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Show What About Morale? What Is civilian morale? How Important Im-portant is it? Ls it really vital to our conduct of the war? How important it ls was answered answer-ed for us in Fiance. There were not many tmitors among the people in France. No one who knows the Fiench can believe that. But there were far too many self-seeking patriots pa-triots - men who wanted their own way, their manner of living protected; protect-ed; power groups; pressure groups trying to force their own Ideas oa every one else. The minute these self-seeking patriots drew apart tn-little tn-little groups, they left great gaps through which the unified enemy could sweep in. They had lost the feel of the common good, without tlie Maginot line was as a wall of tissue. How vital it ls wot. answered for us at Pearl Harbor. We condemn the complacent attitude of our defense, de-fense, but we overlook the fact that It was complacency of the country as a whole that was reflected. re-flected. The blame for defeat lies upon those who put party politics and personal ambition before patriotism pa-triotism - and, since we are the voters whose word, in the last analysis, analy-sis, is law, the blame is on our shoulders. Civilian morale Ls the morale of you and me, and of our neighbors at home and at work. It cannot be legislated. It cannot be decreed. It is the one piece of war work we can all work at, twenty-four hours a day. The way to keep civilian morale high is simple, first, there are the "don'ts". We must refrain from unguarded un-guarded speech. We must not pass on rumors. We must not spread hatreds. We must not act Jittery. We must not show fear, nor must we be foolhardy. We must not permit ourselves to be governed by our prejudices pre-judices toward any group. We must avoid disruptive argument and controversy, con-troversy, whether it be between class, race or creed. Second, there are the "do's". We must strive for emotional stability. We must show self-control. We must remain calm and resolute against all subcerslve propaganda. We must remember that we are Americans first, and accept as Americans all who believe in the Ideals of freedom, free-dom, regardless of race, creed or color, w must be willing to woric and cooperate with all who want help, without Inquiry or caring whether they are Protestant, Jew or Catholic. We must remember our Joint aims, and not our minor disagreements. dis-agreements. Our country ls like a beleaguared city of old. We can hold out until the victory, we can back up our men In the field, if we are united. If we, If you and I, if all of ui, demonstrate ou r faith In the ideals of democracy, If WE keep OUR morale high, then the battle on the home front Is won, and our men In the field backed up by a unified nation. |