Evening star., 1947-08-10

press.
Most Washington reporters know
a good bit more than they ever write
The vast majority impose a kind O.
censorship on themselves and fire.
quently refrain from publishing
matters which would really be dam.
aging to the country's best interests
As a general rule, information
which does leak out, while con.
sidered damaging by Government
of1cials because developments art
prematurely disclosed, should bt
made known to the American peo.
pie anyway. There is wide gull
between what Government official:
consider in the public interest anc
what the newspaperman believes
would be wholesome news fare fol
his readers.
The Panay Incident
When the Panay incident oc.
Cured In 1897 President Roosevelt
consulted Secretary of State HUI
and his naval advisers. The latter
were In favor of a strong attitude
Mr.. Roosevelt was inclined to agree
with them, saying that sooner OF
later a war with Japan was in
evitable, regardless of how much we
appeased the japanese.
Mr.. Hull opposed a drastic policy
on the basis that we were not ready
for war. Mr.. Roosevelt sided. in
the end. with his Secretary of State
not because he thought we were not
prepared for a naval war, but be-
cause he believed the country was
not willing to accept a conflict with
the japanese.
At the time the State Department
had in its files definite reports from
American consuls in China and from
American Army and Navy officers
which, if they had been taken from
the departments safes, would have
given the American people an i'm
pressive picture. But these papers
were classified top secret and never
have been revealed.
Stains Letters
The same situation existed during
the war with regard to the U. S. S. r.
Some of the most damnins reports,
showing conclusively what the Rus
slams had in mind from 1914 on,
are in the hands of the Government
today. They were suppressed while
the fighting was going on, In order
not to disturb harmony between the
Big Three, although the White
House was fully aware that such
harmony existed only as propa-
ganda point and never did become
reality.
President Truman has in his files
in the White House two insolent
letters Marshal Stain wrote Presi-
dent Roosevelt a short time after
the Yalta Conference and about
three weeks before the President
died. According to those who have
seen them, history has seldom re-
corded such insulting letters written
by one chief of state to another.
They dealt with two fairly unim-
portant matters. One was the Ital-
ian surrender. The other was an
American estimate of the Germans
and Balkans.
At Yalta it was decided-and dis
closed publicly with fanfare-that
the Big Three would exchange in
formation between their general
staffs. It appears that the Mediter-
ranean command had not supplied
the Russians with every conceivable
bit of information regarding Mar
shal Kesselring's activities before
his surrender. Prime Minister Stain
took advantage of this quite trivial
shortcoming to write President
Roosevelt letter, plainly accusing
him Of being a double-crosser.
Calculated Insults
The American and British general
staffs also made a certain estimate
of the Balkan situation which was
contrary to the Russian evaluation
This, of course, also was forwarded
to Moscow. It appears that the Rus
sian estimate was correct and our
people were wrong. Another letter
from the Kremlin followed less than
a fortnight before Mr.. Roosevelt's
death.
This letter accused the American
Commander In Chief of trying to
string the Russians along with pre-
meditated misinformation. Prime
Minister Stain is said to have used
very strong, plain language. which
is regarded as unprintable by those
who are used to the niceties Of dip
lomatic language between allies.
No one can contend that these
two letters should have been made
public when they were received
We were still at war and. II known
to the public, they might have
caused a degree of ill-feeling which
would have hamstrung our diplo-
mats.
However, those who are not men,
bers of the diplomatic family say
that these letters were a calculated
insult to the head of the American
Republic, and if they had been pub
lished when the Russians began
trying to push us around. the
American public would have shown
q reaction which would have stop
ped Russia's attacks on us much
more effectively than nice notes
memoranda and offers to help re-
construct Russian national economy
Blunt Talk or Double Talk
Whenever some of the more
blunt members of the administra-
ton suggest a clear policy to the
State Department they get the
W.; l. 1.nA