Evening star., 1943-12-23

visit his former comrade In WOrlC
War I and the man under whom
he served when the hero of the
Philippines was himself chief o1
staff.
There is an intimacy and mutua
confidence between Gen. Macarthur
and Gen. Marshall. In recen'
months the Macarthur situation
has been somewhat trying for of,
ficials here because of the constant
effort of well-meaning persons t<
imply that Washington is not giving
Gen. Macarthur sufficient support
1t has even been published by pres!
critics that the reason for this wa!
an effort to play down or subordi.
nate Macarthur because he nigh
have political potentialities for the
1914 presidential contest.
Gen. Macarthur has been impa
tient to get results and has wanted
more supplies and more Navy un-
der his command There is reason
to believe that he has not fully un.
derstood at all times the commit.
ments and obligations of global war
because there has not been the op.
portunity to acquaint him with the
Intimate details behind the deci.
sions of the Anglo American com.
bined chiefs of staff.
So far as politics is concerned
Gen. Macarthur Is not the kind O.
man to allow the frequent comment.
about his availability for the presi.
dency to affect him in the slightest
He has only one ambition, and that!
to get the Philippines back under
the American flag. This, of course
cannot happen for another year OF
so due to the priorities which mus
be given to supplies destined for the
European theater of war. Indeed
1t is conceivable that Gen. Marshal
came home via the Pacific for the
express purpose of allaying any dis
appointment that Gen. Macarthur
may be expected to feel when he
learns that the Pacific war still can.
not be given the supplies and all
power and other vital services need
ed in helping China to develop ar
effective counterattack against the
japanese.
The choice still has to be made
AS between China and Europe ano
the decisions favor the needs of the
big invasion front. Gen. Macarthur
Is good soldier and he will do the
best he can with whatever air power
is given him.
1t may be, too, that Gen. Marshall
wanted to get flrsthand from Gen
Macarthur his ideas about the syn
chronization of air power with
ground troops-a phase of military
tactics in which there has been
much successfuk experience in the
Southwest Pacific and on which
there is need for as much enlighten-
ment as possible.
1t is a good thing that Gen
Marshall had the chance to visit
Gen. Macarthur. The visit will
make for unifcation of plan and
strategy as we'll as for effective fu-
ture collaboration. Also it wouldn't
be surprising if Gen. Marshall, in a
heart -to-heart talk, discovered that
whatever political gossip there is
about the Macarthur availa bility for
the Republican nomination hasn't
the slightest encouragement from
him and that he will discourage it
every time a legitimate opportunity
is afforded him.
Gen. Marshall's trip to Hawaii is
another important step. He has not
been in that zone, where the Army
has immense installations and 8
large number of troops. 1t has stim-
ulated the Army as we'll as the Navy
to learn that the chief of staff has
actually been seeing at firsthand
some of the things the fighting men
in the Pacific have been talking
about for several months. Gen
Marshall has done splendid thing
for the effective prosecution of the
war by his long and hazardous trip
home via the Pacific.
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