RELEASING NEWS FROM FRONTS

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23799, 19 November 1942, Page 5

RELEASING NEWS FROM FRONTS

POSSIBLE HELP TO ENEMY MISTAKE ADMITTED BY ROOSEVELT (N.z: Press Association—Copyright.) (Rec. 10.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, Nov. 17. Addressing the New York “HeraldTribune" forum, Mr Roosevelt said: "In war time the Government obviously cannot always give people the news, because of the danger of helping those who are trying to destroy us. On the other hand those persons who do not possess the facts inevitably speak from guesswork on doubtful information. “We must not lend ears to the clamour of politics or to criticism from those actuated by political motives,” said Mr Roosevelt. "I have made a constant effort to keep politics out of the fighting of this war, but I confess that my foot slipped once. About 10 days before the elections one of our aircraft-carriers was torpedoed in the south-west Pacific. Unable to make port, she was destroyed by our forces. We in Washington did not know whether the enemy was aware of the sinking. “At that time a great issue was being raised in Congress and in. public vehicles of information concerning the suppression of news from the fighting fronts. There was a division of opinion among responsible authorities. Here came my mistake. I yielded to the clamour, realising that if the news were given out two or three weeks later it would be publicly charged that I suppressed the news until after the election. “Shortly afterwards protests came from the admirals in command of the south-west Pacific and Hawaii on the ground that the Japanese probably had no information of the sinking, and that handing them the information on a silver platter—although we had not revealed the name of the carrier—gave them a military advantage they would not otherwise have had. “This confession illustrates the fact that in war time the conduct of the war comes absolutely first. The people know that none of their inalienable rights are taken away through failure to disclose for a reasonable length of time facts that Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo would give their eye-teeth to learn. Loose talk delays victory. Loose talk is the damp that gets in our powder. We prefer to keep our powder dry. “Our battle lines stretch from Kiska to Murmansk, from Tunisia to Guadalcanal The lines will grow longer as our forces advance. We have had an uphill fight. It will continue uphill all the way. There can be no coasting to victory. . , . “During the last fortnight we have had a great deal of good news. It would seem that the turning point of the war has at last been reached, but this is no time for exultation. There is no time for anything but fighting and working to win.”