Evening star., 1943-02-25
Time Is Ripe
Clean Up
Home Front
Bureau BuneIing
Moy Cost Nation
Thousands of Lives
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.


serious plight. Unless action is
taken forthwith by the President
there is danger not merely of pro-
longing the war unnecessarily, but
Of losing hundreds of thousands of
American boys whose lives would be
spared If efficiency instead of inef-
ficiency were attained on the supply
line.
In every war 1t is the supply line
that must be maintained. That
supply line in our case Is today in
bad shape. High Army and Navy
officials are distressed about it, but
are helpless to improve it because
most of the decisions are in civilian
hands, and President Roosevelt, un-
happily, has failed to perceive that
time is running against us every
moment he delays a complete re-
organization of the home front.
Mr.. Roosevelt, like any other
civilian elected to high office, has
a speculative spirit that is under
standable. He hopes and prays that
drastic measures affecting civilian
interests may be postponed till alb
solutely necessary. The Army and
Navy have no such qualms about
disorganizing the civilian economy.
They feel that the American people
must face severe hardships and that
the sooner these are met effectively
the shorter will be the duration of
the war itself.
Root of the Mess.
The most painful and difficult
problem on the home front is the
administrations status with the
American people. 1t is at the bot
tom OF most of the disinclination
to face war restrictions squarely.
1t Is at the root of the mess we
have in Washington, administra-
lively speaking.
The Administration, however. is
a good deal like big corporation
that has come into bad repute with
the public. The usual comment is
that its public relations" are bad.
Often when this happens the big
companies hire good public rela-
tions man, few mimeograph ma
chimes and turn out a lot of alibi
and explanations that go into the
waste baskets of newspaper Offices.
Then slowly but surely the board of
directors of the company discovers
that there is no other way out of it
the management itself must be over
hauled and the product improved in
quality or method of distribution.
Customer reaction, in a broad sense.
is rarely wrong.
The Administration lost the last
election. The people repudiated not
the war policies of the President but
the bungling methods of OPA, WPB. !
the Seiective Service and a host of
other war agencies. If the election
were held tomorrow both houses of
Congress would go Republican even
more overwhelmingly than last |
autumn. This is not because the !
Republicans possess any particular
virtue, but because the people ex- /
press in that manner their deep !
seated protests.
Henderson "the Goat"
The Administrators answer thus |
far to last November's elections has
been to make Leon Henderson "the
goat" and to carry on feud with
Congress by issuing executive orders
that are not based on law. There
Is no way Of estimating the lengths
to which the American people will |
go In making sacrifices and In ac- |
cepting curtailments and even COM |
plete loss Of their businesses if thev |
have faith in the men at Wash |
ington when they say something is
absolutely necessary.
But too many people think the
restrictions aren't necessary or that
they could be handled differently.
Maybe they could and maybe they
couldn't. But one thing is sure.
nobody has much confidence in any
one In public Office who acts arro-
gantly, defies the public statutes and
tries to preach democracy in the
abstract while ignoring it in the
concrete. Nobody has much con-
idence In concealed or distorted
statistics of articles needed for war
purposes.
The road ahead is too long and too
hard to permit temporizing with in
efficiency in high places. When Mr..
Roosevelt picked Prentiss Brown he
picked someone with common sense
and background of understanding
Of public sentiment. He could well
replace some of his other bureau
Gratis with the same type of public
official and get better results. Basic
In the whole situation is the insidi-
Gus efforts OF left wingers to work
themselves into key positions behind
ostensibly middle of the road ad-
ministrators.
People on Capitol Hill no longer.
for instance, say the same kindly
things they used TO about Jimmy
Byrnes ever since he permitted left
wingers TO prepare documents and
arguments for his signature. The
left wing-right wing controversy has
no place in war. And as between
the two factions the time has come
to risk more power in the hands of
the men in uniform, for they know
what war means-they know the
cost in casualties when production
doesn't keep up with needs. And if
power must be risked anywhere the
country will accept the Army and
syy's requests-exceSSive though
the ' estimates may be or painful
thoulh their restrictions may be
soon than it will believe in or have