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Show mind peace offers that will undoubtedly un-doubtedly be based on the premise that the Axis has virtually won the war, and that there is no use in any nation bucking the inevitable. miles from Luzon. Our forces' nearest major base is many thousands thou-sands of miles away from the sosne of action, at Pearl Harbor. Furthermore, while Luzon is important, im-portant, it is not vital. What the Allied Pacific powers must attempt at-tempt to save at all costs is Singapore, which is the key to the entire Far East, including the rich Dutch East Indies. All possible pos-sible Allied strength must be conserved con-served for the decisive land, sea and air battle which will soon take place along the Malayan peninsula. penin-sula. The commanders of great armies ar-mies and navies must take the long view, and look to the winning win-ning of the war, not the scattered, costly victories which might imperil im-peril the major campaign. It is often said that the prime objective of this war is the destruction des-truction of the Nazis that, once that is done, Japan and Hitler's other Allies can be taken care of in their turn. The news which comes out of Russia is immensely encouraging to the Allied powers. The German rout continues, and the destruction of German divisions divi-sions and German equipment is on an almost incredible scale. The Russian command now says that it means to press forward until Germany itself is turned into a battlefield. And in Libya, the British have won a victory which may prove of immense importance import-ance to the eventual winning of the entire war. This country is now, for the first time, realizing what modern war ; means. The order freezing sales of 1 new motor cars and prohibiting the production of new cars after January, indicates the way the wind blows. It may be expected that our lives will be revolutionized revolution-ized with astonishing speed. There will be no luxuries at all, and many seeming necessities will be foregone or produced in bare minimum quantities. At this moment, mo-ment, we are spending . about 25 per cent of our national income for war purposes. By the end of the year we will, if the plans go through, be spending as much as 50 per cent. What that will mean to the cvilian standard of living, liv-ing, is easily seen. Yet there is nc grumbling. Right-wingers and left-wingers, labor la-bor leaders and big industrialists, Democrats and Republicans alike, agree that an all-out effort, with all the privations entailed, must be made. There is much criticism of Administration methods, but no criticism of Administration long-pull long-pull objectives. It is significant that in the civil government, (as in the armed forces, changes are being made in executive personnel, designed to weed out the unfit and replace them with men who will get results. Time is the great factor now time to produce the instruments of war, and to train the necessary troops. Japan got the jump on us, as Germany did on Russia and Britain in the early days of conflict, con-flict, because she had spent years preparing for war while we had done relatively little. We have the resources to make up for this, if only we make full use of the time we have left before the decisive decis-ive stage of the war is reached. The Allied agreement,, under which the United States, Great Britain, Russia, China and more than a score of other nations pledged themselves to make war until complete victory is achieved, and to conclude no separate peace, is vitally important. It is the advance ad-vance answer of the United Nations Na-tions to any peace offers Hitler and his partners may have in Ecofiornc HIGHLIGHTS It Is not possible at this time to detail all the events and circumstances circum-stances which led to Japan's vic-tores vic-tores in the Pacific. But the broad outlines are clear. We underestimated underesti-mated the extent and the striking power of the Japaneses air and naval forces. We were over-confident, We did not turn the Phil-lipines Phil-lipines and the lesser islands into the kind of bastions which could have repelled a major attack. Further, Fur-ther, we, like the rest of the democracy, de-mocracy, were lethargic we wishfully wish-fully ciisrerarded the writing on the wall. According to Walter , Llppman, Japan must have spent t least eighteen months preparing prepar-ing for an attack on so vast a scaie. But few Americans believed wr was actually conung in the Pacific. Bright spot in the Phnlippine war has been the superb fighting spirit shown by the American and Filipino troops commanded by General McArthur, who seems to have fully lived up to his reputation repu-tation as the ablest American general officer. MacArthur's forces for-ces were tremendously outnumbered. outnum-bered. Their equipment was in-feror in-feror to that of the Japanese. After Af-ter the early day of fighting, they had no air power to speak of. Yet they made the enemy pay a tremendous toll in men and material ma-terial for every Inch of ground taken, and, at this writing, they have entrenched themselves on Luzon Lu-zon island north of lost Manila and on the great fortress of Cor-regidor Cor-regidor in Manila Bay, and are continuing the fight. Many have wondered why Mac-1 Mac-1 Arthur was not given substantial j U. S. naval aid. In the opinion of the strategists, ic would have been suicidal for the Navy to have sent major fleet forces in an attempt to save Manila. Japan has big naval bases In Formosa and on the mandated islands, some of which are well under a thousand |