SPEECHES THE PRESIDENT WOULD NOT HAVE MADE

When Franklin Roosevelt castigated his aides in the Government last week for making pessimistic speeches, he named no names. But the speeches were all on the record. Ever since straight-talking Elmer Davis, head of the Office of War Information, said in his famed August "ankle-deep" statement that the U.S. "could lose this war," Administration officials had talked cold--and bitter--turkey.

Secretary of Agriculture Claude Wickard, Sept. 24: "A single year could change our food position from abundance to scarcity."

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Ralph A. Bard, Sept. 24: "We Government officials have told you . . . that we could lose the war. But I suspect that our native conceit has accepted this line of thought as traditional advertising technique, the kind of message which sells hair tonic and cure-alls, full of terror in the first part of the ad, and reassurance in the windup. . . . How about, for a change, just saying that we are still losing the war, period? And realizing that we damn well mean it, period? ... At this point I should shift gears and wind up with predictions of a glorious finish of our uphill fight. But I'm not going to do it. We are still losing this war, period. And we should damn well understand it."

War Manpower Commissioner Paul V. McNutt, Sept. 25: "The tide of war is still running against us. ... We are beginning to understand how close we came to being too late. We are beginning to understand that we can still lose."

Lieut. General Brehon Burke Somervell, head of the Army's Services of Supply, Sept. 28: "So far we've lost nearly every major struggle. If we continue to lose a little while longer, it will be too late to save ourselves, America and civilization. The Allies have taken a terrific shellacking all around the globe. . . . We've lost all our rubber, most of our tin, our hemp, our silk. We've lost ships by the hundreds, men by the thousands. We've lost the freedom of the seas. We've lost everything except a smug sense of complacency."

WPBoss Donald Nelson, Sept. 29: "The plain fact of the matter is that production lagged in August about 14% behind the first-of-the-month forecasts. It is true that these forecasts are very high. . . . Nonetheless, the performance is not one that we can brag about."

Officials wondered now what the new "Government information" line would be. Elmer Davis seemed to think the new theme was: "We will win this war if we work harder." But some Government officials thought the President meant them to say: We will win this war, period. Said one of them: "Right now I don't know what the hell the policy is. The White House has me confused."

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