The Wilmington morning star., 1944-04-28
TODAY and TOMORROW
By WALTER LIPPMANN


not have to be drawn upon.
With the tremendous operations
that are now preparing in Europe
and also in the Pacific, no Ameri-
can civilian has the right to say
to our military leaders that he can
have the 4-F's but that is all. The
civilians who say that-be they Of
ficials of the Chamber of Com
merce, the National Association of
Manufacturers, the American Fed
GRAFTON of Labor, the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, or of the
Congress of the United States -
are, in a matter of life and death
for hundreds of thousands of Amer
leans, in a matter of supreme i'm
portance to the nation, putting their
personal views ahead of the judy
ment of the commanders who must
conduct the battles. Suppose these
civilians, who know little of war,
are wrong. Just think what we shall
carry with us upon our consciences
for the rest of our lives if, when
we were called upon to support
the armies, we refused.
No man will ever regret that in
this fateful hour he did too much.
He will never be forgiven if he does
not do enough.
The President is returning soon.
His duty is manifest. He is COM
mitted to a national war-service
act. The fact is, however, that he
has not fulfilled his commitmen
In his message of last January he
hedged it with reservations and
qualifications which convinced Con-
gress that he was not serious about
it. His inaction and silence have
confided that conviction. Yet he is
President and he is Commander in
Chief, and if the armed forces need
the backing of this act they need
it regardless of the tax bill or any
of his other qualifications. We can
muddle through on the home front
if we win the war decisively and
promptly. If we do not win the
war, the problem of the home front
will be insoluble, anyway.
The President cannot wait any
longer to take this matter in hand
and to bring it before Congress
and the country, not as his per-
sonal view but as demand, back
ed by the evidence and convictions
of our military leaders. If our peo-
pie really see that this act is
military necessity they will not fail.
The act should be placed on the
statute books at once to put an
end to the shame that only men
who are caught in the draft have
an obligation to serve. Who said
that only young men and not young
women, only men of certain kind
and not all men and women, may
be called upon when the nation
needs them?
Why, for example, should At
or a discharged soldier who may
be physically far less fit than a
healthy woman without family
cares or a middle-aged man who
can do a days work, be singled
out and told he has special OBJ
legation to his country?
More is needed from the Presi-
dent than a resolute and explicit
call for enactment of his law. Con-
gress and the country would take
different view of the matter
if the President acted to convince
them he meant 10 have the law
seriously and competently admin
istered. For they are sick at heart
over the man-power muddle.
The fact is that there is no pub
lie confidence in those who ought
to administer this law. It is task
for the director of man power and
the Secretary of Labor. There is
McNutt's lucidity of mind or in his
political courage; as for the Sec
rotary of Labor, Miss Perkins holds
the office, but for handling the es-
sential problems of labor in war
time, she is - and the President
knows this well because his actions
prove it-unemployab BILE.
He must find some one else to
administer this act When he does.
he will be well on his way to get
ting the act.
The American Expeditionary
Eorooc in yNorIJ Mo-