Who, Me?
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HEN they started this thing, our enemies set the pace. I t is Total War. But I don't think that you fully understand the significanceof it. Who, me? Yes, you! I don't believe you realize what is involved in the inclusion of every person in the country in the fighting forces, armed and civilian. Listen. American tanks are rolling eastward in North Africa; American planes are over western Europe, day and night; American warships are protecting the supply lines to Australia and the Solomon Islands; American submarines are destroying enemy traffic, even along the shores of Japan and China. But the man who welded the armor on a General Sherman is as responsible for its performance in the field as the one who operates its controls or fires the gun mounted in its turret. The man (or woman) who puts the rivets in the wings of a Liberator made i t possible for the crew of that plane to drop two tons of bombs onto the submarine bases a t Wilhelmshaveu. The little side-street jeweler who closed up his shop and turned to making precisions instruments sank that Japanese tanker, as truly as the lieutenant-commander who looked through the periscope and said, "Fire one." That Jap Zero which was brought down just before it reached the "Wasp" goes to the credit not only of the man behind the anti-aircraft gun but also of the onetime garage mechanic who machined the gun-mount. Quite evident. But in countless other ways little people, in obscure places, are doing little things which have big weight when the fighting fronts are reached. A truck driver stops to pick up a small package on the loading platform, which his helper overlooked, and a four-day delay is avoided in a shipment from a munitions iactory, which would otherwise have had to hold up operations for want of some necessary machine tools. The restaurant waitress, by her rapid and watchful service--as well as her deafness to the banter of the salesman a t the far t a b l e s a v e d ten minutes' time for the foundry superintendent who came there every day to lunch, and who, on that day, was able to get back to the office just in time for the long distance call from the ordnance inspector. The high-school chemistry teacher who taught a certain boy all about fires and how to put them out was the real one responsible when that same boy, some time later, put out a blaze in a grain elevator which would have cost the Army several thousand tons of valuable wheat. Everyone who does his own particular little job quickly, efficiently, and cheerfully is helping to reduce the confusion, waste, and delay which sooner or later slows up the flow of men and supplies to the various theaters of war. And you are this minute sitting
there, satisfied with something less than the best you can do. Who, me? Yes, yon! You don't need to be in uniform to he fighting this war. You don't need to have the legal rights of lawful belligerents, or the privilege of bearing arms. You don't need to be an air raid warden, a Red Cross nurse's aid, a US0 hostess or a War Bond salesman. There's a tremendous home front to defend. If our economic structure collapses it will be a worse blow than collapse in North Africa, or New Guinea, or in the Aleutians. If it merely cracks it will be a major defeat. And it m'll crack unless we can find answers to the problems of wages, prices, and distribution of goods. As a matter of fact, a pretty good answer is already before you, but you don't believe it. Who, me? Yes, you! The answer is: In wartime you can't expect anything special; take what the circumstances bring you, and don't grouse about it. When the Army goes forward in the field do yon suppose each soldier sits down and ponders the question: "Let's see now; where is this going to leave me? Perhaps I'd better sit this one out; I've got a date with that blonde, back home, you know. Suppose I get a hand shot off; will I be able to get my garage job back? Anyway, I'm not going into this attack until I'm sure the chow-wagon will be here so we can have a square meal afterwards." No, he doesn't like the present setup, but there is something in it bigger than his little wishes and comforts. He'll take what the day brings; he'll not stop to look for the easiest way over the rough ground, leaving the tough spots for the other fellows--or if he does he'll not find life easy in his company thereafter, and he knows it. On the contrary, he'll say, "What's the use of trying to dodge i t ? If it's got your name on it you'll get it." Now how about you? Who, me? Yes, you! Are you forgetting that, whatever your job, every day's work you miss is one shell less in the artillery barrage, one mile an hour less in the bomber's speed, while you sit around wondering how yon are going to be left after the war? Are you looking for the easy, protected spots, leaving the other fellow in the open? Are yon saying: "Sure, I got three pounds of butter; let him go find himself a quarterpound-if he can, the sap. And I ain't working tomorrow, either, unless I get that two-dollar raise. They got to have them goods we turn out; they can come through, or else. And you're nutty if you live on your own gas coupons. I got fifty from a guy I know. This talk about not being enough gas is hooey. Anyway, half what they ship overseas gets blown up, so what?"
If you don't recognize that one of the main objectives Too bad the civilian army hasn't any top sergeants; on the home front is to avoid ruinous inflalion, and that that sort of talk would fill the hoosegows. If this is to be total mobilization (and we had better the only way to do it is to cooperate with all the admit that it is if we want to survive) we should expect measures which have been taken to prevent it, yon are the same spirit, at least, in our civilian army as in our letting down those fellows in North Africa, the SoloArmed Services. We pride ourselves that the American mons, Iceland, and all over the seas. And that soldier has one element in his training which is absent means slapping down ail the individual chiselers and in that of our enemies: he is trained to understand a digging in to resist the high-pressure groups who think general objective and in the absence of specific orders to they are in a position to profit by the country's necesfollow his own initiative and plan of operations in sity. Are they going to get away with i t ? Hey, you're in this war. Snap into it! Attention! reaching it. We should expect as much of our civilian Who, me? Yes, you! army.
