Evening star., 1942-01-07

duction figures s
that is the very &sss -
,.itbesie Of David Lawrence.
censorship and suppression. He told
the world what America is producing
and expects to produce, what COLLARS
II will spend and what man power 1t
Uill mobilize. He did not reveal exact
locations that might be of military
Use, but he did present the lndustrlal
proeram in a manner that cannot
be misunderstood anywhere.
The President is telling the world
what America has resolved to do.
And if in the face of the avalanche
of planes and guns and ships that Is
coming the groups that hold power
In Germany, Italy and Japan insist
on prolonglng the struggle into long
years it will only mean the gradual
anrihilation of huge sections of the
human race.
Axis PEOPLES Will Know.
In the last war the German people
had won their big military victories.
Their soil had never been invaded.
But when the true nature OF the
American contribution became
known the German people got rid of
their war lords and made peace.
The people of Germany, Japan
and Italy cannot but learn sooner or
later of the immense figures of war
weapons constituting the American
war effort. The propagandiSts in
Berlin. Toxic and Rome may scott
and say, 1T is too late" but they
will not be very convincing. Fortu-
rately the arsenal of democracy is
protected by two wide oceans and
weapons Of war can be built with
relative immunity from attack.
Enough defensive weapons are avail
able already to make a defensive
maneuver in 1912, but when 1943
comes the offensive will be under
taken.
the last card to be played when they
know that in our hands are the
trump cards that will mean their
destruction if the war is prolonged?
The length Of the war will be de-
termined. as the President truly
says. by the effort of the American
peOple-"juSt as soon as We make it
end"
BY reversing the policy of sup
precision and telling the figures on
Americas war production plan, the
President has set the pace for the
country. From now on it would be
of great value If the American press
were permitted to check the produc-
ton schedule or if the Government
would periodically announce how the
schedule is progressing from month
to month. If delays or Interruptions
occur, the corrective process of pub
lie opinion would then tend to re-
move the obstacles. There is in
Spiration, too, in a race that is being
reported at every important stage.
To Realize Futility.
The Presidents speech will tend to
remove the encouragement which
may have affected some Latin Amer
lean countries. For while the United
States has suffered reverSes in
Hawaii and the Philippines, it is an
open secret that the reverses came
from no failure in man power or
machines that cannot be corrected,
whereas the raw materials and the
productive plants needed by the Axis
powers to equal those of the United
Nations are simply not available.
In due time and in the long run.
maybe a year, or two, the United
States will have enough weapons
to cause CONSERVATION among the
peoples of Germany, Italy and ia
pan. They will come to realize that
resistance is futile and that the only
way to peace lies in overthrowing
tnHlT present ltduelS. II ID W tllIS
goal that the American production
program is moving Hence the wider
publicity given the coming program
the sooner will the news percolate
through censorships abroad by word
Of mouth and by radio broadcast to
the belligerent countries.
If the war production plan were to
be supplemented now with frank
statement of what the peoples of
Germany. Italy and Japan may ex-
pect in a general disarmament pro-
gram, the tendency would be to make
the price of surrender less burden
some than if the impression is Gre
ated that the innocent populations
of those Axis countries are to suffer.
Resistance is always stimulated
when surrender means destruction
anyway.
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