The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1945-10-23

Guard Daladier declares in Paris
that President Roosevelt had, in
1898, secretly refused an offer
to start payments on French war
debts.
Early in September Secretary
of State Byrnes admitted that at
Yalta, Roosevelt and Churchill
had secretly agreed to Russian
occupation of the Kurile Islands,
even though the Soviet had not
yet declared war on Japan.
MANY SECRETS STILL
TO BE DISCLOSED
Breaking these war secrets
indicates there are still many
more hidden agreements and
facts that need to be brought
into the open. But at the pres
ent rate of progress, it will be
1855 or 1860 before the U. S.
Department of State will be able
to publish the first volumes OF
diplomatic rec cords covering
World War II.
This 10 to 15-year lag in
making public documents that
should be known now appears to
be normal. Diplomatic records
of World War / weren't publish
ed till the 1905.
The fault of this snail's pace
publication of what should be
red-hot stuff isn't entirely the
State Departments. 1t just
hasn't been given enough staff
to search through the tremen-
dous official files and pick out
the important papers t h a t
should be made public.
Next year, however, is going
to be big year in State Depart
ment publishing circles. The
records of the Manchurian Incl
dent of 1931-which really be-
gan World War Twill actually
be published then. So will the
records of President Lincoln's
administration. That's RI g h t.
The inside story of the War Be-
tween the States, as revealed by
White House papers, will finally
be made public in 1946, just 81
years after Lincoln was assas-
sinated.
PRESIDENTS PAPERS
CONSIDERED HIS PROPERTY
Ever since way back when, 1t
has been the custom to consider
a Presidents state secret papers
as his personal property. Gradu-
ally the Library of Congress has
been able to acquire most of
these files by purchase or gift
from the heirs. Sometimes con-
ditions are imposed to prevent
their being made public until
after everyone concerned Is
safely dead. That Is what has
delayed publication of Lincoln's
papers.
President Hoover carted off
his personal papers to Palo Alto,
Calf, where he built library
to houCe them. President Roose-
velt's papers are going to his
home in Hyde Park. Roosevelt
thought he was making great
progress in overcoming the
personal property" theory OF
disposing of his state papers, by
directing that they be preserved
as national archives.
But the fact remains that
when anyone wants to examine
the White House papers on
events leading up to this last
war, it will be necessary to send
research staff to California
or New York to dig into the
records of the past 16 years.
The handicap of this system
puts on Congress and State De-
partment and White House
staffs now in office Is obvious.
They can't make good foreign
policy decisions unless they
know what the commitments Of
past Presidents and Secretaries
of State have been. Until some
speed-up can be attained in the
publication of records which
should not be 80 secret, too
many people will be kept in the
dark, and there will be much
confusion. The public Is EMIT
led to know the truth about what
went on in the secret war, and