Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-02-10

WV VI >/sH
The tert OF Economic Stabih-
cation Director James F. Bvrnes'
radio address last night jollops::
I have little patience with those
who tell us that the American people
are not ready to meet the require
ments of total war. The day when
it could be said that our people were
only ankle-deep in the war is long
past. The American people-in the
armed forces. in the factories, on the
farms, in the mines, everywhere
are eager to do their part to win a
peoples war and peoples peace.
They await only the opportunity to
work, to fight and when need be to
die in freedom cause.
There is considerable, and not
wholly unwarranted. optimism about
our military situation. particularly
compared with what it was up to a
few months ago. There is danger,
however, that we may no. fully
appreciate the terrible stresses and
strains upon our accustomed habits
of living that we must be prepared
to undergo during the coming year.
Our optimism will be justified only
by our ability and willingness to
accept the burdens and deprivations
which will be required of all OF
lis to carry through our war plans
for 1943~
Those plans call for a very sub
stantial increase in our war pro-
duction over last years record
breaking goals. They require at the
same time the enlistment of addi-
tional millions into our armed forces.
Nley contemplate, within a measur-
able period of time, the invasion OF
Europe, one of the greatest military
operations ever planned in history
a military campaign which. no mat
ter how successfully and brilliantly
executed, will involve casualties such
as this Nation has never before
endured.
Supplies Must Flow.
Supplies, in unprecedented vol
ume, must flow constantly, and with
consummate timing, over carefully
guarded supply lines to the battle
fronts. We must also pool our sup
plies with those of the experienced
and well-trained troops Of Britain
and our other allies who will form
part of the invading armies and
gladly share the burden of fighting
and dying. We must continue our
support of our gallant Russian allies,
who, having withstood two about
onslaughts Of the Nazis total might,
are now driving the Nazis whim-
pering back toward a disillusioned
Germany.
We must send more help to our
Chinese allies. whose indomitable
resistance constantly wears down the
fighting strength of the Japanese
military machine and holds for us
the roads to Toxic. We must also
share our food with the peoples in
free and liberated countries who are
helping us to beat back our treach-
erous and still powerful enemies.
1t will require the fullest mobiliza-
ton of our manpower and our
resources to carry out these war
planes for 1943 It will require the
wholehearted cooperation of agri-
culture, labor and industry to
carry out these plans with the
self-restraint and self-discipline nee
essary to avoid imitation and to
preserve our system of free labor
and free enterprise.
In the years before the war, we
were struggling to improve the
standard of living of the mass of
our people After the war is over,
this struggle Of man to better him
self viii continue. But we must face |
the sfatt that there is no way that |
We. can hope to improve or eHen
tosSuStain our customary standards |
Of. iyhg during the coming year. (
We shall be able to retain for our I
consumer needs at home only q
fraction Of our total production.
Although We shall not have to |
endure the shame of poverty amid |
plenty that we did in 1892, we shall |
in fact have little more goods to
use or consume at home than we |
did at the depth Of the depression. |
We must all prepare to adopt for |
the duration a Spartan standard of !
living and to take patriotic pride |
in 1t. There is no way of giving |
any one group OF our people sub
stantial additional part of the Ma
tons goods or income without
all the rest of us.
Fair Balance Maintained.
Despite the rises in wages and |
prices which have thus far occurred,
we have been able to maintain a fair |
balance between various producers
and workers. There are inequities !
in the wages paid in every industry
and in every factory. This has
always been true. We cannot hope |
while fighting a total war to elimi-
nate all the real or fancied Unequal
tiles Of man. Our task is to see that |
the present balance does not change
for the worse and that those on the
lower rungs of the economic ladder
are not ground down below the
margin of subsistence.
IN considering tne ABILITY OF the
wage Garner to meet the increased
cost of living, we cannot look simply
at the basic hourly wage rates, even
though such rates have risen far in
excess of the increased cost of living.
to get more work out of our limited
labor supply
Spartan" Program.
while overtime payments will
add to the wage bill he explained,