The Wilmington morning star., 1943-08-17
BYRNES PROMISES
LOWER COST SOON
(COntnued From Page One,

battle. And the last battle has not
been fought.
1--WE have every reason for con
fidence in an ultimate overwhelm
ing victory over both Germany anc
Japan, but am authorized by the
President to say that in his judg
ment, as of today, the major battles
lie ahead of us not behind U.S."
Byrnes spoe over the NBC ane
Blue radio networks.
Reviewing developments on the
home front, Byrnes:
Promised a Substantial re
duction" in the cost of actual ne
cessities, in connection with n
study to stabilize the cost OF living
2-Declared program OF in
creased taxation ''or freeze by en-
forced savings" must be adopted
to drain off an excess purchasing
power of an estimated twenty bill
lie 'ollars.
1 laid the hold-the-line order or
the price front as well as on the
wage front must not be abandon
ed lest twenty millions or more
citizens receiving low wages, small
salaries and small fixed incomes
which have not been increased ma
terially Twill be ground below the
| level of fair subsistence.
4-Reported that under the pend.
ing revision of governmental pro
curement programs much progress
has been made and that some es-
sentia1 supplies for civilians will be
increased without lessening t h e
war effort.
5-Criticized NOISY ninorities'
who he said are enga ged in de-
structive criticism, and called for
an adjournment of political discus.
sion until the presidential cam
paign of 1914.
'The people of America" said
Byrnes, "are not concerned about
party advantage or personal am
bition. They believe in equality
of sacrifice. They have faith in
the free world for which freedom
loving people everywhere are
fighting and dying. They have the
will to win"
That was Byrnes' topic for his
address" 1.-The Will To Win"
The war mobilization chief paid
high tribute to the brilliant achieve
ments of the American, British and
Canadian forces in Africa and Sic
lily. But he added that the Allies
have met and defeated '1ess than
seven per cent the combat in
visions which the enemy has in
the European area"
He said the Russian allies have
been fighting against approximate
ly 40 percent of the enemy's Euro
pean combat divisions and added:
$50 the enemy has been using
less than half his combat divisions
in actual battle, while the Allies
have been using nearly three-quar-
ters of all their combat troops,
which are in the general European
area"
Byrnes declared that even if TIA
/ ly is knocked completely out of
the war the enemy will still have
more combat divisions in Europe
than the Allies and will have as
many divisions as the Allies will
have, "even after the American
mobilization is complete with its
full strength of over 80 divisions.
Only in the air will we have nu
merical superiority"
Even with Italy out of the war
he continued, Germany will be
as strong for a defensive war as
she ever was for an offensive war
This, of course, involves shorten.
ing hte Russian front, evacuating
much Russian territory and adopt
ing an entirely defensive plan oil
campaign"
Severe as have been the losses
inflicted on Germany by the Rus.
sians. Byrnes said, these losses are
still much less than those suffered
by Russia to date. In the war OF
attrition the Germans still have a
huge net balance in their favor in
military and naval losses suffered,
strategic advantages gained, terri
tories and peoples conquered, he
said.
Even in equipment destroyed to
date, Byrnes declared the Allies
have lost more by U-boat sinkings
than the Germans have lost through
the Allied bombing operations. He
said, however, that the current
operations" in this respect are in
our favor,
Byrnes pointed out that while
the Allies had gained priceless
edge on the enemy-the initiative
and Allied morale and materiel
and resources are increasing while
those of the enemy are decreasing,
our enemies in Europe and Asia
have not yet been struck a fatal
blow.
We cannot relax for one moment,
he added, in the vigorous prose.
|'cution of the offensive Byrnes said
that in the Pacific area Japan oc-
cupies one-fourth of the territory of
China proper, dominates one.half
it's population and controls it's de-
veloped resources, and has taken
over from neighboring countries
and islands many valuable resourc-
es, including 80 per cent of the
worlds crude rubber.
On the home front, Byrnes spoke
of shortages of goods as in "a very
real sense not of blundering but
eG IL L. L E Il