Evening star., 1942-04-17
By the Associated Press.

By tbe hseociekd Press
The tert OF Secretary OF Wa
StimSon'S statement on strategy AM
progress IN the iDdr, Which tDdS iSSueC
at his press conference today. tol.
IoiDs.
You will remember that / told
you right after the attack on
Pearl Harbor that dictator
could always get the jump on
democracy in the first stages of
a war. l think / even told you
then that things would probably
get worse before they got better.
But I told you at the same time
that in the latter stages of the
war, when the strain began to be
felt by all parties, a democracy
could be counted on to show
greater strength than an au-
tocracy and would pull down It's
enemy by sheer endurance and
unbreakable morale.
also told you some months
ago that the only way we could
finish this war would be by TAX
Ing the offensive and bringing
the war home TO our enemies, and
that was In favor of doing it as
soon as We could.
I have no doubt that a good
many OF you have been troubled
by the length of time it seemed
to take before the United States
could assume the initiative in
this war.
Planning for Offensive.
But l want to say to you today
that l am now more than ever
convinced of the soundness of
the propositions which I stated
TO you in these matters, and l am
now more than ever convinced
that we are going to get on the
offensive and to do so at the
earliest practicable moment.
Although many OF us saw 1t
coming, this war when 1t did
come actually caught the most of
our people by surprise. Neither
their minds nor their spirits were
ready for its onset and in a great
peaceful democracy there are lots
of things that have to be done
before the country is ready for
war, particularly an offensive
war.
When the blow first struck us,
the first thing we had to do was
to make certain KEY defenses
safe. And In a country as large
as the United States that was a
sizable job. I remember that I
told YOU once here in this room
that Immediately after the blow
at Pearl Harbor the Army had to
move some 100000 men around
this continent in our effort to
plug up the holes in our defenses
and TO strengthen them against
another surprise blow. Before
We can lead this Nation into a
long sustained offensive we must
be as sure as possible that Ger
tain key points In our armor are
as safe as possible. We must
make sure that our resources and
manufactures are protected
against any interruption which
would hold up or damage our
offensive. And when 1t is q
world war with powerful enemies
attacking us all around the globe,
our key points of defense run far
out into distant quarters of the
world where one friendly nation
is holding a post that is vital to
us. That is what we have been
trying to do during these diff1cult
months and the task is not yet
finished.
Morale Called High.
But I think I can tell YOU to-
day that to me in my lookout post
in the War Department things
are beginning to move and TO
move in the right direction.
have great confidence in the
growing morale of our people and
I have overwhelming confidence
in the morale of our young men
in our armies. Before we got into
the war. doubling ThomaseS used
10 question the morale of our
boys. Those boys were just be-