Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-03-19
Macarthur
Put on Spot
With NewJo
Friends Still Wish He'd
Stayed at CorregidoN
By HUGH S. JOHNSON

By HUGH S. JOHNSON
There Is SO much good In the
worst of us
And so much bad I'm the best
of us,
That II iii BELTS any of us
To find fault with the rest Of
U.S."
THAT old-fashioned admoni-
l. ton is probably entirely
beside the point here because
nobody-soldier or civilians
going to criticize Douglas Mac
Arthur for leaving Bataan to
go to Australia and assume the
Far Eastern Allied command.
If there were no other rea-
son, he is a soldier and bound
TO obey the orders of his SUI
perior, the President. He was
ordered to Australia. There
are other reasons, for example,
of which we don't know all the
facts.
But after all this Is said,
there are many OF his sincere
and lifelong well-wishers who
will wish it could have been
otherwise.
AS far as the cold military
facts are concerned. this is
believed to leave General VAIN
wright. in command at Mari
veles and Bataan. To my certain
knowledge. for I served there
at the same time, Wainwright
knows the tumbled terrain as
we'll as Macarthur.
WHILE his record Is not quite
w so spectacular, he comes as
near as anybody to being as
good soldier as Macarthur.
He is a better horseman, rifle.
man and pistol shot and ha2
even more intimate experience
in the actual command of troops.
He may not. and probably
does not, have the confidence Of
the FilipinoS TO the same de-
voted degree. but he must have
gained a great deal during this
campaign. because he is as fear
less as his former commander
and has the same comradely
eaSy-going understanding atti-
tude toward enlisted men.
And yet-and yet again. say
there are many old comrades OF
both men who, without a
thought of criticism. wish IL
could have been otherwise.
Macarthur was in the spot
Of brightest opportunity in
which a soldier ever stood and
he was making his brilliant most
OF 1t. II put him in the ranks Of
the worlds greatest heroes.
One reason for this was that
his position and the daring thing
he was doing with il were so
simple and easy TO understand.
He was the idol Of two armies
and two peoples-our own and
the Filipinos-and both regarded
him as their peculiar possession.
The field 10 which he now
goes is far more complex. He
is responsible TO five nations
our own, the AusSies. the Fill
pinos, the British and the Dutch.
He faces country and a prob
lem strange 10 him.
DEGARDLESS of his brilliant
~ cord, he has TO make d,
good again and this time 10
people who are, in some respects,
strangers, and among some pro-
fessionalS who may look at him
somewhat as rival and his APP
pointment as designed in part 10
engage us more deeply in affairs -.
on the other side Of the worlC =
II is no easy task TO which hN
goes. The situation. while not
hopeless, is certainly long and
dangerous chance. We may call
IL supreme command but that
Is so only in so far AS our Allies
furnish him troops to put under
that command.
When, with the utmost SYM
pathy, we have said all that has
been said here. the fact will re-
main TO be shouted or whispered
that, among a very few great
commanders. he left the little
army that had made him famous
and, with a very few associates,
escaped TO less immediate dan
gers.
There may have been enough
sufficient reasons. which we do
not know completely 10 Justify
this. But at the beginning OF
this high adventure many of us
feared that il would be Phil
ippine President Quezon who
would leave Macarthur - who
always scoffed at the thought.
Apparently Quezon is still on
the job.
II would have been much more
satisfactory if this aspect OF the
case could be avoided. Maybe
it can when all the facts are
known.
Distributed by King Features synd.. Inc,
Reproduction in whole or in part
strictly prohibited.
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Ok WEARS AGO TO-DAY