Show GENERAL HUGH S JOHNSON jour f A BUNCH OP OF BUNK washington D 0 one principal reason why I 1 went to to st louis the metropolis of the great valley was to check up as well as I 1 could on certain statements so frequently repeated repeat ed in the east recently one Is that this great hinterland people so short a time ago opposed to our taking any part in the war in europe have now changed their minds another is that the presidents message on defense has so electrified and unified them lor for his Is fore foreign ign policies that an election this f fall a U would be a mistake that it Is no longer necessary they want a third germ term for mr roosevelt as a measure of national preparedness walter lippmann miss dorothy thompson and radio commentator H V kaltenborn seem to have fallen tor for this line or at least have stressed various angles of the move to suppress our two party system on a belief that what we need Is unity that Is also the white house janis sarlat and third termite line it is a at t the bottom of the presidents dramatic but tricky presen presentation n of the preparedness bill and of his coquetry to seduce a healthy opposition ion party by the so called coalition cabinet idea well it Is my observation among this valley people of my own bagi beginnings that it is all a bunch of bunk this midwestern mid western country no more approves the presidents policy of sticking our necks out into the foreign of europe and asia than it ever did and that was not at all it does approve the spending of whatever is necessary ford for american defense it always did it needed no unification on that either by the presidents speech or coalition cabinet it is shocked to learn at so late a date that this administration while spending so many billions for boon d dog 0 gling and some useful works has baa permitted us to remain so delinquent in defense that we have practically no armament against the dreadful weapons of modern war it Is beginning to realize 0 that aaa it has not heretofore been t told 0 id the truth about this defenselessness it is especially indignant to learn leam that as early as 1933 when hitler started the mechanization and motorization of army tactical units which is now conquering civilization and which then erased the unemployment problem in germ germany any mr roosevelt was authorized by congress to spend any part of fa that he chose for the same purpose and spent it and many billions more for other and tar far less necessary purposes 0 mr roosevelt made an effective rearmament speech and got a lot of applause but the facts are leaking ou out t that he was making a virtue out 0 of f his own neglect and inaction in defense that the appropriation he asked for was unplanned and inadequate that the speech and the subsequent coalition cabinet stuff was pure third term politics and had little to do with increased industrial defense production which is the essence of our problem industrial SENSE at the end of a luncheon of B M baruch with the president steve early warned news hawks not to begin guessing that there would be a new war industries board he added that the government is much better organized than it was in 1917 I 1 think mr early is partly right but the statement carries hints which if intended are altogether wrong the war industries board was an overall over all control of our entire economic system including demand and supply price and production transportation and commerce we were organizing a nation in arms for total war by overseas attack that required us to shoot the works to make many times the effort we are called upon to make today for defensive preparation it II is true that we do not need to repeat precisely the war industries organization it is also true that governmental organization to Is different from that of 0 1917 but steve is also reported to have said it Is better it if that means better to get the maximum effort and production out of industry it Is nonsense to say this government is better organized to do this job of rapid industrial du production lor for rearmament could be described as a colossal though tragic joke if 11 it were not so tragic in this phase of this war our sole battlefield Is on the industrial front this administration for 6 seven years has built up every bar barrier r it could invent against both passing without comment its many laws restricting financing maximum effort by clogs on speedups overtime and high pressure management it has attempted to substitute political regimentation and government competition for the profit motive which was the only known gas to make ow our industrial engine go at its best |