Evening star., 1945-02-19

commission.
Nevertheless, mistakes in a war
costs lives. Every unnecessary day
the conflict is prolonged adds to
the casualty lists. Therefore it is
worse than foolish not to point out
promptly remediable mistakes
wherever made. And of course it
is worse than folly for those in
authority not to correct them when
they have the facts. Recent dis
patches from abroad have called
attention to situation which
many with first-hand information
are convinced has been allowed to
60 too long unchanged.
Supply System Bogs Down.
This has to do with the vital mat
ter Of the supply system in the Eu-
ropean theater. For some time now
it has been plain that, to some ex-
tent, this has begged down at the
French and Belgian ports. A great
job Of producing and shipping mill
tary supplies of all kinds is being
done at this end by Gen. Somervell
and his aides. The bottle neck is
On the other side
There, of course, have been i'm
mense Observation-Disclosures of ships
and piers, destroyed harbors, dis
located rail transportation. There is
20. disposition to minimize these.
But, taking all of them into con-
Sideration, it is the conviction of in
formed experts that the business of
unloading, distributing and trans
porting has not been handled COM
petently. +
After all the months since D day,
there is no excuse, it is argued, for
hundreds of ships lying at anchor
for many weeks, used merely as
warehouses because they can not be
1nloaded. Nor is there excuse for
the great number of loaded cars
which can not be moved from the
wharves. These conditions still exist
at the French and Belgian ports.
They have, it is. contended, slowed
down our advancing armies and con-
tinue to present our most acute
problem. Now, the whole shipping
and transportation business is rem
dered vastly more complicated and
serious by the urgent necessity of
food supplies for the suffering popu-
lations Of Belgium and France.
Own Governments Inept.
The plight Of the people of both
these liberated countries has been
intensified by the ineptitude of their
own governments. But the basic
trouble arises from shipping short
ages, lack Of ports, inadequate inter-
nal transportation and the priority
needs OF our own armies which grow
greater instead of less. In other
words, with large supplies of food
and materials with which to restore
their economy. available for the re-,
lief Of the French and Belgians, it is
impossible to get supplies to them
because Of the facts enumerated
above. These people are in desper-
ate state. One observer has de-
scribed 1t as a race between the AL
lied armies invading Germany and
the collapse politically and econom-
ically OF liberated France and Bel
giuIn.
So critical are things that in Lon
don it is now suggested that the job
of feeding the people of Western Eu-
rope be undertaken by Britain as a
civilian mission, using the little ships
of the. Dunkerque fotilla to trans
port food to the continent and bor-
rowing commercial trucks for haul
age from the ports to the interior.
But that isn't the answer. There
are obvious reasons why that Is i'm
practicable.
The real solution is to increase
the efficiency of the Army unload
ing, transportation and distribution
authorities We have the ships and
we have the supplies. But we do
not have competent direction Of this
job. High military men with full in
formation privately admit this.
They appear to agree that the top
man In this activity is not equipped
by knowledge or experience for this
work. He certainly has not made
SUCCESS of it. This being so, there
is no, excuse for keeping him on that
job. -...-. ..-
a.. Should Be Removed.
II, he is incompetent, then the
fact that he is a West Pointer,
lieutenant general, a good fellow
and a good soldier" ought not to
prevent his removal when the ter
rible consequences of incompetency
are considered. 1t is said that this
situation is giving the high COM
mand great concern. That is easy
to understand It is interesting that
the same criticism made of Mr..
Roosevelt's management of domestic
affairs-to wit, his extreme re-
luctance to remove any one no mat
ter" how incompetent, should apply
TO the Army as well. In the Presi-
Dr161nnunnu6 .-..