Show ECONOMIC highlights industrial news review some of the most thoughtful washington observers have been much troubled lately by the power and aggressiveness displayed by certain pressure groups which are hard at work grinding their axes in the capital theoretically the nation is now unified with all citizens determined to do their utmost to help win the war in actuality a good many citizens seem more concerned with how they can use the war to serve their own ends and how they can avoid as much personal sacrifice and inconvenience as possible labor in a number of basic industries dus tries is substantial wage increases despite the obvious fact that hi higher gher pay for workers must result in higher costs and high er prices all along the line thus putting into effect an inflationary spiral that in the long run would as and perhaps harder than any other group the heads of some of the big far farm organizations despite their patriotic speeches are fighting tooth and nail for more and bigger subsidies and they are implacably resisting any and all attempts to place workable ceilings on an farn farm prices if these groups win out cut and they have tremendous influence in a congress which is larg largely ely made up of men from agricultural areas still another inflationary spiral will be well underway incidents have been unearthed where certain business interests put their own wishes ahead of the needs of the nation howe however ver i it ft is is generally true that the record of industry in this war has been excellent cel lent furthermore industry of all kinds is regulated and controlled to the hilt by the government which is not true of either labor or agriculture taxpayer groups are also extremely active in washington and all of them with a few honorable exceptions seem to be trying to figure out ways and means to make the other fellow pay for the war they are all tor for sacrifice so long as someone else does the bulk of the sacrificing the blackest picture of all in the view of many writers is found on oil capitol hill itself next november all of the members of the house and a third of the members of the senate will be up for reelection there are of course congressmen who are not swayed by political considerations who are doing their best and who refuse to play old fashioned politics as usual in attempts to make certain of holding their h air jobs unfortunately for the nation there are a good many con gressmen in both parties who seem to be thinking almost exclusively in terms of votes they dont want to stop step on the toes of their constituents they dont want to awaken them to the unpleasant realities that total war involves they dont want to vote for bills which will make their have to go without things they are in short seeking to please all groups and all interest sand that means that they are doing their best to either dodge difficult issues or to straddle the fence ence some of the election campaigns now low taking place are in the view of f men who grasp the world situation almost literally sickening po lotical job seekers are flagrantly pandering to special interests to labor agriculture pension seekers etc they treat the war as a sort of a side the face of the obvious fact that we and our allies have as yet not taken back a single inch of conquered territory ana the axis is making tremendous progress in the most vital battlefronts every authority is convinced that if we lose this war we will be subjected ejected to virtual slavery well get pre precisely bisely the same treatment the people of france belgium the netherlands ther lands and other beaten nations have been given that is the issue which some of the most active seekers after high office are busy dodging now it can be argued that such things as this will inevitably happen in in a democratic country in a country where anyone has a right to speak his mind no matter how empty or misguided that mind is or where anyone can advance himself as a candidate for almost any office he chooses it can also be argued that these democratic weaknesses can conceivably lead to our defeat in war about the only cure for this kind of politics is public opinion next ext november the people will e elect act a congress which in all probability will gunthe run the country until the war Is over this will be one of the most fateful elections in all our history some united nations disasters can be laid straight at the door of the high commands too many of the generals seem to think in terms of classic warfare that was a relatively leisurely kind of warfare and it was developed and perfected in the days when tanks and planes and similar machines were minor weapons the germans and japs think in terms of dynamic warfare they are daring they take long chances they use the weapon of surprise to the limit libya provides a tragic example of that As newsweek says british generals figured it would take rommel a week to ten days to thrust past the egyptien Egypt ion border after the british withdrawal it took him a matter of hours germany has been superior in the science of logistics which simply means the handling of supplies they have moved more equipment and moved it faster by far than I 1 have the defenders in short the united nations still have a lot of red tape to culand they have a lot to learn leam |