Evening star., 1943-04-23
Wrath Against Jopon
Must Wait Expression
Major Eliot Insists
Thot Allied Strategy
Should Remain Unchanged
By Maj. George Fielding Eliot.

By Maj. George Fielding Eliot.
The barbarous execution by the Japa-
nese of American prisoners of war has
sent wave of horror across the country
which will presently crystalline in an
outraged demand for immediate venge-
ance.
Insofar as this results in bringing home
to us all the true nature of the enemy
whom we are fighting, the effect will be
good. But We must be Oh our guard not
to permit it to throw us off balance. 1t
would be unfortunate indeed if the Gov
Iernment were now faced with a tremen-
dous popular demand for greater en-
phasis on Pacific operations as against
those already determined upon in Europe
I am not here concerned to defend the
decision that has been taken to make
Germany the No. l enemy and concen-
trate on the defeat of Germany first.
That decision has been taken and for
gcod or i'll We are committed to it. 1t
has been taken after calm judgment and
cool examination of all the factors in
volved by those who are in a position to
know and competent to decide. Whether
their judgment is right or wrong, only
history will be able to tell us; but all the
experience of warfare warns us that to
change the decision now, when prepara-
tions are SO far advanced for its execution
could lead only to disaster
Neither the public nor their elected
representatives in Congress are compe-
tent either to make such decisions or to
change them. 1t is proper for the people
and for Congress to hold the executive
branch of the Government strictly to
account for results, but it is not their
proper function to dictate to the eXecu-
tive branch the methods by which results
in war are to be achieved. The results
of popular pressure so applied have, in
our history, not been particularly happy.
That is why we should set a tight rein
upon our indignation now and not permit
it to affect the calm judgment which
must realize that we cannot change the
present direction of our main military
effort.
1t will be the easier for us to do so if
We likewise realize that the day of venge-
ance on Japan, though somewhat de-
layed, will come as inevitably as the
setting of that sun which the japanese
have grandiloquently made their emblem.
The japanese sun has already passed its
zenith, it is declining toward the horizon,
but when it sets, it will not rise again.
A case can be made for the need for
the continued existence of Germany as
an industrial and commercial power in
Central Europe. No such case can be
made for Japan in East Asia. From the
moment of her sudden emergence from
the shadows of medievalism, the inf1u-
ence of Japan upon her neighbors has
been wholly pernicious. She has con-
tributed nothing to those neighbors save
blood, sweat and tears; nothing to the
world at large save cut-throat competi-
tion food Of shoddy exports and con-
slant anxiety as to her intentions.
When this war is over, the Chinese will
have before them a tremendous job of
construction and reconstruction. India
will move forward toward the realization
of her dreams Of freedom. The future of
OUR wards in the Philippines will have to
be decided. The peoples OF the Neither
of Burma, will find new horizons opening
out before them. These budding growths
are tender ones and the influence Of
Japan upon them can come only as 4
blight.
1t will, therefore. in all probability, be-
come the duty of the United Nations, as
the victors in this war, and the trustees
of civilization, to remove that influence
once and for all. BY this do not mean
the extinction of the japanese people,
but do mean the complete and ruthless
destruction Of japanese industry, so that
not one brick of any japanese factory
shall be left upon another, SO that there
shall not be in Japan one electric motor
or one steam or gasoline engine. nor a
chemical laboratory, nor so much as a
book which tells how these things are
made. The japanese islands have within
themselves neither iron, nor oil, nor
high grade steam COAL Lacking these
and forbidden to import them, the Japa-
nese people cannot reconstruct their in
dustry. They will be compelled, in order
to live. to devote all their energies to
agriculture and the simpler forms of
silk production. Let them be compelled
to do SO, and so trouble no more a world
into which their advent has brought
nothing but sorrow and war.
This may be vengeance. 1t is also
common sense
Copyright. 1943, N. Y. Tribune. Inc)