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Show NATIONAL I AFFAIRS Reviewed by CARTER FIELD Thomas Dewey's Political Decision and His Chances . . . Axis Peoples' Enthusiasm Said to Be Waning . . . Bell Syndicate WNU Features. WASHINGTON. Americans are talking a lot about the privations they will have to endure if the war continues for years, as seems most likely. "Privation" is too strong a word, yet an accurate one, for it means to be deprived of things, and we are certainly going to be deprived de-prived of many things, the liberal use of automobiles being the most glaring at the moment. Not only that, the style of living of most of the middle and upper middle classes is going to take a tumble, due to taxation. But consider what the average German or Japanese thinks about as he or she faces the next few years of war, especially the Germans, for many of them have enjoyed and all of them have heard about a very full life indeed, so far as food, drink and comforts are concerned. Thinking About What?? What do those normally heavy-eating heavy-eating and warmth-loving Germans think about? We know that in no winter of the war so far has there been sufficient heat to make the civilians of Germany really comfortable. com-fortable. Austria and the other conquered con-quered territories have suffered more, but the Germans have been plenty cold. To the extent they have sacrificed warm clothing and blankets on the pleas of their leaders they will be colder this coming winter. And, being be-ing cold themselves, they will be more concerned about what the bitter bit-ter Russian cold is doing to their boys in the army. (This on the assumption as-sumption that Russia continues to fight.) Entering the realm ol wishful thinking, let us assume that the Russians Rus-sians are able to prevent the Germans Ger-mans from winning any spectacular victories. This seems possible, if not probable, prob-able, as we study the reports ol American airplanes grounded in Turkey. Tur-key. Incidentally a lot of U. S. planes and skillful crews interned in Turkey might prove quite discouraging discourag-ing to any Nazi plan for shortcutting to the Caucasus through that country. coun-try. With American air power important impor-tant over the Black sea area it seems likely that even the capture ol Sevastopol may not prove the open door to the oil fields that it once seemed to the German high command. com-mand. The prospect is not apt tc make the average life-loving German, Ger-man, with his belt tightened and his body cold next winter, too enthusiastic enthusias-tic about the success ol Der Fuehrer. Difficulties Removed From Dewey's Path The decision of Thomas E. Dewey to serve out his four years as governor gov-ernor ol New York, if elected, carries car-ries more significance than most observers ob-servers have read into it. As a simple sim-ple promise to the yoters of New York that, if he should be elected, he will not be a candidate for the Republican Re-publican nomination for President in 1944 is of course the most obvious angle. Such a promise removes considerable consider-able difficulty from Dewey's path tc success at the polls this November. Incidentally it takes quite a load ofl the rest of the Republican ticket, for it is one thing to run behind and with a popular figure of demonstrated demonstrat-ed political appeal, and another thing when one's opponents accuse the head of the ticket of not being really interested in the job he is presently seeking, but is planning tc use it merely as a stepping stone. Thus the Dewey announcemen! might easily mean the difference between be-tween Dewey winning the governorship governor-ship and losing it. It might also just as easily mean the success oi defeat of one or more of his running mates. Shr4wd old political observers read -a deeper meaning into the announcement. an-nouncement. Obviously, they point out, the promise of Dewey means that he will not be an important figure fig-ure among the 1944 GOP presidential aspirants, win or lose. If he wins, there is his promise. If he loses, he will come pretty close to being a dead cock in the political pit in 1944 anyhow. But they figure that if Dewey is half as smart as they think he is, he actually is sacrificing nothing by making this promise. Their theory is that no matter how strong Dewey might be by 1944, it would be almost al-most unthinkable that he should have a real chance at the presidency. presi-dency. - In 1944, they reason, the war will either still be going on or it will be just over. It cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be as far in the past when that election comes as was the First World war when Warren War-ren G Harding crushed James M. Cox who was burdened with all the feeling against Woodrow Wilson and a stiff isolationist sentiment. Therefore, if Franklin D. Roosevelt Roose-velt wants to continue as President, in 1944 he will be in the strongest possible strategical position to do so If the war is still going on we wil have all the old prejudice against swapping horses in midstream Any-one Any-one running against him would have about as much chance as George B. McClellan had of defeating Abraham Lincoln in 1864. Probably cons.d-erably cons.d-erably less, because McClellan was aWe to appeal to a very large sentiment senti-ment in the North in favor of ending the War between the States. Buy War Bonds |
