Evening star., 1943-06-23

tion or So-called David Lawrence.
Roosevelt haters. to those who
would rubber stamp everything
done by officialdom and thus hide
from the American people the truth
about their war effort, the report
just issued by a subcommittee of
the Senate Military Affairs Com
<nittee should prove interesting
reading.
This committee is composed of
five Democrats. The chairman
Senator Kilgore of West Virginia
and at least three others are New
Dealers. They are not Roosevelt
haters or Republicans or isolation
lists or in any of the other categories
in which wishful thinkers place all
critics when they don't like to know
the truth or to let the people learn
the truth. The customary cry is
that all criticism Just gives aid and
comfort to Goebbels as if the
American people pay any attention
to Goebbels and as if it matters
much what the NaziS think so long
as we don't keep the truth from our
own people.
Home Front Says.
I'm your committees findings of
May 49," says the Kilgore state
ment. we reported that war mobi-
lization is in crisis and that the
Nation must undertake the integra-
tion Of basic mobilization policies in
the fields of manpower, production
and stabilization' if We are to move
on to victory.
Since that date our home front
has sagged even more dangerously.
In the past month there has been
a further deterioration of the do
mestic war effort and a lowering of
morale which flows directly from
failure to manage decisively the do
mestic economy.
"We are plagued by recurring
strikes and by administrative failure
to attack the root causes of unrest
Recent labor unrest is more
significant as a symptom than as
a cause of diSorganization of the
home front But neither threats
OF compulsion nor eXhortation can |
substitute for rational organiza-
ton Of the domestic front. Only .
full mobilization can successfully .
counteract business as = usual and
labor-as usual attitudes which have
been and are now retarding war
production.
The committee is heartened by
the creation Of the Office of War
Mobilization . 1t is timely to re-
call that earlier reorganizations of
the war effort did not establish an
overall war program. although they |,
gave substantial authority to indi-
vidual war agencies, both with re-
spect to program and co-ordinative I
powers.
Cropping Measures.
Despite the continued publicity
over the volume Of our war produc-
ton. we still are not producing to
the limits of our capacity While
our armies and Allies clamor for
more production, huge stock piles Of
war materials lie in warehouses,
factories and depots throughout the
Nation . In no phase of the war
effort has there been less planning
and integration than in the field of
manpower Our approach to this
urgent question has been monoton-
Gus series Of piecemeal and cropping
measures, unrelated to strategic and
production decisions.
The most widely felt failure on
the home front has been the failure
to stabilize the domestic economy.
1t has sapped the sinews of our war
effort Government spokesmen
have developed no clear policies to
integrate the various agencies deal
ing with economic stabi,ization
Subsidies illuminate the lack of
policy.
1T is only through planned, CO.
ordinated action that the present
shortcomings of production and the
deterioration of the home front can
be cured Unified direction of the
home front is the primary need if we
are to give full support to our arms
and those of our Allies"
Indirectly Hits Roosevelt.
The foregoing gives only few
excerpts. The report is full of
pointed criticisms. 1t doesn't in so
many words say that President
Roosevelt is a failure as an admin
istrator of the home front, but, since
his is the responsibility. such an in
ference is not difficult to make. The
President has been a wise strategist
in foreign policy and global war
planning. But as an administrator
on the home front he has made a
poor record and the war effort is
suffering because of it.
If OF course, the American people
do not want anything said about
this and prefer to eliminate all men,