Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-01-08
The Presidents MESSAGE

In his message to the Seventy
eighth Congress, President Roosevelt
said that he sought to emphasize a
sense Of proportion in appraising the
great events of 1912 and, to the
extent that they can be foreseen,
those which lie ahead in 1943 He
succeeded admirably, in a statement
which deserves to be ranked with
his very best.
Reviewing the progress of the war,
Mr.. Roosevelt spoke with confidence
of the certainty of ultimate success,
but avoided any suggestion of quick
and easy victory. For 1943, the most
that he would promise was a very
substantial advance" along the roads
to Toxic, Berlin and Rome. And on
this occasion he was able to bolster
his verbal assurance with impressive
statistics, not on what we are going
to produce in the way of military
weapons but on what we did produce
in 1912 AS he called out the num-
bers-48,OO0 military planes, $4,000
combat vehicles, $4,000 machine
guns and so on-the desperate men
who control the Axis countries must
have experienced a deep sense of
despair. For them, the game is up
they cannot win and they know it.
The President properly described
our effort during the past year as a
production miracle, but he claimed
no credit for himself or for his ad-
miniStration, although many of the
foundations of our vast military pro-
duction machine were laid before
Pearl Harbor because he had foreseen
the inevitability of war. In his mes
sage, however, he preferred to give
the credit to those who have actually
done the Work-to the owners,
managers and supervisors, to the
craftsmen and engineers, to the
Workers-men and women-in fac
tories and arsenals and shipyards
and mines and mills and forests and
railroads and highways" This was
something new, and it will be
welcomed.
In similar vein Mr. Roosevelt
sought to disarm his critics by can
didly admitting that mistakes had
been made on the domestic front;
that he, too, had been annoyed by
too many complicated forms and
missionaries. But, as he correctly
said, these mistakes are inherent in
doing big things for the first time
The important thing is not that mis-
takes have been made, but rather
that those responsible for the errors
learn to correct them The Presi-
dent said that the lessons have been
learned and that, as far as possible,
the mistakes will be rectified. To
what extent this will be done re-
mains to be seen, but this candid
statement from the President is an
encouraging first step.
Somewhat surprisingly. the mes
sage contained few specific recon-
mendations and set forth no con-
crete legislative proposals. In gen.
eral terms the President outlined the
shape that he believes the postwar
world should take, and he spoke
briefly of his desire to provide greater
protection in the United States
against the evils of major economic
hazards. But the details remain to
be filled in.
AS he said at the outset, his main
purpose was to emphasize sense of
proportion, to put first things first.
In keeping with this intent, he en-
phasized that victory in this war is
the first and greatest goal before us.
Victory in the peace is next" That
undoubtedly is the way most Amer
leans feel about the matter, and it is
a statement of detectives behind
which they can and should unite.