Allies were "warmongers." That
the British Navy and the two oceans
were all the protection we needed.
and that familiar iSolationist argu-
ment that the war was none of our
affair. We find that these people,
by their votes in the legislative
bodies almost without single ex-
ception have voted against every
effort made to put this country on
strong preparedness basis.
Our effort to prepare for the bat
tlefront has been beset by many
difficulties. In the first place, there
Is the natural difficulty of trying
10 transform a peaceful Nation
overnight to a war basis. In the
second place, there are our state
of overconfidence and our unwim-
ingness to face the stern fact that
the war was and is q threat to our
own soil. In the third place, there
are unfortunately still some selfish
people left in the world. Our
danger today Is not that we might
lose the war-because I will not
admit that for moment. The
danger is that while we sit idly by,
thinking about our personal and
selfish interests. trying to hold on
to our so-called social gains and
attempting to coddle our pet groups
and factions, this war might get
such a head start on us that before
we dDlc 10 CdICIl We Will
have had to pay for our folly the
price of many thousands of Ameri-
can lives and, perhaps, to face ma
tional bankruptcy.
The right Of free speech is a
precious heritage. I should be the
last to wish to see it curbed or
abridged. We Americans like to
indulge in the pleasant pastime of
"cussing the Government" And I
must be frank to say there is plenty
to "cusS" about right now.
Can Americans Sacrifice?
For instance, we we're wantonly
attacked by Japan on December Z
and within few hours Japan, Ger
many and Italy had declared war
on us. Here we've been at 1t three
and one-haH months and we haven I
licked 'em yet! No doubt, accord
ing to some, it's all because of the
stupidity of those who are running
the show. Such men as the Presi-
n