Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1944-12-16
BEHIND
The NEWS
BY Paul
Mallon'

WASHINGTON, Dec. IS
Nearly all the ABS con-
gressmen are presumed 10 have
been pledged for the resolution
urging the opening of Palestine
freely to Jewish immigration.
Mr.. Roosevelt sent a letter TO
Senator Wagner sponsoring II
Oct. IS in the midst Of the
presidential campaign.
Jewish organizations are
fairly unanimous behind it, yet
Reps. Sol Bloom and Adolph
SABBATH were never able to get
ii through the House rules COM
mittee and the Senate foreign
relations committee has now
voted L to 8 told hold back
action on ii.
The announced explanation
was that action would be "un-
wise from the standpoint of the
general international situation"
at this time, but there may be
another more compe ling
reason. The official one is well
grounded
The assassination of Lord
Moyne by a misguided Jewish
Zealot has lent strength since
the election TO the British white
paper of Oct. 10 which held that
further Palestine action now
would cause more violence and
aid the Nazis in their war
effort against US.
HIE more compelling reason
i heard among senators is that
action now would damage il
not destroy the basis of our
whole planned world policing
ideas and commercial Develop
ment for peace in the Middle
East which rests upon our new
Saudi-Arabian oil concessions
TAT least officials here place
such great hopes in that post.
war source of oil for our battle
and commercial shipsD The
field and pipelines are subject
TO Arab control.
Truth is that proposed con-
greSsional action would mean
nothing, except in a propagan-
diZing way and even in that
respect would be Ineffective.
Britain holds the mandate
over Palestine The proposed
resolution can only express the
sense" Of Congress favorable 10
Palestine and the British un-
qdestionabIy would pay no at.
tention 10 IL.
To risk all these dangers for
an empty gesture did not make
sense 10 at least IL members Of
the foreign relations committee.
so the resolution was side
tracked. II we could really do
anything about IL. the result
might have been different.
HOPES for the end OF tho
IL Pacific war have been
stretched in Congress TO the
end OF 1916 two years more)
as a result OF the unannounced
appearance of high defense
officer before a certain congress
sional committee.
The navy and army in their
planning are now going on the
assumption the war will never
be over.
This is result of their dis
appointment at failure OF their
earlier plan anticipating victory
in Europe this year.
They cut their production
programs a little early and re-
serve stocks OF supplies may
have suffered somewhat.
Now they have no expecta-
tons and will wait until We day
before making any further cuts.
But nearly every one here il
coming around 10 the same, con-
clusion. II might be wise for
all TO consider current condi-
tions as normal for the indef.
mite future. instead Of looking
upon them as abnormalities
which will soon pass.
TT IS not alone the military
L situation in Germany and
China which justifies this new
attitude. but the state Of the
world, the revolutions and
threatened revolutions, the I'M
rest. lack Of agreement. etc. No
one knows how long our need
for greatest possible military
action will last. and there is no
sound justification for making
individual plans for any definite
termination time in the future.
The advice of the defense au-
thority above stated, however,
was not based on these consid-
erations, but on conditions in
the Far East. Chasing rats out
OF a hemisphere is an extensive
undertaking, especially whe n
the rats have machine guns and
insufficient sense 10 comprehend
their own predicament.
incidentally. no one Is ex-
pressing any pessimism over the
Leyte fight. All our losses have
been light and there is a good
chance the main japanese force
in the Philippines is being
routed on Leyte.