The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-12-14

than blonde who has been through the works in the tunnel of love, and you still don't know the answers.
 This is where you came in. All the columns of news dispatches you now read from the fronts and from Washington, all the editorials try ing to interpret the shortages of ammunition, tires, trucks, guns and even manpower are of the same tenor as 1940 and Al.
 The cumulative impact of the current production crisis reports is that this is bigger national dis grace than Pearl Harbor three years ago. Trying to fix the blame for whatever it is that has happened on the home front may be about as fruitless as trying to fix the blame for what happened at Honolulu on December ', 1941. But isn't it about time that everybody in the United States, collectively, start getting mad?
 WE'RE GOOD, BUT
 Bonds have been bought by the billions. Production IFS" and "A'S" and MS" and probably Ans and Oh'S have been awarded by the con- voy load to management for the swell job it has done. Labor with a capital l. has alternately been kick ed on the backSide and patted itself on the back for the job it has done. The Army and Navy are bigger and better than any Army or Navy have ever been before. The women, God love 'enn, have rocked the kiddie car with one hand while heading up a rivet with the other. We're good there's no denying it.
 Yet from the reports of generals from Eisenhower and MacArthur to Somervell, We haven't begun to fight and we can't until the home front passes not only more ammunition but couple of production miracles as we'll
 What happened? It isn't enough to kiss this of as mere misfortune of war.
 Why should there be billions of dollars worth of surpluses to dis pose of when there are billions of dollars worth of shortages of critical items? Why millions of surplus, over-age dry cell batteries when the dry cell battery production program is behind schedule? Was that bad planning?
 Why should supply ships have to ride at anchor unloaded? If people is smart enough to plan in advance for mulberry unloading docks and build portable railroad bridges in England to replace those bombed in France, why hasn't the same peo- pie enough genius to lick the supply problem to the Siegfried or Gothic Lines?
 WHO IS THE REAL VILLAIN?
 Were civilian production chiefs and private business men too eager to plan too much reconversion too soon?
 Were service chiefs wrong in cut ting back production of such things as small arms and cottonduck?
 Was the Senate Committee Inves- tigating the War Effort a bit off base when it criticized the Army for ordering too many trucks and tires in view of the present shortages?
 Was Congress wrong in refusing to consider National Service Act a year ago. in view of present man. power difficulties?
 Was the White House laggard in demanding a substitute?
 Were appropriations committees short-sighted when they refused the War Manpower Commission suff1- cient funds to reorganize the En- ployment Service and enforce their Certificate aof Availability program to control job transfers?
 Have labor leaders, now claiming so large a share in shaping national policies, been as smart as they claim to be in their opposition to stricter labor regulations?
 You may blame everybody or any, body for this thing that has hap pened on the production front, but finding Sacrif1cial goats to offer on the altars of national wrath will not remedy the situation. All you can do Is recognize that it has happened and then
 Iisn't it every Individuals respon- sibility2