Answer

When Wendell Willkie talked with President Roosevelt before going to Britain, the President gave him a letter to Winston Churchill. It was written in the angular Presidential scraggle, and addressed "to a certain naval person." In the exciting early days of the first Roosevelt Administration, Washington grew accustomed to such notes, sometimes a brief message of encouragement to some struggler in a new bureau, sometimes a hasty scrawl of thanks for work well done. But never had President Roosevelt surpassed the aptness of the note of introduction that Wendell Willkie carried to Winston Churchill. Nor was one of his messages ever answered so dramatically. In a powerful speech last week Britain's Prime Minister replied:

"The other day President Roosevelt gave his opponent in the late Presidential election a letter of introduction to me, and in it he wrote out a verse in his own handwriting from Longfellow which he said 'applies to you people as it does to us.' Here is the verse:

. . . Sail on, O Ship of State!

Sail on, O Union, strong and great!

Humanity with all its fears,

With all the hopes of future years,

Is hanging breathless on thy fate!

"What is the answer that I shall give in your name to this great man, the thrice-chosen head of a nation of 130,000,000? Here is the answer which I will give to President Roosevelt.

"Put your confidence in us. Give us your faith and your blessing, and under Providence all will be well. We shall not fail or falter. We shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools and we will finish the job."

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