Evening star., 1942-10-27
Mr.. WiIIkie Reports

Mr.. WiIIkie Reports
Wendell Willkie conveyed an i'm
preston of deep sincerity in his
report to the Nation last night. He
has Travelled $1,000 miles through
countries that were old when our
side of the world was an uncharted
wilderness. He has talked with the
leaders and the plain men and
women of peoples who have suffered
for centuries at the hands of con-
querors and plunderers. And he has
come home profoundly troubled
sensing that the old order in the East
is crumbling and that we of the
Western World are not prepared to
keep pace with the social and eco
nonlic revolution which is already in
the making.
In detail, there were some things
in his report to which exception
might be taken. He dwelt at length,
for example, with the problem of
India, treating it as a symbol of
what has been wrong with the rela-
tions between the white race and the
peoples OF the East. Mr.. Willkie had
no solution Of his own for the Indian
problem, but he was critical of our
tacit acquiescense in how it is being
met. He seemed almost to suggest
that we should have forced the hand
of the British; that it would have
been better to have risked impair
ment of our relations with Britain
rather than accept the present state
OF affairs. Perhaps he is right, but
there will be many to doubt the
wisdom of such a course.
Referring again to our attitude
toward India, he said that the people
OF the East Cannot tell from our
vague and vacillating talk whether or
not we really do stand for freedom, or
what we mean by freedom" If this
was literal statement, which prob
ably it was not, one wonders why
the people of the East think we are
in this war. Had we not stood for
freedom we might have avoided
collision with the Japanese and the
Germans. They were not anxious to
fight us, but they realized that their
pattern of conquest could never be
secure while the United States re-
mained free Nation, devoted to the
ideal OF freedom. For that reason
they attacked us, and it is difficult
to believe that anything we might
have done about India could have
given greater assurance of our gen.
uine devotion to freedom than the
sacrifices now being made by Amer
leans all around the world. No doubt
India aspires to freedom, but many
Americans have been disturbed by
the attitude of India. Our people
believe that freedom is worth fight
ing for, and they find it difficult to
comprehend the point OF view that
there is little to choose between the
AxisSon the one hand and the
United Nations on the other. It. is
somewhat irrelevant, perhaps, but it
might be said of them that they
cannot tell from the vague and
vacillating talk of the Indian leaders
whether they really do stand for
freedom, or what they mean by free
dom. If the question basically is one
OF good faith, it is difficult to accept
the view that only the British and
the Americans have failed to
measure up.
1t would be easy to miss the real
Importance Of what Mr.. Willkie had
to say, however, by paying undue
attention to certain of the details.
Some of his specific criticisms and
suggestions may have been unwar-
ranted, but he was right in his major
premise that we must find some
formula for satisfying the legitimate
aspirations Of those millions of people
who are demanding that freedom
shall mean equality for them. Some
how, this has to be done. The first
step, as Mr.. Willkie suggested, should
be to place the facts before our own
people so that they may form an
intelligent opinion as to whether we
are measuring up adequately to the
task of fighting the war, which lies
Immediately before us. This is the
first thing to be done, and If the
enunciation of Pacific Charter" is
desirable to that end at this time, as
Mr.. Willkie seems to believe, we
should not shrink from taking the
step. But we should never lose sight
OF the fact that there will be no
peace to win if the war is lost. The
desperate urgency of the immediate
task must be kept in mind as we seek
a solution of those problems which,
relatively speaking, belong to the
future.