The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-11-02
More Frankness Needed

them. More recently the cry has been taker
up by newspaper correspondents in the Nation.
al Capital, and specifically against the policy
of silence of the State Department.
Joseph G. Harrison, writing in the Christian
Science Monitor few days ago, puts the com.
plant in plain language, saying:
For a long time now newspapermen ir
Washington have felt that the State Depart.
ment has been missing a good bet in moi
telling the American people more about the
knotty problems facing this country and the
world. They hold the Department would be
doing both itself and the Nation a favor if II
worked out some way to encourage public in.
terest in the jobs it is called on to do
This does not mean, of course. that anyone
believes t he Department should attempt to
propagandize for this or that course of action,
except perhaps in cases where the difference
leave no one in doubt But it does mean that
where possible, the Department would do well
to make the public more aware of the facts
lying behind some of the bigger issues.
Only the other day, the official bulletin OF
the Department of State contained an article
written by one of the economic and diplomat
ic experts on the subject Should We Help
Italy?" This piece stressed the tremendous
problems facing a beaten, wrecked, and inn
poverished Italy and pointed out that the Unit
ed States had it within its power tc aid greatly
in rebuilding that country.
THE articl. then went on to say that the
United States ought to come to decision,
this question of helping the Italians. In other
words, the article suggests that by this time
the United States should have made up its
mind just what policy it would pursue in Italy.
Although such policy now seems to be
emerging slowly from among the many con-
fusing cross currents characterizing Aneri-
cas- attitude toward Italy, it has by no means
become crystallized into what could be called
a concise and complete long range program.
The Bonomi Government is still unable to
fathon just how far the United States, and
Great Britain, too, is willing to 60 in ~
using Italian troops to help clear the Ger
mans from the rest Of Italy, (2) helping Italy
rebuild its shattered economic life, 90 en-
needed social and economic
changes, and "a restoring parts OF 1taly's war
lost empire.
These are admittedly large questions and
ale all bound up with the general Allied policy
toward the defeated members Of the Axis,
until tLe ia1
the Greeks, the Yugoslavs, the French, the
British, and others have toward the Italians.
No one expects that they can all be settled
or that, once settled, they will not
lave to be altered later.
Nonetheless greater public information on
Italy would have at least two distinct advan-
tages.
In the first place, greater information would
enable the public to have a more definite
dea of what it believes should be done about
Italy. Having made up its collective mind
about the course to be followed, the public
would be in position to condemn any policy
which did not meet it's specific atoms and it
would also show healthy impotence with
But there would be still another advantage.
Once the public had agreed that America ought
to follow this or that course toward Italy, it
would be able to backs up the steps taken by
The White House, the State Department, or by
other agencies in that direction This would re-
duce the danger OF unwise opposition on the
part OF Congress and it would also lessen the
Likelihood that persons or groups with special
grudges against or special interests in Italy
would be able to manipulate American policy.
Not only in Italy, but on many other diplo-
matte fronts American statesmen face some
OF the stiffest tests ever confronted by demo-
cratic leaders. Their job is to build a peace,
which must be fitted together like an immense
]lg-saw puzzle of various economic social, and
political interests and which can withstand the
inevitable attacks of national selfishness, short
sightedness, and indifference
ITO do so, they will need the intelligent
backing Of as large portion Of the American
people as possible. Such backing cannot come
unless we all are aware of what is at stake
and of what needs to be done, and this, in
turn, is dependent upon adequate inform alton.
It is for this reason that so many persons
now believe that it is up to the Government.
but particularly the State Department. to find
some means of explaining its problems to the
public