Evening star., 1945-08-04
|Armyof7 7Mi||ion
Men Is Needed,
Thomas Insists
Convincing Show Of
Force Will Speed
Surrender, He Says

Chairman Thomas of the Sen
ate Military Affairs Committee
has appealed to the American
people to stand by the Army's
decision to keep an Army of
1000, 900 for the Pacific war, de-
claring that only a convincing
show of force will prompt the
Japanese to surrender.
The Utah Senator, who lived in
the Orient for a number of years
and has taken part in this countrys
psychological warfare since the at
tack on Pearl Harbor, gave this
analysis of the present outlook:
"As matters stand, there are,
from the japanese standpoint, as
many wars as there are small
fronts. There is little coordination
among war leaders. 1t is a question
of pursuing them into every corner
where they have taken refuge and
| defense. Such a process takes time,
patience and manpower, and they
know it.
THE only thing that will impress
the Japanese and unite them to sur
render, is the display of strength
sufficient to carry the conviction
that we can and will overtake them
and engage them in greater might
until the last defender has been
eliminated, if this is necessary"
Answers J0hnson's Demand.
Although the scholarly Utah Sem
ator did not mention names, his
statement plainly was in answer to
the demand of Senator johnson,
Democrat, of Colorado, that the
Army be demobilized more rapidly,
on the ground that it cannot use
1000 900 men in the Pacific theater.
Senator Johnson ranks next to
Chairman Thomas on the Demo-
cratic side of the Military Affairs
Committee.
THE man in the street does not
know, man for man, what the Army
needs of its 100000 strength" Sen
ator Thomas continued. But you
may take my word for it, the Army
does. This Is so much SO that Mac
Arthur Is in a position to insist and
on showdown you may stake every
thing that he, or any other military
leader in the invasion picture will
insist, upon being supported fully.
They sweated it out in the Pacific
long enough without proper support,
because we had a war in Europe.
Now that we are in a position to
furnish it, it will not be denied. 1t
is too much to believe that we will
roll back the enemy in a trice with
an avalanche of force. But If so,
l shall not complain"
While Chairman Thomas was
| issuing his defense of the War De-
partment's redeployment program.
Senator johnson was still going over
reports reaching him from various
parts of the country that some men
feel they are serving no useful pur-
pose at the present time.
Must Get on With War.
Senator Thomas began his state
ment with this assertion: 1T is
high time for the Nation to stop
enjoying the peace in Europe, and
get on with the grim war ahead"
The Army really started some
thing when the first man was let
out as surplus Chairman Thomas
went on. Now there is a general
rush to collapse the armed services.
Despite our successes in the Pacific
we are still at a stalemate until we
can give Gen. Macarthur all the
land forces he can use, and he
knows how many he needs and
wants. Macarthur. to put it bluntly,
cannot afford to stand for the re-
lease of a single man beyond the
original decision of the War De-
partment.
THE Congress, in my judgment,
will no more think of adopting a
niggardly policy for Macarthur than
! il did for Eisenhower