Evening star., 1945-09-28


cism Of the general has been exclu-
sively confined to the radical press
and the extreme left-wing politi-
clans, journalists and radio commen-
tators.
In this connection it is interest
Ing that the latest Macarthur at
tack comes from Russian represent
atives at the London conference
where Russia, reported dissatisfied
with "MacArthur's policy" and the
Washington attitude that the United
States should be supreme in the
matter Of japanese occupancy, now
insists upon an Allied control COM
mission Ito lay down policy for
Macarthur.
The President said this had not
come to HIM officially. Nevertheless,
the London dispatches undoubtedly
had a factual base.
Little Understood.
None of this is going down we'll
with the American people. The
great bulk of them do not like it;
nor do they understand it. The vast
majority are under the impression
that Gen. Macarthur has been do
Ing a fine job in Japan. He, OF
course, has his faults and frailties,
but under him the Japanese occu-
patton has proceeded ahead OF sched-
ule and with remarkable smooth
ness.
The bleating Of the radicals about
q soft peace" seemed adequately
answered by the news dispatches,
by Gen. Macarthur himself and by
Gen. Wainwright (the last man to
want soft peace), who emphatical-
1y asserted that Macarthur could be
trusted to guard against that.
In fact. the average citizen has
great dificulty in understanding the
basis for the Macarthur attack. Mr..
Acheson obviously thought that the
general was trying to make a policy
different from that laid down for
him by the White House and felt
called upon publicly to 'rebuke" him
at his press conference in order to
uphold the sound principle (from
which no one dissents) that the
Army Is the instrument" and not
the "determinant" Of policy.
There are two things to be said
about this. One Is that it Is any,
thing but clear the general was try
ing to do anything of the kind A
reading of his full statements GER
tainly does not indicate any such
idea.
The second Is that, conceding Mr..
Acheson's sincerity in believing the
general had not thoroughly under
stood either the policy or the prin-
ciple and needed his attention called
to both, the way In which this was
done was unhappy.
For example, there seems no rea-
son why it should have been done
at a press conference; that there
were better ways for the Acting
Secretary to communicate with the
supreme commander, who could be
almost instantly reached by tele-
phone, radio or cable, without the
worldwide publicity that followed
the press conference.
Statement Called Inept.
Also, the phrasing Of the Acheson
statement was not particularly felic1-
tous. 1t is absurd to say that he
"insulted" Gen. Macarthur, but the
somewhat tart and sarcastic tone
seemed unnecessary-especially in
ant in a diplonoat
1t hardly can be contended that
the incident put the United States
in a favorable light before the rest
of the world. The impression con-
veyed to many was that ours is a
disunited Government addicted to
quarreling with our representatives
in the field instead of supporting
them. Distinctly, the Nations pres
tige abroad has not been enhanced
Gen. Macarthur still remains q
great and shining military figure
but the fear is that his authority as
an administrator may have been
weakened In Japan-and the diff
culties Of his job increased.
Mr.. Acheson Is a very able lawyer