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Show ONLY Till WORTHY REMAIN FREE As the calendar heralds 1044, grim predictions of allied al-lied political and military leaders rank foremost in the minds of all people. Nineteen hundred forty four is the year of decision. It is the year of total war and destruction, death and suffering. It may well be the year of military victory thanks to the courage of our fighting men and the American production miracle. Armament production in the United States has reached staggering proportions. In November, every five minutes saw the birth of one new complete plane. The month's total was 5,789, of which 1,000 were heavy bombers. More than 150,000 war planes have been built since the start of hostilities. Nineteen million tons of merchant ships were launched in 1943, compared to 1,163,000 tons in 1941. Naval and shipbuilding has outstripped the imaginations imagin-ations of the wildest dreamers. About a dozen aircraft carriers were turned out in November alone. Warships tonnage in 1941 was 2,132,000. Out of the ashes of Pearl Harbor it rose to 5,000,000 tons in 1943, a colossus bent on the destruction of Japanese aggression., and Nazi tyranny. Tanks, guns and supplies are being produced in unbelievable quantities. These things were made possible by the productive genius of free enterprise. In the hands of 10,000,000 American men and their companions in arms, they are America's answer to the warped leaders of Europe and Japan who have challenged our freedom. But we -have no cause to rejoice. Tens of thousands of our men must die in 1944 to meet the challenge of the dictators. Usual year-end speechmaking and editorial edi-torial phrase-making are out of place. The people were told when the war started that they would have to make sacrifices. They were told that this was total war. And, yet, other than those who have given their men, no one has so far made an iota of real sacrifice. It is not in the cards for such a conditions to continue. Sometime in the not-too-distant future we, at home, are going to find out what total war means, even though we may never feel the impact of bombs on our cities. A pretty good indication of how we are going to find out can be seen in the gusts' of bitter controversy sweeping through the land over strikes, taxes, subsidies subsi-dies and inflation. They are the prelude to the storm. When it hits in full fury, the test of our love of freedom free-dom will be upon us. No person in this nation can ever shut from his mind the awful vision of the last days of 1943 in which 1,000 marines lay dead on the beaches of one little South Pacific island. Those men died for the right to be free. We at home have yet to prove worthy of the freedom for which they died. |