No Joshua?

Almost everywhere the U.S. people looked last week they could see the word CRISIS spelled out in large capital letters.

No citizen had to be told that the simple routine of feeding his family had become more complex and difficult; he could see it in the vanishing stocks in his grocery. No man of draft age not yet in the Army could be anywhere near certain about his future; the directives from Washington were too muddled. No farmer had to be told of the manpower shortage; as the new farm year began in the South, the farmer simply planted less. No taxpayer could be certain what his obligations would be.

In Washington everyone was aware of the crises. But the nation's capital was caught up in the most bitter snarls and personal feuds of World War II. In the headlines of the newspapers and on the lips of Congressmen and administrators the dominant words of the week were "fight" and "revolt." The quarrel which had torn WPB apart was merely waiting for the next flare-up; Franklin Roosevelt was faced with Congressional revolt and a possible split in his own Democratic Party.

Confession of Faith. This week, on Washington's Birthday, the President made his second broadcast in ten days. In the first, he had discussed 1943's grand strategy ; there were many who hoped his second would deal with the home front.

Franklin Roosevelt chose to make a grand confession of faith:

"We know that it was Washington's simple steadfast faith that kept him to the essential principles of first things first. ... It was Washington's faith--and with it, his hope and his charity--which was responsible for the stamina of Valley Forge --and the prayer at Valley Forge.

"[Some] among us still believe in the age of miracles. They forget there is no Joshua in our midst. We cannot count on great walls crumbling and falling when the trumpets blow and the peoples shout."

But there were some walls of frustration and doubt which the President could, if he chose, blast with his own trumpet.

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