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Show News f BehindM, By- PaULMaLLON . Jff?' Released by Western Newspaper Union, EARLY PEACE RUMORS IND ADMINISTRATION POLICY The administration is reported greatly upset because business of-acials of-acials in the government here are reeding back to their home plant of-Ucials of-Ucials the rumors (mostly personal surmises) of an early peace. A publicity efTort to offset this information in-formation is under way in the gov-irnment. gov-irnment. Treasury Secretary Mor-jenthau Mor-jenthau has spoken out strongly igainst early peace reports, and later lat-er Secretary Hull called them "Axis propaganda." His designation of Lhcm as such was due to the fact lhat most of the printed rumors have :ome from neutral European capitals capi-tals in touch with Germany. This is all orthodox administration line grounded in the theory that the workers will let down in expectation of an early peace. The line long since has reached its limit of effectiveness, ef-fectiveness, and the theory merely represents a mishandling of administration admin-istration propaganda. The government, on one hand, is telling the Axis nations they "will be crushed" and breathing fire of expected victory in its foreign propaganda, prop-aganda, while, on the home front, trying to maintain an attitude that t will be a long, tough war. To present pre-sent it both ways strains the popular vision until it becomes cross-eyed. The truth is, some officials here still hold to the long-war theory (Germany (Ger-many in the spring, Japan in 18 months). But a majority of congress, con-gress, I am sure, does not. Those who believe in an early end are not inspired by Axis propaganda, but by expert judgment or advice as to Germany's lasting ability. Indeed, In-deed, the Axis propaganda from Berlin Ber-lin is just the opposite of this and holds Germany will never collapse. Why does not the administration use these facts to its own best advantage ad-vantage and adopt a propaganda line recently suggested in this spot: "Every day this war is extended means the life of some boy, perhaps your boy, the waste of more money. Therefore, it is to your own selfish interest as a worker on the home front to throw every last ounce of energy into this final drive for victory vic-tory in order that the casualty list be not extended one day more than necessary." ADDITIONAL PROOF ON NEW DEAL SLIP The Republican election victory in the normally Democratic heart of Kentucky, the fourth congressional district, forecasts the final breakup of the Happy Chandler machine. He lives in an adjoining county, and the Democratic candidate was his selectee. se-lectee. Whatever excuses, therefore, could be offered for the loss of the state in the earlier gubernatorial election on the ground the Chandler factions did not go along sufficiently, were not true in the fourth district. The election also was a conclusive response to some readers of this column who misinterpreted my analysis of the gubernatorial election elec-tion as partisan Republican propaganda. propa-ganda. This election result certainly verifies veri-fies the conclusion then expressed that the Democrats had failed to win under the best possible auspices in a state normally Democratic, and that the failure was due to the discouragement dis-couragement of the people with the New Deal and its regulations and domestic results, a condition which cast into grave doubts Mr. Roosevelt's Roose-velt's re-election in 1944. The margin of Republican victory this time in the district was around 12,000 votes, compared with Democratic Demo-cratic victories by a margin of 15,000 in 1940, 10,000 in 1938, and 17,000 in 1936 representing a turnover of 27,- 000 votes in 90.000 cast. OBSTACLES NOTED TO FOREIGN POLICY WASHINGTON. Mr. Hull is en-countering en-countering obstacles in his effort to attain American unity for permanent perma-nent postwar foreign policy and, strangely enough, not primarily from the Republicans. A large segmertf of New Deal po liticos do not want unity, although, naturally, they will not say so. As they see it, the postwar policies which will be developed from the Moscow and Cairo arrangements are likely to furnish the most popular popu-lar front that the administration can present to the public in the nexl elections at least, It will be bette: than allowing the people to look toe much at the home front. In short, they think their best chance of election is to let the Republicans Re-publicans take a partisan stand against them. But there Is evidence that othet internationalist group leaders and writers are leaning away from their old "One World" or Anglo-Russo-American exclusive alliance theories as cure-alls in themselves and working work-ing toward a centrist realistic peace proposal based on self interest in whatever form. A straw in this wind is the seeming seem-ing change in the leading commentators' commen-tators' tones. One who took a strong alliance position is now advocating what he recently called a peace based on "an enlightened conception of enduring national interest." |