The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1945-10-02

VlllloIh oShsOii SOiIilIIB III dS ~
sistant secretary In charge of
information policy and he has
not had time to find out what
he might want to do with owl.
All these agencies admit that
in the long run it's up to Sup
rene Commander Douglas Mac
Arthur. What he intends to do
about ii doesn't seem to De
known officially in Washington.
General Macarthur has an as
sistant chief of staff in charge
of an information control sec
ton. He is Brig Gen. Bomber F..
Fellers, whose record does not
indicate he has had any expert
ence in Japan. General MacAr-
thurs political adviser. George
Atcheson, Jr., of the State De-
partment, Is an experienced and
able China hand. but he has
never served in Japan, never met
Macarthur, and was not sched-
uled to leave Washington for ia
pan for Japan before Sept. Is.
INFORMATION SERVICE
STILL LACKING
IN the meantime, General
Macarthur has appointed a chief
censor and has suspended ia
pans short-wave radio. His
Sep. 10 directive to the imperial
Japanese government tells them
to stop putting out news that
does not adhere to the truth or
which will disturb public tran
guilty. But so far there Is no
sign of any kind of U. S. infor-
nation service to give the Japa-
nese people the facts of postwar
life.
This Is an conspicuous contrast
to the job that was done when
Macarthur landed in the Philip
pines. At Leyte, Philippine
newspaper was published the
day after the invasion forces
stormed ashore. From that time
en- there was never any doubt as
to the U. S. information policy
toward the Filipinos. Brig. Gen.
Carlos P. Romulo has given full
credit for the job that was done
on the Philippines to Fred Mar
quardt and a small staff of Owl
people. Marquardts job in the
Philippines finished, he resigned
and is now on his way back to
the United States. There Is 70
counterpart to his organization
at work in Japan.
Owl is continuing It's pre- war
short-wave broadcasts to the
Pacific area from San FrancAco,
Honolulu and Manila. They are
a mere spit in the ocean.
LITTLE PROPAGANDA
REACHING JAPANESE
THESE three stations, plus a
medium-wave station on Saipan,
operate on 14-hour schedule
but the number of receiving sets
which pick up these programs
in Japan Is limited. During the
war they probably were mont
tored by the Japanese govern
ment but little of this informa-
ton was spread to the Japanese
people. Actually. the Japs were
getting more American informa-
ton before the surrender than
they get today. While the war
was on, B-29's dropped millions
of leaflets on Japan, but that has
been stopped now.
What Is happening In Japan
Is said to bean exact parallel to
what happened In Germany.
When military government took
over, the work of the Owl in
Europe was suppressed. The
President has just sent Byron
Price to Germany to try to
straighten out the news policies
in that theater.
The Job of telling the German
and Japanese people a straight
American story Is obviously the
work Of some civilian agency
such as the Owl overseas organ
ization now being transferred to
State. Foreseeing that such a job
would have to be done In Japan,
Owl had prepared full plans for
supervising Jap publications and
radio. But in the confusion Of
double reorganization, nothing
has been done about them.