Evening star., 1945-09-14
Wainwright Strips
Jap Character, Calls
Il BestiaI and SIy
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, Sept. 14.-Japanese
character today lay stripped by a.
man who knows it well-Gen. JON
athan M. Wainwright.
He demanded neither "a soft oc-
cupatlon nor a soft peace"
The Japanese can be subservient:
They can be pleasant and Cooper
atlve If it suits their purpose" he
said last night at a dinner given
in his honor after a wild reception
In New York streets.
Gen. Wainwright was greeted yes
terday by a crowd estimated at
from to 6 million by police officials.
After his arrival at La Guardia Air
port, he made a 32-mile auto tour
through the city, Including the f.
nancial district where the storm of
ticker tape and torn paper exceeded
all previous parades. The general
said he found it hard to take.
y Given Honorary Citizenship.
Mayor La Guardia conferred hon.
orary citizenship of the city on the
general at City Hall during the aft
ernoon.
In his speech last night, he said:
The men who were captured on
Bataan sand Corregidor have seen
the japanese character in the raw.
They have seen what Japanese
soldiers do when they are on top,
and I think all of us who lived
through tortured days are deter
mined they shall never be on top
again.
1T is unimportant now what hap
pened to me 50 said the general
But I think it is very important
that the American people under
stand the nature of this people we
have beaten back to their poor
earth
Il have seen the Japanese as they
are-with the veneer stripped off. /
shall bear the scars of those years
all my life. and I could not forget
them if I would.
True Nature Leaps Forth.
Il have come to know the cunning
with which they conceal their true
nature, and how quickly it leaps
forth when there is no immediate
chance of retaliation. -
The japanese are not sorry for
what they have done to countless
thousands in the populations of
countries they have overrun.
They are not sorry for the tor
ture they have inflicted on Amer
ican soldiers. 1t simply would not
occur to them to be sorry, because
they have done nothing which is at
variance with their accepted philos-
ophy.
Character Must Be Purged.
That is the point which should
be clearly understood. I am a SOL
dier and so do not pretend to know
how long will be required or by
what steps the bestial elements in
their nature can be eradicated. But
until we are assured that these
qualities have been eXtinguiShed-
not simply submerged-then the
japanese nation, powerless as 1t is
today to make war, will remain a
menace to our world.
Japan must be made to realize
on every step of her long road back
to acceptance among civilized ma
tions that a government does not
indulge in the excesses she has
loosed in the world these past IA
years and call it quits when her
leaders have had enough.
Before Japan is allowed to take
her place among other respected
nations, she must be made to realize
that her medieval ways have no
place in our modern world"
To Visit West Virginia.
Mrs. Wainwright said she would
visit relatives today and would re-
turn to Washington at 3 pm. to-
morrow.
Next Tuesday, she said, she and
the general will 60 to White Sui
phur Springs, w. Va, and on Sep
tember % they will go to Syracuse,
N. Y, for reception.
The following Tuesday, Septem-
ber Is, the general will be honored