Evening star., 1943-01-07

believe Washing
ton has failed to - ~
understand the David Lawrence.
war spirit of the people and has
insisted on allowing incompetent
men to stay in high administrative
posts.
There is a certain Difference to the
President noticeable on the Demo-
cratic side, but no such tendency
among the Republicans to gloss over
the Executives mistakes. In TACT,
there is a distinct inclination 10
investigate the use of public funds
and the use of public power by
executive agencies-for the very
simple purpose OF demonstrating
that there has been beth carelessness
and inefficiency.
Congress doubtless will authorize
number OF Investigations to get the
facts. Censorship has, to be sure,
covered up many important matters
that otherwise would be revealed to
public view. There has been rela-
lively little misuse of censorship to
hide inefficiency as such, but it
always happens that when the press
is denied information, the people as
a whole are prevented from applying
their influence to the correction of
obvious mistakes.
May Bare Misleading Data.
Thus check of all public state
ments issued with the actual produc-
ton records in 194D and l94l-now
old stuff so far as the enemy is con-
cerned - might disclose that the
people were actually misled concern
ing the nature of our armament.
Also, an inquiry into the reasons for
the delays in handling the work
stoppages that caused so much loss
of momentum in 1910 and 194l would
reveal that the administration
repeated requests that Congress
squelch all restrictive legislation on
strikes in 1910 and l94l cost the
American people considerable
amount of armament that today
would come in handy in the Pacific
or on the North African front.
TIE fact that lease-lend supplies
have teen secretly distributed was
barrier to an understanding of how
American production has been
allocated, but what happened in 1910
ard 1941 may have a bearing on
whether the United States has
harder job today to win the war in
the Pacific than might otherwise be
the case.
In every democratic country the
people have a right to know what
their government is doing with the
money spent, and to date there has
been no detailed inquiry into the
Use of the funds allotted for war or
measures short of war"
None of these investigations
should in any way interfere with the
operation Of the war itself, and it is
quite likely that all the data can be
furnished without bothering the Of
fiCers in command or the high chiefs
OF the civilian production side. Ger
i tainly the existence of war has not
prevented the administration from
carrying on lawsuits based on hap
penings of many years ago and the
argument against discontinuing such
suits is that they really take up the
time OF only few in the companies
concerned.
Japan Entrenched.
The governmental officers who
have charge of the statistical data
and those who have made the rec
ords can easily furnish to Congress
more detailed reports on what has
been done with the vast sums of
money appropriated by the National
Legislature. If the expenditures
have been justified by subsequent
events the administration should be
particularly glad to have the record
examined.
The view that the war may last
from two to three years more is be-
ginning to be held by many we'll
informed persons in the Nations
Capital. The rosy estimates and
optimistic statements concerning
our armament have led the people
to expect An early victory, but the
problems of tonnage and the NAL
distribution Of materials, together
with the intensified submarine ac-
tivity of the enemy, make 1t neces-
sary to revise all previous estimates.
Japan has entrenched herself In
the Pacific because the United
States did not prepare in 1910 and
1e4l Navy big enough or an air
force powerful enough to do the job
facing 1t in 1912. Germany still has
kept the United States and Britain
from landing on the coast of Eu-
rope, notwithstanding the fact that
Britain and America possess su-
perior sea and air power.
If the war is not to be even fur
ther prolonged beyond necessity.
further study of the mistakes of the
past would seem to be in order.
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