Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-10-15
Roosevelt
Swings Over
To Offensive
Tone Of Caution Missing
in Presidents Chat
BY PAUL MALLON

still grumbling mildly 10 them
selves about the Presidents fire.
side chat.
They all seemed 10 consider il
irritating at one point or an
other his raising Of the l8-
19-year-old draft matter just be-
fore their election mot hiS) -.
his avoidance of decisive recon-
mendations on man-power -.
but. above all. his timing of the
speech TO blanket late after
noon announcement of the loss
of three cruisers in the Solomons
last August.
To me it seemed the opposite,
in fact the soundeSt political
speech of the year. 1t signifed
that the most embarrassing vital
war matters which the govern
ment was going TO put of until
after election. are to be met
straightforwardly.
But. above and beyond that, il
show this government is
swinging away from the de-
fensive and into aggressive ac-
ton.
ZONE was the old tone OF
" caution and warning
caution that we must not expect
much military action before
next year, warning that we must
realize we have a war on.
When you couple this with
recent administrative steps, you
will find the government is
taking the offensive in more
than mere speech. His appoint
ment of single-headed controls
over the confused governmental
economic policies and over rub
Der has strengthened this change
of front, and given il substance.
Not only that. but the new
war guide he offered the people
carried a significant suggestion
of the imminence of aggressive
military action. not restricted 10
a second front, but in vaster
theater.
The conception which the pub
lie has of a second front comes
mainly from Russia, and her i'm
mediate necessities. Stain has
been agitating for invasion of
the continent to relieve pressure
on his armies.
MIR. ROOSEVELT avoided use
AV1 ofthe term second front"
He said the military plan con-
templates diversions for both
China and Russia by new Of
fensives against Germany and
Japan
This could mean a heavy con-
centration against Rommel in
Africa TO annihilate him. per-
haps a dozen different attacks
between Norway and the Medi-
terranean islands, furt h er
stronger advances by MacAr-
thur in the southwest Pacific,
the extinction of the last Jap
stronghold in the Aleutians cit
is now a question of whether
they can get out of there before
they are bombed to pieces) and
perhaps even invasion of Japan
eventually through Russia, if
Stain will open those Siberian
bombing fields TO us.
An intimation that the PreSi-
dent is thinking aggressively
now in terms of early action is
conveyed by the fact that. in the
very next breath. he talked of
what may happened when the
Axis begins to collapse.
IT SEEMS 10 me the President,
L not on his trip, but before.
reached the decision that the
congressional conception of good
politics was not very good at this
time.
While the 1S-19-year-old draft
will not be popular with mothers
from a standpoint of self-inter-
est. il will certainly be popular
with older persons from the
same standpoint. But, regardless
Of politics. the army says il
wants these younger boys. and
certainly older men are needed
elsewhere TO sustain both mill
tarv and civilian life.
In the manpower matter also.
the President merely turned
down those of his officials who
want 10 handle it the Hitler
way by an arbitrary draft.
or politics, there was plenty
in the speech. true enough. But
as il signifies swing 10 action.
a move 10 get off the defensive
in spirit and movement. and fol-
lows many line critically sug-
gested in this column. / think
congressional criticism is petty.
GREAT ado is being raised in
" some quarters about the
antipoll tax measure now being
successfully promoted in Con-
gress. but the bill is largely po-
litical in nature.
1t does not mean Negroes will
be automatically allowed to vote
in the eieht southern states af-
fected. In those states. the pri-
maries are the only important
parts OF the elections.
Some of the states have laws
now. giving political parties the
right TO fix qualifications Of vo-
tiers in primaries. These laws
have been upheld by the Su-