Show ECONOMIC highlights industrial news review according to a number of responsible authorities there is a definite morale problem in the american army such magazines as life have lent ent qualified reporters into army amps and they have returned to arito that a substantial percentage if f the conscripts now under arms dont like the army and are eager 0 get out of it it is inevitable that when hund eds of thousands of men are drafted d a portion of them will remain permanently di satisfied however he reporters state that at the pres nt time there is a comp comparatively ow state slate of morale among many nen who entered the service in the expectation of benefiting from it nd ind enjoying it the principal caus cauls of unrest are these 1 there is a lack of martial spi it due to the fact that we are not it war and our emotions have not jeen stirred to the boiling point Is s ernest lindley puts it it Is ilke ake trying to infuse morale into a football oot ball team that has no games scheduled unless we actually go 0 o war this phase of the morale problem will probably remain unsolved 2 many conscript soldiers lack confidence in their officers the arny has on its roles many officers rho ho have no concept of modern Arar warfare fare and who have little capacity for leadership or for instilling aspect and admiration in the he t men they chey command the general Getie I 1 ral staff leaded by energetic ge general marshall marhall and is gradually weeding out lie he incompetents in the commiss commission 1 0 n ad d personnel 3 lack of adequate weapons and aher materials has been a sore point conscripts make sense ense out of maneuvers in which broomsticks were used for cannons ans for shells and in which an bent trucks were painted tank tow however this deficiency is be ng corrected as arms output in ceases re ases troops are getting more ind better equipment and by next rear ear many divisions should possess everything ivery thing needed for modern batie 1 t 4 most general cause of com faint say many is the pay given he soldiers conscripts get 21 per ninth for the first three months md and 30 thereafter under a new congressional bill paya bayat at the end it f a years service will advance to 40 10 that amounts to next to netting the soldiers must pay for hair ats blades clothes pressing tc by the time the necessary ex lenses are met there is little left for recreation or even the simplest luxuries of life As a result soldiers have an extremely difficult time finding amusement the cost of div ing the private a fair wage 50 to 75 a month would amount to relatively little in the light of the gigantic costs the defense program involves it is probable that laws to substantially raise the ardys wages will be introduced in congress 5 tied in with inadequate pay I 1 is the lack of organized recreational facilities many major army camps are arc located in areas where there are arc few communities the united service organizations have raised considerable money through public subscription but the total produced is far from being sufficient to provide amusement on anything near the desired scale all the reporters who have investigated army conditions dit ions tell of finding groups of soldiers loitering on street corners on their evening off broke and with nothing to do it should be emphasized in the interest of fairness that a high pro portion of the ardys enlisted personnel has excellent morale further in the navy air corps and marine marin e corps there is no morale problem I 1 ern whatsoever as these branches of the fighting forces have no conscripts most of the conscripts have gone into the infantry and I 1 it is there the morale problem exists progress is being made in bettering the lot of the men but it looks as if a good deal most must be don if the largest peacetime peace time american army in our history is to have uhn th morale that is essential to an al A l 1 fighting force A short time ago in the beautiful historic french town of foun tain bleau squads of work workmen meI went to work on a wrecking job that involved the tearing down of two huge statues one statue wits of a great frenchman who had fought for democracy marshall lafayette the other statue was of a great american who led a victorious ious democratic army general john J pershing there is a tragic symbolism in this his for it indicates how completely ly france has deserted the democratic way of life and embraced the doctrines of the total state as laid down and enforced by hitler it is generally felt that vie uie great bulk of the french people hate hitler and pray for allied victory but so long as the present vichy government exists there seems no other course than to regard modern france as an ally of germany the hope that general would eventually refuse to use his great african army to help the germans is iri in the view of most e experts x futile the recent appointment of admiral darlan as head of the french defense shows the way the wind blows darlan is antidemocratic democratic id and pro nazi it wl wil not come as any great surprise if the french fleet is in time placed at hillers Hit lers disposal |