Evening star., 1944-10-30
Chicago Speech Called
Roosevelt Vote-Moker
Presidents Talk in Philadelphia
Mistake, However, Says Writer
By David Laurence

Mistake, However, Says Writer
By David Laurence
President Roosevelt's speech in Chi
cago was more on the order Of those
delivered in his 1910 strrmping tour and
hence more effective than any he has
made thus far in this campaign.
OF the last two speeches the Chicago
address had more appeal as a vote
maker because 1t touched more COM
prehensively on economic problems that
are close to the average mans interests
at home.
The Philadelphia speech, on the other
hand, laid the President open to criti-
cism from the opposition on many a
point. Thus his attempt to run for
office as Commander in Chief of the
Army and Navy, and to claim credit for
what the Army and Navy are doing
is just piece of politics so transparent
that 1t may lose more votes than it will
gain. For If the argument is carried
to logical extreme, then Mr.. Roosevelt
as Commander in Chief is responsible
to the mothers and fathers of the nearly
5000 who lost their lives at Pearl Har-
Dor in 1941. The administration has
not helped the cause by suppressing the
facts about what was happening in
Washington in the week before Pearl
Harbor.
Spurious Argument.
Mr.. Roosevelt in his Philadelphia
speech went to great lengths to prove
that the Army and Navy had been built
up to unparalleled power since 1910 and
that construction on all the big ships
used in the Philippines victory, for in
stance, was begun before 1910.
This only leads to the query as to
why we didn't have a two-ocean Navy
ready on December 7, 194l, when Mr..
Roosevelt, having boldly divided our
naval strength so as to help Britain in
the Atlantic, left our Pacific Ocean flank
wide open to attack by the japanese
in an area as far east from Japan as
Hawaii Mr.. Roosevelt didn't tell us
how few aircraft carriers we had in
1941.
After all, MT. Roosevelt was in power
from 1888 to 1889 and he had a majority
in both Houses of Congress and If Amer
lea had an inconsequential air force on
land and sea in 1941, could it not have
been the fault OF the Commander in
Chief of the Army and Navy? Couldn't
most of the s23 ,000, 900 900 of deficit from
1888 to 1889 have been spent on naval
armament instead of WPA or PWA or
AAAo Shnt11d H.,
Chief have insisted on spending the
money that way?
The Commander in Chief argument,
however as means of winning an cleo
ton for the Presidency is a spurious
one from any angle it is viewed. Its
use can create only disunity For it
means Mr.. Roosevelt claims credit for
all the achievements of the military
machine and assumes none of the re-
sponsibility for our lack of preparation
which may have already made this war
last longer than it should and, indeed,
which may have encouraged Hitler to
start war in 1899 whereas well-pre-
pared American might have dissuaded
him
Mr.. Roosevelt made another mistake
in the Philadelphia speech He brought
out into the open an argument that
might better have lain dormant. He
accused the Republicans of saying they
would cooperate in the Senate with a
Republican President in ratifying an
league but wouldn't play" with Demo-
cratic President
Missed the Point.
Mr.. Roosevelt missed entirely the
point of that particular argument as
one hears it among Republicans. What
they are saying is that vast number
of Republicans inside and outside of
Congress do not trust the word of Mr..
Roosevelt any longer and they will never
vote to give him power through an
American delegate in the new league to
use our armed forces at will They feel
he used the war emergency to win a
third term in 1910 and is trying to use
the war emergency to win fourth term
in 1914 1t is rather the belief that
If an ambitious politician continues in
the White House, it will imperil future
American cooperation with other ma
tions for world peace
1t would not be the same. on the
other hand, if new personality comes
in, as for instance, if Senator Truman
were President. Republicans would CO.
operate just as the Democrats would CO.
operate If Gov. Dewey were elected.
Many Republicans. therefore, fear that
Mr.. Roosevelt's Commander in Chief
argument will do much to intensity Con-
gressional animosities and make difficult
the next two years of relationship be-
tween the executive and legislative
branches in the event of Mr.. Roosevelt's
election. That's why, as long-range
appraisal, the Philadelphia speech was a
mistake.
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