Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1942. AMERICA'S GRIM REPLY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 5, 7 January 1942, Page 4

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1942. AMERICA'S GRIM REPLY

It is just a fortnight ago today— on Christmas Eve, 1941 —that the world was thrilled by the announcement' that Mr. Churchill was in Washington meeting President Roosevelt. No similar period in the world's history has ever been packed with events —for deliberations leading to decisions and pronouncements of policy by leaders are events—of greater significance to the future of the world. Action in Washington has moved with the precision of a grand drama in which the actors know well their parts. First, there was the marvellous address to both Houses of Congress assembled together by which the British Prime Minister won the hearts of the elected representatives of the American people, face to face, and the people themselves by his words heard over the air or read in the newspapers. The broadcast talk of the President— a role in which he excels—carried the'movement towards unity and solidarity astage further. Then followed the interlude of Mr. Churchill's visit to Canada, which, with his speech to the "House of Commons at Ottawa, inspired the people of the Dominion to a new . ardour of enthusiasm for the cause. All the while the men entrusted with the job of preparing the plans for total war against the common enemy were working night and day, for time was obviously short. The political results were seen in the epoch-making pact of unity in which twenty-six nations pledged themselves to pit all their resources. against the Axis, followed immediately by the first fruits of grand strategy in the establishment of unity of command in the southwestern Pacific war theatre and the appointment of a supreme commander and associates that has given every satisfaction to the peoples concerned. It was obvious that, step by step, the work of organising the free nations against the enslavers and oppressors—those people who "had conspired to murder world peace"— was making phenomenal progress. President Roosevelt's message to Congress covers its completion, except for detail. . (

The President may be pardoned for reminding Congress at the outset that exactly one year ago he had told them thai when the dictators were ready to make war upon the United States they, and not the United States, would choose the time and place and method of attack. The people of the United States now knew the time, the place, and the method, all characteristic of Hitlerism. That the response of the American people to the challenge of the enemy had been instantaneous, that their spirit was never higher, that they had never been more closely knit or more deeply determined to face the stern task ahead—to use the President's words—must be recognised by all the world—though the President, of course, did not say it—as due largely to liis own patient, unerring guidance over a most trying period when any momentary slip might have precipitated the forces of disunity in the world's greatest democracy composed of people descended from many races and following many separate interests. ■ ■ c That nation is now united as never before, ready to follow the President wherever he leads, in the mood of "quiet, grim resolution" which prevailed in Congress that day and, as he said, "boded ill for those who had conspired to murder world peace." The choice before the American people imposed by Japanese action is hard and the President made no effort to minimise it. But, said the President, powerful offensive action would be taken in proper time. The purpose of the conferences held during the past two weeks in Washington and Chungking was the consolidation of the united nations for a total war against the enemy, arid that purpose was being achieved. The next step will be the implementing of the common purpose in a common plan of action. Much has already been accomplished, according to the President. Plans have been laid for "co-ordinated and co-opera-tive action" by all the Allied nations. A start has been made in the western Pacific, and the conferences will be continued so that the plans for each theatre of war and for each of the Allied nations will fit in with the general strategy against the enemy. This common'plan of action is of the utmost importance in the conduct of total war on a world scale, and the prompt and business-like way in which the preliminaries have been tackled at Washington, and at Moscow, Chungking, and elsewhere will inspire the greatest confidence among the peoples fighting Axis tyranny and enable them to face inevitable setbacks here and there until the vast machine can be fully assembled in working order for its gigantic task of crushing Hitlerism everywhere. With the President's emphasis on the factor of speed in the production of munitions of war-—aeroplanes, tanks, guns, ships—on a scale undreamt of even two years ago, everyone will agree. The sooner the men and material of war are ready, the sooner will it be possible to begin closing in on the enemy in the manner foreshadowed by Mr. Churchill. Both in the West and in the East the enemy has the advantage of interior lines, allowing him to transfer forces from place to place over shorter distances. This means that the Allies, working on the outside —on exterior lines-—must have larger forces of men and munitions at their disposal. They have them, potentially, but they must have them 'available for use anywhere on the

outer circle. It is this fact that lends supreme significance to Mr. Roosevelt's declaration that American forces would be free to operate anywhere in the world, that* they would operate at many places in the Far East, on all oceans, helping to guard the communications vital to the united nations, that they would take their stations in the British Isles, a bastion in the struggle, finally that in the fight they would take it and give it back with compound interest. America is therefore in the war to the full with all it means.

The President's message is a climax to a fortnight of events that have restored complete confidence to the champions of democratic freedom that they can and will conquer, the foes of that freedom. In the triumph of the.good cause the two great protagonists stand out —Roosevelt and Churchill, the President and the Prime Minister, who, as the President declared, understand each other and are the complement of each other. Free men are fortunate in the possession of such leaders.