Evening star., 1943-10-31

IlldI slCdC llC"S agility, 1tCutCA 10 tllC
paucity Of news as to the American war
effort. After having travelled for prac-
tically month in that area I can under
stand how they feel. On some days it
would have been difficult from reading
the papers to know that the United
States was participating in the war at all.
National pride, of course, colors our own
news, and we are not slow to boast about
the accomplishments of our armed
forces
However, it seems to me that, on the
whole, our press has been much fairer
with our Allies in reporting the war than
they have been with us. I could give
many illustrations, but this excerpt from
leading paper in Australia illustrates
what I am talking about. The article
was written on the day that Italy
surrendered. Despite the kindness with
which our troops have been received in
Australia, it is disturbing to an American
soldier there to read:
There is great Joy in Britain that
1talys downfall should so largely be a
British Empire affair. Empire forces
"SAS lCoHoliolDlC Aoi ~ pei SCIb VI tllC
battles from the first battle in East
Africa right to the final landing on the
Italian mainland"
The India Burma Theater.
All in all, the morale of our troops In
India appeared to be lower than in any
other theater. India is in many respects
very depressing place for troops to be
stationed. This great country of $780,
100000 souls is land of contrasts, of
great wealth of the few and indescribabIe
poverty and filth Of the many. A great
famine is sweeping some of the prov
inces, causing unspeakable suffering and
many deaths from starvation Any in
vestigation Of the complex problem posed
by the conflicts between castes and
creeds, Indian NationaliSts and British
government. ancient ingrained habit and
todays civilization, was not within the
scope of our duties. The days that
spent in India, however, did confirm me
in the belief that it would require un-
remitting investigation over many years
to even family understand the so-called
Indian problem, and that those who have
never been there, but have 5-minute
solution, are extremely foolhardy.
There was much comment on the part
of our troops on the very apparent
lethargy of the British war effort in that
area. The lethargy has undoubtedly
affected morale. have no knowledge of
what should be implied from the ap-
pointment of Lord Mountbatten to COM
mand the large forces assembled in this
theater, but have reason to hope that
it means that the period of inactivity is
about to be ended. I met Lord Mount
batten in London. Any opinion formed
on such a brief meeting may easily be
erroneous, but I am strongly impressed
that Mountbatten is not the type of man
who will permit the Japs to continue to
occupy Burma and to strengthen their
hold on Malaga and the Indies without
annoyance. He struck me as being
man of action, who will not be content
with moribund strategy of defense.
This war Of mechanical transport, in
volving millions of vehicles from huge
ocean liners to the innumerable jeeps
which have become so indispensable, is
consuming petroleum products in stag
gering amounts. Up to now we have
been depicting our petroleum stocks at
ruinous rate, supplying not only our
own forces but those of our Allies 1t Is
high time to utilize the petroleum de-
posits of other parts of the world
Otherwise, the end of the war will find
our own deposits practically exhausted
The Presidents statement this week
that plans are being made to accomplish
this is highly gratifying There may
have been sound reasons heretofore for
not more widely employing the huge
deposits of the Persian Gulf These rea-
sons were based upon difficulties of
transportation. With the opening of the
Mediterranean and the great increase in
construction Of shipping there is no
longer any valid reason for not giving
our oil deposits rest, and tapping those
Of other areas.
At one time We were shipping high oc-
tame gasoline to Russia, which has great
petroleum reserves, but lacked refineries
Ref1neries have now been supplied Rus
to draw on our dwindling petroleum re-
serves for use in most of the foreign
theaters OF operation.
Postwar Air Rights.
All of us are concerned about Ameri-
can rights in air bases and air facilities
which have been constructed at our ex-
pense all over the world. There should
be no delay in having some definite
understanding and agreement as to the
postwar rights of our commercial avia-
ton. Certainly we occupy better posi-
ton to negotiate such understandings
now than we will after the war is over.
We cannot expect to have sovereignty
over all bases that We have constructed
for military purposes. but We should be
able to assure to American enterprise an
equal chance with others in these bases
we have paid for, and the right to oper-
ate in all parts of the world.
Air power is the decisive factor in this
war. With the great developments be-
ing made daily in aviation, the peace OF
the world and the outcome of any future
wars will depend directly upon air power.
Planes must have bases from which to
operate. We should begin now to plan
for the postwar period, both to assure
the future defense of the United States
and to assist in maintaining world peace
on basis of justice and equality.
Many of our close offshore bases are
built on lands under foreign flags
have never been satisfied with the go