Imperial Valley press., 1942-08-16
by
Peter
Edison

This has happened faster tnan
most people have realized - faster
than even the experts thought it
could ever happen. 1t has happen
ed in less than six months. And
few people yet appreciate how SER
ious a situation this is.
You remember everything
that was taught you on this
subject in school. The United
States was the richest nation
on earth with plenty of every
thing for all, even with colon
les. The United States was a
definitely have" nation.
Great Britain was also a have"
nation, though it depended on its
colonies for most of its raw ma
terials
In the other category were the
have not" nations-Japan, Ger
many and Italy, for instance -
which not only were far from self
sufficient in their own economy
but also did not have the colonies
to give them the things they lack
ed. From the Hitlerian point of
view, that was one of the reasons
for the present war
1t may have been hard for the
United States to appreciate such
situation before the war began, but
it shouldn't be hard to understand
now The have not" business eX-
tends right down to the American
family icebox and pantry shelf
You have not sufficient sug-
ar, sufficient coffee, sufficient
tea, sufficient rubber to ride on
for at least the next two years.
In some areas are shortages OF
meat, gasoline, fuel oil. Nam
my's got corn to burn, but
Nanny amt got 'nuf rice, 'nuf
cocoanut oil, by long shot.
In the large fields of industry
and manufacturing the have not
list longer than both your arms,
stretched out horizontally, from
finger tip to finger tip. The United
States has not sufficient of even
such basic stuff as iron and steel
and copper and more than 500
other officially listed materials, in
Guiding even Junk. Within the last
! few days the War Production Board
has issued a list of 500 commodities
it had placed on an emergency
shipping priorities list. They are
vital to the nations wartime econ
omy. They run from abrasives to
zincorium. They must all be i'm
ported, from all parts of the world
ISOLATIONISTS DEBUNKED
The faster you let that fact sink
in your stream of consciousness. the
faster you will realize that all this
talk about splendid isolation-the
ability of this country to crawl in
its shell and let the rest of the
world go by-is utter and complete
bunk.
A lot is said about these -Four
Freedoms that the United States
is fighting for. Yes, they're won
derful and everyone would like to
have them sticking around. But
You'll soon realize there is some
thing much more fundamental than
that this country has to fight Tor
if you give this have not sltua-
ton its full and proper significance
As a "have not" nation today,
the United States is fighting
for inst simple subsistence.
The United States is fighting
for its very existence.
There is much more to this
war than just ridding Europe OF
Hitler and Japan of its AFRO
gant. double crossing military
martinets. This is a fight for
life.
At the start of the war in Europe
it was assumed that the British
had succeeded in blockadlng the
Nazis. and that because Germany
was a have not" nation, it could
be starved into defeat. But now
the other shoe is pinching the
other foot in that regard Germany
made herself self-sufficient by sac
rifices, synthetics and stockplleS
and by submarines she has IN ell
feet established a counter-olocK-
ade which interfered seriously with
he goods brought into the United
States It is not at all out OF ORDER
today for a neutral to ask, VINO Is
blockading Whom?"
WHERE THE "HAVE NOT"
REALLY HURTS
Viewed in that light, winning thi
war is not just question OF now
much material of war the United
States can export to Britain, So
Wet Russia, China, Australia. Be-
fore sufficient war materials can
no exported, there must be i'm
norted into the United States the
raw materials needed to manu-
facture the munitions that must
be exported. That's where your
have not" comes in and hurts the
hardest
1t is because of these shortages
that this agitation for cargo planes
assumes it's present Importance
p,ildinp enolIph cargo planes to