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Show What About Morale? By Ruth Taylor What is civilian morale? How important im-portant is it? Is it really vital to our conduct of the war? How important it is was answered for us in France. There were not many traitors among the people of France. No one who knows the French can believe that. But there were far too many self-seeking patriots pa-triots men who wanted then: own way, their manner of living protected; pro-tected; power groups; pressure groups trying to force their 'own ideas on every one else. The minute min-ute these self-seeking patriots drew apart into little groups, they left great gaps through which the unified uni-fied enemy could sweep in. They had lost the feel of the common good, without which the Maginot line was as a wall of' tissue. How vital it is was answered for us at Pearl Harbor. We condemn the complacent attitude of our defense de-fense but we overlook the fact that it was the complacency of the country coun-try as a whole that was reflected The blame for defeat lies upon those who put party politics and personal ambition before patriotism and, since we are the voters whose word, in the last analysis, is law, the blame is on our shoulders. Civilian morale is 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, 24 hours a day. The way to keep civilian morale high 1 is simple. First, there are "don't's". 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 per-mit ourselves to be governed by our predjudices toward any group. We must avoid disruptive argument and controversy, whether it be between be-tween 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 subversive propaganda. We must remember that we are Americans first, and accept as Americans all who believe in the ideals of freedom, regardless of race, creed or color. We must be willing to work and cooperate with all who want to help, without inquiry in-quiry or caring whether they are Protestant, Jew or Catholic. We must remember our joint aims, and, not our minor disagreements. Our country is like a beleagured 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, you and I, if all of us, demonstrate demon-strate our 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. |