The Wilmington morning star., 1945-09-18
MACARTHUR SAYS
100000 ENOUGH
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mate of War Dictator Hideki Tojc
in Japan's "West Point and for.
mer member of the Supreme War
Council, committed suicide yester'
day by cutting his throat with his
Samurai sword, the newspaper
Asahi said. He was not on Mac.
Arthur's list.
With everything running smooth
ly. Macarthur moved his head.
quarters to Tokyo. There he an.
nounced his plans for the drastic
cut in the forces of occupation,
which his lieItenants only recently
were saying must number at least
400, 900 men.
mo greater gamble has been
taken in history than the initial
landings, where our ground forces
were outnumbered a thousand tc
one, but the stakes were worth
it," Macarthur declared in a state.
ment.
At first, he said, the unknown
quantity" in the occupation was
'the debatable question whether a
military government would have te
be set up"
Military rule would ''have in.
Evolved force running intos mil
lions Of our men and would have
taken many years of additional
time and untold billions of addi.
tionaI dollars" the Supreme Com
mander declared.
But by using the japanese gov
ernment to carry out Allied de-
mands, the same purposes could
be accomplished with only a
small fraction Of the men, time
and money originally pro, ,ected."
Macarthur predicted that within
si.. months the ''occupationa]
force, unless unforeseen factors
arise, will probably number not
more than 100000 men, a size
probably within the framework Of
our projected regular establish
ment (Army.)" :.
This, ne said, would ''permlt
complete rehabilitation of our cit
izens forces which fought so long
and so nobly through to victory.
First to be rewarded by the
move were the veteran 31st. 37th
and 3eth Divisions, which after a
victorious march up from the
southwest Pacific now are in Ma
nila. They will be sent home from
there.
The Japanese obviously made
their cabinet house cleaning WITT
MacArthur's foreknowledge anc
approval. He had conferred only
Saturday with Premier Higashl
Kuni at his old quarters in Yoko
hama.
Yoshida, former Ambassador tc
London, will be formally handed
the portfolio of Foreign Minister
later today.
Japanese sources said he was
chosen because among the prom
inent diplomats he alone was
'"'free of any suspicion OF actively
supporting the war"
Ignored by TOTO in the days Of
Jauan's triumphs, Yoshida was
Jailed for month early this year
for demanding peace when he re-
allied the war was lost, authorlta'
tive Japanese quarters said.
Shigemitsu, Japan's chief signer
Of the surrender articles. was SO
close to TOTO that the dictator made
him Foreign Minister in 1943 to
try to get China out Of the war SO
the Empire could concentrate on
the United States and Britain.
Higashi-Kuni only last week was
reported to have called on cabinet
members to look to their war rec
ords to see if they would be accep-
table to the victorious powers.
Japanese sources said another
prominent but unnamed official
had talked with Macarthur yester-
day only a short time before Hi
gashi-Kuni went into action, pre-
sumably to tell him what was
planned. II
Macarthur converted his psyche
logical warfare into an ''inforna-
ton dissemination section" to con-
vince every Japanese of his coun-
try's defeat and war guilt, to Grad
icate militarism and to encourage
Democratic principles.
BY the press, radio and public
school program OF direct informa-
Ion, an announcement said, the
Alnes hoped to foster a sound