Why?

For the second time, Congress last week extended the deadline for filing of court-martial charges against Rear Admiral Husband E. Kimmel and Lieut. General Walter C. Short.

In the House, the question stirred warm and weighty debate. Missouri's obstreperous Representative Dewey Short was roaring hot for immediate "justice." He roared: "It is shameful, it is disgraceful, that these trials have not already been held. . . ." Around Dewey Short rallied some Congressmen who believe the people have an urgent right to know all about Pearl Harbor, and others who believe that a public parceling of blame may embarrass Franklin Roosevelt.

The Administration's men, fighting stubbornly to postpone any investigation or trial, repeated their well-worn arguments: a public trial now would drag military secrets into the open. It might shake public confidence in military leaders. Officers could not spare time from the battlefronts to appear as witnesses. Said New Dealing Representative John W. Murphy, of Dunmore, Pa. : "It seems strange and unusual . . . when we are having the greatest crisis in the history of our world, that instead of being in the chapel on our knees praying, we have men here attempting as palace guards, or desk generals, to run the war."

But the House had tired of all these arguments. What Pearl Harbor military secrets would now be useful to the Japs huddled under bombs at Truk, 3,600 miles southwest of Hawaii? If officers can spare time for Washington trips, why not for a trial? And if there is nothing to hide, why the stone wall against an investigation? The House Democrats & Republicans alike lined up behind Dewey Short's de mand that the Army & Navy start court-martial wheels turning within three months. The Senate voted a full year's delay, thus forcing a compromise at six months.

The probability was that there would be no public airing of the Pearl Harbor linen until after the November election. Attorney General Francis Biddle handed down a convenient legal opinion that fore cast an indefinite delay. Ruled Biddle: because Admiral Kimmel and General Short have waived the two-year statute of limitations, they can be court-martialed whenever the Army & Navy get around to it, regardless of Congressional deadlines.

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