Evening star., 1944-01-06

The War Department has not ac-
knowledged that it was Gen. Mar
shall who made the statements, but
the A. F. of L. is quite sure about
it and has proceeded to start pub
lie attack on the general.
The first doubt raised by the A.
F. of L. is with respect to whether
the general was stating the truth
about the effect of American strikes.
In support of its charge that he
didn't know what he was talking
about, the A. F. of L. argues that a
check of the propaganda broadcasts
heard abroad reveals that the NaZis
didn't make much, if any, use of the
railroad strike incident.
Actually the Informed source"
never charged that the Axis broad
casters did publicly make use of the
incident. What he said was that
the underground movements in GER
tain countries which the Allies ex-
pected to rise up and join with us
were discouraged by the news of our
strikes, as were certain folks in
various countries which were to
have helped in an explosion in the
Balkans, and that as a consequence
of the strike-call the expected up
risings were not occurring and the
big invasion would have to go on
and that this would cost America
more lives than otherwise would
have been necessary.
Now If Gen. Marshall were the
Informed source"-and the A. F. of
L. Is proceeding on that assumption
the labor union is, in effect, say
ing that the sources of information
available to the chief of staff of the
United States Army as to what is
happening abroad are no good be-
cause the information hasn't been
broadcast by the Axis radios. ANY,
body who has the slightest famil-
iarity with what goes on in Turkey,
for instance, where the diplomatic
battle fuctuates constantly as be-
tween pressure to bring Turkey into
the war and pressure to keep her
out-knows that what is happening
inside America can be used as an
effective argument by Franz Won
Papen, the German Ambassador, at
Ankara. And no doubt it was so
used.
If Gen. Marshall, who has no con-
nection with the matter of labor
regulation or strikes, says to any
one that the strikes have hurt us
and that lives have been imperiled
by our disunity on the labor front,
certainly he must have better
sources of information than any
body else in shington-outside of
the President-to back up his state
ment.
Then the smoke screen was raised |
about the anonymity. Much criti-
cism is being heaped on the in-
formed source" for making his COM
ments without identifying himself |
But the press is responsible for this |
custom, and it is one of the best
safeguards ever devised to preserve
free government. If the source of
all information had to be made
public, subordinates would never tell
ScoSAAeAoA 1oSOo W llCWSpdpClS ny
which many public scandals have
been exposed.
Day after day public officials who
do not wish to be quoted for various
reasons are interviewed by reporters
singly or in groups. If the condi-
ton were that no information were
to be received unless the source
could be mentioned, there would be
no Presidential press conferences
and no conferences with cabinet
officers or any other responsible
sources. The press has long under
stood the custom of anonymous re-
porting, and there is no difference
IN principle whether one reporter
or 80 reporters are present.
If Gen. Marshall, for instance,
were the Informed source he might
have been instructed by the Presl-
dent to issue the information anony-
mously. One reason had to do with
the fact that the obvious purpose
was to avoid an Official statement,
especially at this time when the
President is writing his message on
the whole labor problem. The main
objective has been achieved. Labor
knows now that public opinion
would swing promptly behind Gen.
Marshall or any other member of
our armed services if there is oc-
casion again to denounce the strike
call.
The anonymous tactics were
doubtless decided on in the hope that
the warning would be sufficient. But
If it isn't, then the country should
not be surprised to see high officers
of the Army and Navy taking the
radio some night to tell the mothers
and fathers of the boys now over
seas what threats are being made
against the war effort on the home
front.
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