ALL-OUT WAR EFFORT

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIV, Issue 37, 12 January 1944, Page 5

ALL-OUT WAR EFFORT

MR ROOSEVELT'S APPEAL

MESSAGE TO CONGRESS

(N.Z. Press Association. —Copyright). (Rec. 11.40 a.m.) EUGBY, Jan. 11. ' A call for a national service law, coupled with other legislation to facilitate its working, was made by President Roosevelt in his annual message to Congress. Amort"; further enactments envisaged in the President's programme are a cost of food law, establishing minimum prices for' farmers and a ceiling on prices for consumers, and a continuation law for the re-negotiation of war contracts to prevent exhorbitant profits.

Attacking "ostrich isolationism" President Roosevelt says: "I do not think that any of us Americans can be content with mere survival. The sacrifices we and our Allies are makin gimposc upon us all a sacred obligation to see that out of this war we and our children will gain something better than mere survival. We are united in tho determination that this war shall not bo followed by another interim leading to a now disaster." RECENT CONFERENCES.

Referring to Mr Cordoll Hull's visit to Moscow and his own to Cairo and Teheran President Roosevelt mentioned that certain suspicious souls feared that he or Mr Hull had made commitments for the future which might pledge the nation to secret treaties. "Of course we made commitments. "We most certainly committed ourselves to very specific and very largo plans which will require the use of all the Allied forces to bring about tho defeat of our enemies in the earliest possible time, but there are no secret treaties or political or financial commitments. "The one supremo objective for the future which we discussed for each nation individually and for all nations can be summed up in one word—security, or safety from attacks by aggressors. It means also economic security, social secu-

rity, and moral security. "In the plain down-to-earth talks I had with Marshal Stalin, Mr Churchill, and General Chiang Kai-shek, it was abundantly clear that they were all most interested in the resumption of the peaceful progress oi their own peoples. In the present world situation evidenced by actions in Germany, Italy, and Japan, unquestioned military control over disturbers of the peace is as necessary among nations as among citizens, and an equally basic essential to peace is a decent standard of living for all men, women and children oi all nations.

"Some pcoplo attempt to spread the suspicion that if other nations arc encouraged to raise their standard of living our own American standard of living must necessarily be depressed. The fact is very much to the contrary. It has been shown time and again that if the standard of living of any country goes up, so docs its purchasing power, and such a riso encourages a better standard of living for the neighbouring countries with which it trades. That is just plain common sense and it is the kind of plain common sense that provided the basis of our discussions in Moscow, Cairo, and Teheran." WAR AND PROFITS.

The President goes on to attack the noisy minority who look upon war as primarily a chance to make profits for themselves at the expense of their neighbours—profits in terms of money or political or social preferment.

He instances tho increased food costs which bring new demands for wage increases from war workers, which will in turn raise all the prices of all things, including those tilings the farmers themselves have to buy.

The President continued: "If ever there is a time to subordinate individual or group selfishness to the national good, that time is now. "Disunity at home, bickerings, self-seeking, partisanship, stoppages of work, inflation, business as usual, luxury as usual, those are influences which can undermine the morale of the brave men ready it die at the front for us here." COMPLACENCY DANGER.

Warning against complacency, President Roosevelt said that after tho victories at Stalingrad and Tunisia and against U-boats over confidence became so pronounced that war production fell off to such an extent that in June and July more than 1000 aeroplanes, which should and could have been made, were not made. It was necessary to remember the example of 1918 when even as the tide turned in favour of tho Allies the American Government did not relax; in fact the national effort was stopped up and only three months later Germany surrendered. That was the way to fight and win a war —all out.

"Therefore, in order to concentrate all our energies and resources on winning the war and maintaining sound economy at home, I recommend Congress to adopt: "(1) A realistic tax law which will tax all unreasonable profits, both individual and corporate, and reduce the ultimate cost of the Avar to our sons and daughters. "(2) A continuation of tho law for the renegotiation of war contract which will prevent exhorbitant profits and assure fair prices to the Government. ~ , ... "(3) A cost of food law, which will enable the Government to place a reasonable floor under tho prices tho farmer may expect for his production and place a ceiling on the prices tho consumer will have to pay for food he buys. "(4) An earlv re-enactment of the Stabilisation Statute of October. 1942 (this expires on June 30) and if it is not extended well in advance tho country might just as well expect a price chaos by the summer. "(5) A National Service law which, for the duration of tho war, will prevent strikes, and with certain appropriate exceptions make available for war production or any other essential services every able-bodied adult in this nation. These five measures together form a just and equitable whole." In connection with the proposal tor the National Sen-ice Law the President says that experience in Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand had shown that the very existence of National Services makes unnecessary the widespread use of compulsory power for National Service and lias been proved by unifying the moral force based on equal comprehensive legal obligation to all people in the nation and in the war. "It is my conviction that the American people will welcome this win-the-war measure which is based oti the eternally just principle, 'Fair for all.' It will give our people at home the assurance that they are standing four-square behind our soldiers and sailors. It will give our enemies the demoralising assurance that we mean business—that we 130,000.000 Americans are on the march to Rome, Berlin, and Tokio."—Official Wireless.