Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 August 1945 — Page 6

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"is fitting, just as it was proper for Secretary of State Byrnes

The Indianapolis Times

REFLECTIONS —

"PAGE 6 Tuesday, Aug. 14, 1945

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<< RILEY 5551

Give Ligh and the People wai Fine Their Own Wey

MacARTHUR IS THE MAN AN AMERICAN has been chosen as allied supremé commander for purposes of Jap surrender. Certainly that

to represent all the allies in making the official reply to the Tokyo overtures. For the achievement of victory is largely American. Our forces first stopped the enemy advance, then took his bases, destroyed his navy, shattered his air arm, outfought his army on its own ground, blockaded and bombarded his homeland, and with bombs falling to the ultimate atomic crescendo finally made him beg for peace.

And our allies are first to give our heroic forces full credit |.

for carrying the load while the Chinese were too weak for _ an offensive, while the French were down, while the British “were spread thin elsewhere, while the Russians were pinned down by the Germans and later were-getting ready to fight Japan. : * fii"Washington it is assumed that Gen. MacArthur will be the allied supreme commander. Rarely is the choice of a man for a job so obvious, if not automatic. Not on

one count, but on all, he is the logical man. - # » o

HE IS the ‘senior and ranking American and allied. general in the Pacific. That alone would be enough to determine his selection. He is the most successful general in the Pacific and the Far East in terms of land liberated from conquest and in numbers of Jap forces defeated. All of this he has achieved with a minimum of American and allied losses. The explanation is that he has outguessed the enemy every time—so consistently that this is generally recognized as one of the wonders of the war. That is not luck. Nor is it simply that MacArthur is a superb strategist. There are special reasons why he can outguess the Japs. He knows them. He should. For he has been studying them ever since he went out to Tokyo as a young man to serve as American military attache and observer. in the Russo-Jap war, ‘Because. MacArthur by experience and on the record knows thé Japs best, he should be the allied supreme commander not only to accept the surrender, but in charge of _ the military government of occupation. Reasons of sentiment are important too. Especially in the Far East, MacArthur took the bitter retreat from the Philippines, which the enemy used as the symbol of Jap superiority over white civilization. It is only just that he should be to them, as to us, the symbol of the sequel.

Crown Prince ; By Frank Aston

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1A4.~The name is Akihito, Age: 11%. He is the son of Hirohito and the former Princess Nagako of Japan. He likes to rlimh trees. A scrapbook kept on Crown Prince Akihito for a fortnight starting about Aug. 9, 1945, would show a number of stories about “hometown boy makes good.” At that period the . Japanese newspapers suddenly began to publish articles which indicated Akihito was quite a guy. The Nip editors came close to saying that Akihito wouldn't be bad as emperor. Far across the seas white peoplé~heard of this. They said: “Well, maybe. But he'd be a 1945 MacArthur model.” Akihito, being only. 11%, probably did not lose much sleep over the issue. Presumably he cone tinued to develop his tree-climbing talents. Or perhaps he rode his pony. °° The crown prince has a Mongolian pony ‘and a dog. The pony leads something of a dog's life insofar as galloping with his master is. concerned. Great care !s exereised that the crown prince doesn't get | the pitch while riding because his neck is considered | both royal and divine. The pony has to be careful.

Handy With Scooter

AKIHITO also has a bicycle and a little gadget that resembles an American scooter. Like his bespectacled pop, the arown prince is none too muscular, - but the royal grapevine reports that he can give the scooter plenty of steam with the approved right leg stroke,

carries his things in a knapsack strapped across his shoulders. He wears a dark jacket and straight pants that end below the knée. His stockings are knee-length and black. His. shoes are ankle high and the laces generally are so long that they have to be wound once around the shoetop before being tied. His mama likes to embroider little. flowers on his garrison style cap. Having beerf born a crown prince, Akihito had to leave home af the age of three. He was set up in an establishment in one of the royal residences in Tokyo, not far from the imperial palace. When it came time for Akihito to start school, the school went to him. It was an institution for the training of peers. and was moved into new quarters convenient to the crown prince’s home. The prince entered kindergarten a few months before he became

. seven.

_ Akihito was born Dec, 23, 1933, the fifth ch¥d and first son of the Sun. ‘One of the four daughte’ died. A month before his birth the nation began r#ligious

forthcoming. The ceremonies opened when a sacred silk maternity sash was wound around the empress. The sun of the new day and the son of the sun arrived at the same hour. The great event took place in .the imperial maternity pavilion newly constructed on the palace grounds. The royal father sat in an august chamber near the delivery room.

Swords for Sons PAPA TOYED with ‘a little dagger and a little sword. Four times previously he had presented a dagger to the new arrival. for the dagger is offered a Japanese girl to protect her virginity. Swords are for sons. At 6:39 a.m. the royal siren shrieked. Ome shriek would mean a girl. The siren shrieked again. It was a boy. All over Tokyo heads began bobbing and neighbors began exchanging dignified phrases of ecstasy. The royal father picked up the sword for the first time. He did not rush in and present it to his heir personally. The emperor isn't allowed to run any errands in person, not even to welcome his own image. The man who took the little sword to the crown prince was a dignitary named Suzuki. Eleven and a half years later this same Suzuki, as premier,

And when we think of Bataan and Corregidor, we capnot forget the man chosen by MacArthur to stay behind when he himself was ordered out by the President. Gen. Wainwright suffered the ignominy of surrender and was marched off to a Jap prison camp. When last heard |

i

of he was in a Manchurian prison. |

Lt. | | pounds, three ounces at .birth, the royal obstetricians

| reported.

was to run another royal errand in the same neighnorhood, but definitely not in joy. Akihito was 19% inches long and weighed seven

Through proper channels the royal father soon received a message of congratulation from President d Mrs. Roosevelt,

When Akihito trudges across the yard to school, he |

‘eral +| whacked down. to peacetime size

POLITICS —

Bureau Cuts By Charles T. Lucey

' WASHINGTON, Aug. 14—Demands that the 3,000,000-job fedgovernment machine ie

+ hquickly will mark Congress’ return,

But the congressmen will meet plenty of resistance from bureaus which, set up for war, are convinced’ they have great peacetime value. In older agencies— the War department, for example—they’ll find post war assignments which will help keep the payrolls sizable. Slowness of the payroll to shrink to anything fike Prewas sise ales will be due iu yurt to maintenstos of some economic controls for an indefinite period. A chunk‘of the 60,000-job staff of the of Price

Administration will be folded up fairly soon, but ‘unless Congress decrees otherwise, a large staff would

continue on to maintain ceiling prices in a battle against inflation. \

Bureaus Grow to Vast Size THE FEDERAL payroll reached 1,000,000 in 1040 and that was called tremendous. By November, 1943, it had grown to 2,750,000, and since then it has ranked up to above 3,200,000 civilian workers. It was a smalls er war in 1918. There were only 917,000 employees om

"the payroll at the peak then.

In many states, federal employees outnumber Jocal government employees, The War department has more than 1,100,000 civile fan employees, but this includes more than a half million who are employed in government arsenals making munitions or as civilian craftsmen at various army installations. The manufacturing jobs are exe De Auk yp Mush. Tastes then the, Teplias clerical jobs. It's still going to be nectaszy. War department officials say, to have a large number of civilian workers for such tasks as contract termination and maintaining the work of the army hospitals, embarkas tion ports, medical depots, and troop separation centers, The War Manpower Cdinmission has 27,000 eme loyees, and with lifting of controls promised, a cone siderable number of these should be hunting new Jobs soon. The war production board and he wap shipping board have about 12,000 employees #ach, bus In both cases there may be a considerable carryoves for a while.

They All Want to Stay

THE SMALLER War Plants Corp, with some 1708 employees, is among those which are singing their peacetime value in the hope that Congress will think well of them and let them stay. Ald is needed for

exercises in the hope that a man child might be |

Hoosier

Forum

“lI wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right 7 say iL.”

1 an Americans today should be thinking of the gallant | "gh = cr "iy inito left home at the abe of Wainwright, as MacArthur undoubtedly is thinking of his | three, President Roosevelt's chief of staff went to the old friend. We pray that he has survived Jap imprison- | Philippines at the request of President Quezon. Until

“OUR ENEMIES GET WHAT BELONGS TO US” By Mre, Fred Woodruff, Noblesville I réad an item in The Times stating that the Italian prisoners of war were going to be permitted to send food, clothing and sugar back to their families in Italy, while we who are Americans have to do without sugar, at least don’t have enough to make jelly or can our fruit, with hardly enough for our tables. But still our enemies can have what they want which rightfully belongs to this country, not Italy and Germany. I suppose next they will ask us to move out of our homes so they can move their families over here. I just wonder who is paying taxes here, them or us? » s » “NO SOFT PEACE IS

(Times readers are invited to express their views in_ these columns, religious con-™ troversies excluded. Because sof the volume received, letters should be limited to 250 words. Letters must be signed. Opinions set forth _ here are those’ of the writers, and publication in no way implies agreement with those opinions { The Times. The imes assumes no responsi bility for the return of manuscripts and cannot enter correspondence regarding them.)

what I am talking about. But my husband has been in Germany fighting and he thinks he will have to go to the Pacific. He is the

guess to say we have enough war material already produced or in process now to defeat the epemy and in many instances we have a surplus, goods that will never go into action or be used during the war, If we do not lay plans now for

of unemployed at the war's end amounting to 10 to 15 million which will mean a larger national debt plus a longer wait for goods now obtainable, We must not be caught unprepared for the peace as full employment, goods of all kinds, must be on hand if we are to maintain our foreign markets. » ” n “WHY: CAN'T STORES TREAT ALL ALIKE?” By Mrs. Clyde Smith, 849 Parker ave. Last Friday I went to the grocery

AN EASY WAY OUT” father of three small children and! By Meriem L. McCormick, Crawfordsville it wasn’t easy to see him go, nor 1 don’t know if I am qualified t0| wag it easy to try to carry on with- | answer David E. Kennedy's ques-|out him, but he felt that he had tion, “Why must we fight on,” but much more to fight for than some I amr almost sure that he has for- of the single boys and he was will- | gotten the harsh measures that the ing to go so that our son would be Japs have used:-and the Bataan | spared the horrors of war, and I} march of death that took the lives|am sure that he will be willing to of many good American boys. I| go help finish the job in the Pacific, think, in fact I am sure, that their | on those same terms. We all want parents would like to have them our lovkd ones home, none of us

ment unbroken. We hope he can be found in time to par-

ticipate in person when Japan surrenders formally to us.

CAN JAPAN BE A DEMOCRACY? HE United States and its allies cannot force a democratic form of government on Japan under the Potsdam terms. That would be unwise to attempt and impossible to achieve. But the Potsdam ultimatum does provide a democratic method of choosing whatever non-militaristic form of government the Japanese want to live under after the | allied occupation government withdraws, This differentia- |

tion between the method of self-determination and its re- |

sults is very important in our ‘avowed war aims. Failure to understand a similar distinction in the case of the emperor institution caused many Americans to jump | to mistaken conclusions last week when the Japs ‘asked to keep the emperor. Many who had never réad the Cairo |

and Potsdam decfarations did not know that our officially |

proclaimed war aims left the decision of the emperor institution up to the Japanese people, and therefore were unpleasantly surprised when the allied reply so stated. The | distinction, which so many Americans missed, was that the | allied government of occupation would be all-powerful re- | gardless—emperor or no emperor. differentiation which the Tokyo cabinet had such a hard time swallowing. As to imposing our form of government upon the Japs, American who stops to think about that proposition ser hin will realize it is a contradiction in terms. It can’t be dome. We. know from.our éxperience in this country that démocracy is achieved only to the extent that the maJority believe in it, vigilantly protect it, and vigorously strive to make it work. And we know from our experience with Germany after

world war 1 that the attempt of victors to impose demo- |

cratic forms on a defeated undemocratic nation is futile. It "is worse than that. It is a deceptive device, which boomerangs against victors who stupidly confuse appearances with realities.

» » ” SO WE Know ‘that, if Germany is ever a genuine democ“racy, it will be only when the people themselves have evolved to that state of political self-reliance and maturity. All we can do is to make sure that militarism and Naziism do not rise to power again, and to keep the rules fair for feeble German democracy to grow to the Limits of its own capacity. The same is true of the Japanese. Even more so be.cause they are less politically mature than the Germans, who at least share part of our occidental tradition of individual liberty. : TH» dogmatize about the Japs’ capitity for democracy 8 absard. On the record Japan seems to be the most barren |" _ soil imaginable for freedom’s seed. And yet some American experts believe the breaking of the centuries-old crust | “may be relatively quick, that the pre-war constitutional fount may flower into something real, Gertainly in the of Turkey, which also had a very: old. church-state cy headed by a caliph, the progress was much more ; n seemed possible. But if the Japs do it, bey. will | 35 — ks did.

This is the realistic |

1941 the general organized and trained the Philippine army. The general was Douglas A. MacArthur.

WORLD AFFAIRS—

Open Doors

By Wm. Philip Simms

! WASHINGTON, Aug. 14. —All of a sudden the atomic bomb and Japan’s defeat have combined to make | the first of the four freedoms—{free«dom of speech, of the press and of information—the heart of the world security Charter. Seven weeks ago today when the Charter was | adopted at San Francisco, Chapter IX was widely | regarded as one of its more dormant provisions, Some time or other, its framers thought, maybe the United Nations organization would get around to it. But the bolt which strucly Hiroshima a week ago Sunday, changed all that. It has become the United Nations’ first order of business, or it had better be. For uriless Chapter IX is implemented, and soon, the new League of Nations will offer no more security | than the old. The World ould never be more than reasonably certain that,.tomorrow, half of it would | not be a shambles.

| Respect for Human Rights ARTICLE 55, Chapter IX, says in part With a view to the creation of conditions of | stability and well-being which are necessary for the péaceful and friendly relations among nations . . . the | organization shall promote , , ., universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all . , . ” and Article 56 adds that “all members pledge themselves to take joint and separate action in co-operation with the organization for the achievement of the purposes set forth in Article 55.” What this means to the United Btates, at least, was set forth clearly and officially by the then sec- | retary of state, Edward R. Stettinius Jr. The American delegation wanted no doubt about it. The fundamental freedoms, said Mr, encourages all other rights and freedoms. They in- | clude, he specified, freedom of speech, freedom of | the press, freedom of information and freedom of communications. The annihilating, has now put it up to the United Nations organization to make good on Chapter IX quickly, or else. No nation with a truly free press could secretly arm to crush another.

The Regions of Silence

. THERE ARE now vast areas which are completely siiut off from the rest of the world. No one is permitted to enter and no one is allowed to leave without the closest scrutiny and only a chosen few make the grade. Once inside,” freedom of movement is extremely circumscribed. There is no such thing as a plane or a train, bus or private automobile at will, as in the United States. Every move requires a special permit. The press is government controlled and nothing leaks out that is not meant to jouk. (Within these vast, walled-off spaces, the atomic bomb, V-1, V-2 and combinations. thereot could be perfected “and put into production while the outside world lived in blissful ignoranee, The United States | and the British, of course, atomic bonib 2 secret. but only because it ‘was waf-

Stettinius,

| time. There are countries which keep: the lid on just]

Nc ogo must |

as tightly in time of peace, i, ‘Any international security plan now include control of the new atomic Jan of any such arrangements must press, freedom of information aud.

he Sosditn or 8 Seo. hover the wogid.., + i

nation-wrecking atomic bomb |’

managed to keep the

home, too, don’t you Mr. Kennedy? | If the Japs love their emperor so; much why wasn’t that love used for| good in the first place? Personally I can’t help but feel that we should

. °|make the Japs understand that

they can’t do anything they may feel like doing to anyone. - After all, the rest of the people in the world] want to live in peace and to let the other fellow do the same. Why should we let the Japs have the loot they have stolen from other people and nations? = Why should we let them feel that they can do as they please regardless of what terrible things they do to achieve their ends? Why should we_ forget that millions of Chinese have been murdered, and the American lives that have already been lost? I know any number of people who would like to have their sons and loved ones home, but not at the expense of a soft peace or the easy way out: We as a nation have put our hands to the plow, [Tet us continue until we have done la good and thotough job. Maybe then the little boys that are playing around our feet won't have to | finish the job later on. : Possibly Mr, Kennedy is thinking I don’t know much about all this {and maybe he thinks I don’t know

"would be human if we didn't. But { I say not at the price that Mr. Kennedy wants us to pay. It would be far ‘too sostly. » ” | “WE MUST NOT BE CAUGHT | UNPREPARED FOR PEACE” By Henry W. Reger, Indianapolis | The event-of Pearl Harbor found jus totally unprepared for war which | resulted in loss of life, a great deal {of the taxpayers’ money unwisely spent, plus a similar amount of confusion. If peace were to be declared in the near future it would find us as totally unprepared for peace as we were for war at the time of Pearl Harbor. If peace comes in the near future chaos awaits us as we have taken no steps in preparation for peace. We have talked of reconversion and the pest war world, etc., but we have taken no steps in setting up a definite plan of procedure in the reconversion of our man power, our machinery, our raw materials to peacetime activities. Many will say we should simply

then turn our attention to peace after the enemy is beaten. It is a mediocre individual who can't give his attention to more than one thing at a time, We can and must plan for reconversion while we are yet producing for war. It is a safe

|

goin Dick Turmer

LAE Ping.

concentrate-on-winning the-war-and|

| store, made my purchases of $3.48. | asked for cigarets. The girl at | the cash register said we don’t have any. I stood and watched. A friend lot hers came up. She handed her {two Old Golds in a sack. Another | came along—we don't have any. | The other woman at the other cash register stooped, took two Old Gold cigarets, put them in a sack, waited until one of her friends came along. She handed it out. . Why can't they {reat them all alike? Yet we are short of paper, and look how many sacks it takes. ” ” ” “WE'VE GOT SOMETHING GOOD TO OFFER WORLD”

By The Watchman, Indianapolis. American diplomacy has taken a

defeatist policy toward Europe and Asia and by refusing and neglecting to offer political guidance and protection to the defeated and exhausted people of occupied nations has in effect left’ the people of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and the rest wide open to Communist seizure and persecution. That, of course, has not been the purpose but_it' has that very result and will continue to do so. Why don’t our leaders offer these poor, confused, downtrodden, suffering people something which would really contribute to their welfare and seclrity to aid them in establishing republican representative forms of people's government. like out own American sys-, tem? We've got something good] | in the way of government to offer the, world. Why should we be squeamish about helping “liberated” Europe to establish stable political machinery? Are we ashamed of our American system of government? Our defeatist trouble-brew-ing “hands-off policy” is leaving Europe and Asia to the tender mercy and political tutelage of Joe Stalin and his Communist quislings, and if our leaders can't see where that will lead to they are more than blind. President Truman, congress and most of our people sincerely want to keep the peace by co-operating and knuckling to Stalin's demands -but it won't work. Stalin also ‘pretended to cooperate with Hitler and Japan, didn’t he? According to reports the American Communists, who take orders from Stalin, were laying their new plans for overthrowing the government of the, United States at the very moment our trusting President was doing his best to co-operate with Stalin for peace and mutual security. What hope for péace and security can the United States ever have with a nest of hostile Com-

small business in peacetime just as in war, it has been argued, and this is also claimed to be another good. place to aid.the veterans. The Selective Service System has some 18,000 paid employees, and its officials have argued for a share in this same job of helping the veteran. How long the draft organization lasts probably will depend upon what Congress decides to do about universal Bilitary training in peacetime. The Veterans Administration has 60,000 employees, and with the return of the armies from overseas thi

reconversion we will have an army fmay be enlarged.

The Navy, like the War department, is expected td how big cuts in the number of civilian employees. Re cent figures showed nearly 700,000 on the department's payroll, but a great number of these are in navy yards and industrial establishments where employment 1s expected to fall off sharply as the naval building program slackens. The Byrd Economy Committee has made carefd studies of virtually all government agencies, and Senator Byrd (D. Va.), its chairman, is expected to urge quick reduction in bureaus whose war work is ended or curtailed. President Truman, it is believed, will support moves to cut the payroll as rapidly as practicable. He has asked Congress for new authority to reorganize the executive branch. :

IN WASHINGTON— Equality

By Douglas Larsen

WASHINGTON, Aug. 14.—Recently a young Ruse sian officer who understood and spoke English was sent here on some special mission. It was his first visit to America and his astonished. reports of wha goes on in the U. S. capital is still leaving his friends at home unbelieving. He was most shocked at the way "high-ranking navy and army officers were treated so indifferent! by the man in the str®t as they went about thei daily business. His most oft-repeated story is about the vice ad miral, who was riding to town on the 16th st. b He was amazed to see such a dignitary use the com mon carrier in the first place. THe bus was crowded and the yice’admiral was herded in the rear like th rest. He grabbed the handle on a seat which wi occupied by twp apprentice seamen. They paid scan attention to him and remained seated. The Russian was more surprised that the admiral didn't appear to mind standing. The pay-off came when the admiral winted 0 get off. The bus had stopped at a corner which ap parently was his destination and he started pullin the buzzer cord vigorously. The bus driver paid nd attention. The cord got several more snappy tugs. That did it to the driver. He hunched himsel up from his seat, looked around elaborately and said in a loud, good-natured voice: “You're not on a ship, sailor! Pullin’ that. cord won't get you off. I'll leawe you off at the regu bus stop which is in the midle of the next block] and not befére.” Everybody on the bus Taugieg, ingiuting h chastised admiral.

How to Get a Hotel Room

THE ONE incident the bewildered Russian could never figure out happened while he was standing nex to the desk of one of this city’s swankiest hotels. I was Saturday afternoon, A portly colonel bustled up to the young woman clerk and politely informed her he would like to have a room, When she found out he didn't have a reservation she said she wa sorry but nothing was available. He blustered, bul she interrupted with a curt repeat of what she ha said and turned away. The colonel had been gone hardly a second whe a young marine officer candidate from Quantic breezed up. “Listen, baby, this is important; I've gotta ha a room. How about it?” : ' The girl smiled and sald she'd check to see there. were any cancellation§ and returned with double‘on the 10th floor,

Red Points and the OPA Big Shot"

NEXT TO where the Red officer was staying liv an important official In the national OPA office His comrade, who had lived there longer than he had explained to him that their neighbor was a big sho ih the government charged with limiting the amou of food U. 8. citizens could eat. The Russian took a silent interest in the ma curious as to what made an American big shot tie One. day.he was in a grocery store around the c from where he lived, buying a half-dozen bottle soda pop, of which he had become very fond: watched open-mouthed as he saw his OPA nei come in, buy some meat and then proceed to h | at some length with the butcher over how many Te ‘points he should give up. When the OPa oes! left the Russian asked t butcher if he knew to whom he had been talking. “I don’t care,” he replied, “bub. sure wish th guys would fearn what rationing was all about.” Sts ap——————————————

So They Say—.

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