Evening star., 1943-02-14
The President Reports

| Although freSlQenC roosevelt spoke
before a private press association
while Prime Minister Churchill ad-
| dressed the House of Commons, the
two speeches, made only day apart,
should be considered as virtually
joint official pronouncements of
major Importance.
The general tone of both addresses
Is the samoan uncompromising
determination to fight the Axis
powers until they are forced to un-
conditional surrender, and an op-
timistic confidence that this goal can
be attained in a not-too- distant
future. So far as the fight against
the European end of the Axis is
concerned, the President did not do
more than affirm and slightly am
plify Mr.. Churchill's thesis. Mr..
Roosevelt restated the obvious fact
that the present campaign in Tunisia
is the necessary preliminary to de-
cisive action against Axis dominated
Europe. Mr.. Roosevelt emphasized
the scope and multiplicity Of that
projected action when he assured his
hearers that the consequences Of an
Axis expulsion from Tunisia will be
actual invasions of the continent of
Europe"-With emphasis upon the
plural. And he went on to stress
this point when he continued: I'VE
do not disguise our intention to make
these invasions. The pressure on
Germany and Italy will be constant
and unrelenting. The enemy
must be hit and hit hard from so
many directions that he never knows
which is his bow and which is his
stern"
Where the Presidents address diff
fered markedly from that of his
British colleague was it's much
greater emphasis upon the war
against Japan. Whereas Mr.. Church.
i'll gave only vague assurances to
China, qualified by the admission
that British efforts in the Far East
were at present confined to opera
tions in Burma, the President implied
vigorous, large-scale action in the
near future throughout the Far East
and the Pacific. He stressed our re-
cent successes in the Solomons and
New Guinea as not only demonstrate
ing the local superiority Of our men,
ships and planes, but as revealing the
new offensive technique recently de-
scribed by General Macarthur,
which. as the President expressed it,
need not compel us to spend the
time it would take to bring Japan to
final defeat merely by inching our
way forward from island to island
across the vast expanse of the
Pacific. There are many roads
which lead right to Toxic. We shall
neglect none of them"
Mr.. Roosevelt made it clear that
one of the most important of these
roads runs via China. And he as
serted that great and decisive &C
tions against the Japanese will be
taken to drive the invader from the
soil Of China. Important actions will
be taken in the skies over China
and over Japan itself"
Those words come at an opportune
moment to hearten the Chinese at
dark hour in their national fortunes
For months China's spokesmen have
been warning us of their desperate
| plight and Of the discontented pes
simism inspired by their isolation
and the seeming neglect of their
| Western Allies. Mr.. Churchill's vague
assurances are reported to have
caused an undercurrent Of disap-
pointment at Chungking. The Presi-
dents more specific assurances
should serve as welcome and timely
antidote to the impression which the
British Prime Minister'S words had
made.