Evening star., 1942-10-13
Text Of Roosevelt Speech
President Says 18 and 19 Year Old Youths
Are Needed in Army to Speed Victory

than two years ago-more than q
year before war was forced upon
us at Pearl Harbor.
Getting Ahead Of Enemies
In Transportation Battle.
We have also had to face the
problem of shipping. Ships in every
part of the world continue to be
sunk by enemy action. But the
total tonnage of ships coming out
of American, Canadian and British
shipyards, day by day, has increased
so fast that we are getting ahead Of
our enemies in the bitter battle Of
transportation.
In expanding our shipping, we
have had to enlist many thousands
Of men for our merchant marine.
These men are serving magnifi-
Gently. They are risking their lives
every hour so that guns and tanks
and planes and ammunition and
food may be carried to the heroic
defenders of Stalingrad and to all
the United Nations forces all over
the world.
A few days ago I awarded the
first Maritime Distinguished Service
Medal to young man-Edward F.
CLANCY of Yeadon, Pa.-who had
shown great gallantry in rescuing
his comrades from the oily waters
of the sea after their ship had been
torpedoed. There will be many such
acts of bravery.
In one sense my recent trip was
hurried one, out through the
Middle West, to the Northwest, down
the length OF the Pacific Coast and
back through the Southwest and the
South. In another sense, however,
it was a leisurely trip, because I
had the opportunity to talk to the
people who are actually doing the
work-management. and labor alike
on their own home grounds. 1t
gave me a fine chance to do some
thinking about the major problems
of our war effort on the basis of first
things first.
AS I told the three press associa-
ton representatives who accompa-
MED me, I was impressed by the
large proportion of women employed
doing skilled manual work run
ming machines. AS time goes on,
and many more of our men enter
the armed forces, this proportion
will increase. Within less than a
year from now, there will probably
be as many women as men working
in our war production plants.
Getting Ahead Of Enemy
In Battle Of Production.
I had some enlightening expert
ences relating to the old saying OF
us men that curiosity-inquisitive-
ness-is stronger among women. I
noticed that, frequently, when we
drove unannounced down the mid
die of a great plant full OF workers
and machines, the first people to
look up from their work were the
men-and not the women. 1t was
chiefly the men who we're arguing
as to whether that fellow in the
straw hat was really the President
or not.
Having seen the quality of the
work and of the workers on our
production lines-and coupling these
f1rst-hand observations with the re-
ports Of actual performance of our
weapons on the fighting fronts-I
can say to you that we are getting
ahead of our enemies In the battle
of production.
OF great importance to our future
production was the effective and
rapid manner in which the Con-
gress met the serious problem of
the rising cost of living. It was a
splendid example of the operation
of democratic processes in wartime.
The machinery to carry out this
act of the Congress was put into
effect within II hours after the bill
was signed. The legislation will
help the cost-of- living problems of
every worker in every factory and
on every farm in the land.
In order to keep stepping-up oul
production, we have had to ado
millions of workers to the tota,
labor force of the Nation. And az
new factories come into operation
we must find additional millions Of
workers.
This presents a formidable prob.
lem in the mobilization of man
power.
1t is not that we do not have
enough people in this country to dc
the job. The problem is to have
the right numbers of the right
people in the right places at the
right time.
We are learning to ration mate.
rials; and we must now learn tt
ration manpower.
Two Major Objectives
For Manpower Policy.
The major objectives of a sount
manpower policy are:
First, to select and train men ot
the highest fighting efficiency needed
for our armed forces in the achieve.
ment of victory over our enemies il
combat.
Second, to man our war industrie!
and farms with the workers needed
to produce the arms and munition.
and food required by ourselves ant
our fighting Allies to win this war
In order to do this, we shall b,
compelled to stop workers from NOV
ing from one war job to another al
matter Of personal preference: tt
stop employers from stealing labol
from each other: to use older men
and handicapped people, and NOR,
women, and even grown boys ant
girls, wherever possible and reason
able, to replace men Of military az,
and fitness: to train new personne
for essential war work; and to sto,
the wastage Of labor In all non
essential actbities.
There are many other things tha
we can do, and do Immediately, t,
help meet the manpower problem
The school authorities in all thu
States should work out plans tt
enable our high school students tt
take some time from their schoo
year, and to use their summer vaca.
tions. to help farmers raise and har.
vest fhoir crore ~ 20 ~v,~-,. - ~