The Pittsburgh Press (October 16, 1943)
Editorial: Allies and enemies
The world surely moves fast.
It isn’t long, for instance, since everybody was saying, “Well, the streetcar is a thing of the past, like the horsecar.” And some cities kicked them out and went entirely to buses.
And who would have thought, a couple of years back, that in this land of milk and honey it would be next to impossible to get a quarter-pound of butter, or a good steak? Or that a people with two chickens in every pot and two cars in every garage would be skimping on ration points and hoofing it to work? Or that a country in which every labor union was forcing “featherbed” rules on business to spread the work in so short a time would be wondering where the hell to find an office boy?
We have been brought up sharp on these points by our favorite heckler. He says the way the war keeps changing we should run a Page One box every day listing our allies and our enemies, just to keep everyone posted, as we do in the daily Ration Guide.
He says:
As an old contributor to the Finnish Relief Fund, and later a bitter foe of the Finns and as a citizen who at once time knew that all Russians were incorrigibles in cahoots with Hitler and is now convinced they are the salvation of Europe. I believe this would render an invaluable service.
A few weeks ago, we were instructed to kick all Italians in the pants; now they are our friends.
Well, pal, that’s history. And it just goes to show that we never can take anything for granted.