The Omaha guide., 1945-09-29
Vets Attitude
Bears Watching

The complaints from the veterans
is another matter. They are not so
much concerned over who gets into
the army al who gets out. A lot Of
them are marking time right now,
later a lot will be sent overseas in
the boresome jobs of policemen.
Why shouldn't 1 get out now and
get a start in business?
Why shouldn't my husband come
back and support me in the manner
to which l have been unaccustomed
since he Joined up?
Why shouldn't my boy get back to
school where he belongs?
Why shouldn't my sweetheart be
allowed to come home and marry
me like he said he would?
And some day sonny and daddy
and lover will come back. And
they'll join a veterans organization
and they will vote at the polls: ah,
there's the rubi
Now we come to the third point
which is really the most insidious,
the one which has to be handled the
most delicately. We may have
learned in this country that an
ocean is no longer a barrier against
the enemy. But we know there is
another barrier which separates our
maritime states from the heartland
OF the nation bordering the Missis-
sippi flood plain. That part of the
country forgot its so-called isola-
tlon1sm and threw its whole heart
into the war. But the war is over -
on paper anyhow. 1t is time to put
the hand back to the plough again.
Their is need of stout arms and
strong backs in the fields, and
though Japs and the Germans may
require watching, why not let
George do it?
That is a natural feeling and
clever politicians would have little
trouble in turning it to account. by
raising the cry Of militarism, of i'm
perialism and all the other isms
which men whose barns are their
castles and whose meadows are
their empires, dislike. Such a senti-
ment could be turned against one
administration as well as another
but it SO happens that the mid
die west is naturally somewhat Re-
publican in its leanings normally
and the Democrats are now in the
saddle.
One very keen political observer
who has watched the way of the
voter for many years said TO me the
other day: IF there were a Presi-
dental election tomorrow Truman
would win it." And when you con
slder the matter cold1y there are
good reasons for the statement. The
Republicans have had one healthy
issue after another knocked out
from under them. Truman has CIV
en- business its head, he has sat on
the OPA, he has released one con-
troll after another, he has most soli-
citously deferred to congress, he is
on the way to break up the war
agencies and get the business of
government back into the old line
departments.
Such is the picture as of TODAY
all clear except for one little cloud
in the sky, not much bigger than a
serviceman's hand, but there is
thunder and lightning in that cloud
and if the circumstances we're such
that its bolts of wrath were directed
at the administration it would not
even take, say a Stassen, to win
the Presidential race on a walk.
By next February-barring unex-
pected developments-all soldiers in
Europe except those in the army of
occupation and the minimum re-
quired to dispose of the army's sur
plus property. will have been re-
turned to the United States. Mai. /
Gen. c. P. Gross, chief of t~ranspor. |
tation, said in an announcement bv
the war department.
Return Of American forces in the
Pacific will be completed next June.
according to present estimates.
More than l.750, 900 men are SEIZED.
uled for return from the Pacific
theaters, while approximately 2.0OO.-
600 remain to be returned from Ell
rope. Some $50, 900 other troops
also r to be returned from other.
overseas theaters.