Where the News Ends
CHAMBERLIN, WILLIAM HENRY
Where the News Ends By WILLIAM HENRY CHAMBERLIN Far Eastern Aftermath THREE major questions loom up in the aftermath of the war in the Pacific These are the future fate of Japan, the destiny of...
...This is the real measure of their failure...
...Communist and Japanese Pan-Asian agitation may have played some role...
...And there is a suggestive note in the following despatch, recently sent by A. T. Steele to the New York Herald Tribune: "Chinese Cesaaiaaiat troops have moved into Mam Inula in large numbers and are collaborating r lonely ? ill* Russian forces in pouring and admin i.i, mix Mukden and other Manrbunan town...
...There are plenty of reasons why working men aa women should be discontented...
...Quoting an American Officer, the despatch states: '"Possibly for a lime some, of them were being pushed onto trains without our asking many questions, but that's all stopped now.' 'Many of those left in Germany have threatened to commit suicide if forced to go home', he added, 'and we are not eager to risk the lives of American saldier» trying tu make them go.'" What a commentary on the picture of the happy Soviet paradise so industriously peddled and so eagerly bought by credulous Americans...
...And surely both these conditions are « desirable in peace as in war...
...Albert Norden in The...
...Th President has taken some preliminary steps in settini the Secretary of Labor in the key position...
...I the job is to be done at all, it must be attended te h-this conference and the national administration...
...Whatever happen* in the international sphen here at home we should be able to run our affairs · that justice and a chance at improvement may be take1 fpi granted...
...Protestant...
...Time to Turn the Clocks Ahead WE turned our clocks back an hour on Keptei ber 30, regaining the hour of sleep which ? lost on February u, 1942,'But the e:ttra-ho, was not enough to reknit the raveled sleeve of eat There are too many things to worry about...
...By releasing political prisoners and abolishing the "thought control" system ha haa given a chance for Japanese moderates and liberals to assert their Influence...
...As a practical test of comparative conditions in the "two worlds" it would be interesting to know whether it was ever necessary to call on Russian or other foreign troops to force even one unwilling American to return home...
...These regions weald never have been wen bark from Japan without the mighty American military efferl...
...This document was hailed as a sign of Soviet moderation...
...Neither the War l.*bor Board nor the Wagner Labo Relations Board furnish a suitable model...
...Two World« ArECENT AP despatch from Frankfurt on the Main confirms the statement in this column last week that American troops, very much against their will, have been used in the disgraceful business of forcing unwilling Soviet Citizens to return...
...A Chinese "sovereignty" in Manchuria maintained by Chinese Communists would be about as illusory as is the "sovereignty" of Poland, Rumania, Bulgaria and other Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe...
...Allied military personnel w ho have arrived here from Mukden said today...
...But the desire of the more educated and politically conscious masses in these lands, as in India and Burma, for fuller self-government is genuine and can only be brushed off at the risk of creating a bitter anti-while sentiment that will be fuel for new disturbances in East Asia...
...Where the News Ends By WILLIAM HENRY CHAMBERLIN Far Eastern Aftermath THREE major questions loom up in the aftermath of the war in the Pacific These are the future fate of Japan, the destiny of China and the issue of imperialism in colonial areas, such as French Indochina, the Netherlands Indies, and Malaya...
...They are appealing to force, tryrti to settle their conflicts by the-strike, the lockout, \, ultimatum...
...But w lack the overall machinery for taking account of th claims of labor and management and equating then in a rational way...
...I met MaeArthur once in the Philippines and he left the impression of a histrionic personality, who would orate to an individual as if he were addressing a mass meeting...
...At the end of a mighty war fought lo defeat Hitlerism the Allies are making a Hitlerian peace...
...MaeArthur also seems to understand a point that is apparently beyond tbe comprehension of some self-styled liberal commentators in the press and on the radio, and that applies equally to Germany and to Japan...
...Kut the motives of the "friends of the Soviet Union" in beating the drum for ruthlessnesa are not very obscure...
...We neei second, a respected central body which is fitted to melt fair appraisal of claims and counter-claims, lis award must be so fair that the millions of workers all ·« the country—not primarily the union leaders-will, loi the feeling which is so strong, among them now Ibi they live among enemies and must fight for every g*> which they make...
...In a land in which emigre* can hesitate over making 65 cents an hour the mis mum we are still wandering in a social desert...
...A strong police guard was posted sround the villa to prevent attacks by nationalist fanatics...
...Baron Kijuro Shidehara, the new Prime minister, is an authentic auti militarist...
...There have been explosions of discontent in various colonial areas since the end of the war, notably in the Netherland Indies and in lndo-China...
...And Nonteme "Potsdam is the lighthouse from which rays of new hope illuminate the German horizon...
...The are, moreover, set up in such a way that their slownei has given labor men the idea that they were beihi given a run-around...
...This, of course, fts in with the popular hates and passions that are al«ays generated by war...
...According to prewar standards the current steike are less than calamitous...
...Both thee bodies have worked under crippling directives...
...The anti-labor propagandists are toa plelely wrong in countering with arguments in l»v» of penalizing the unions...
...It would -.mi Stalin's foreign policy admirably to aee such insupportable misery and chaos develop in Japan and ia the aections of Germany occupied b the...
...In matters of judgment I would prefer MaeArthur to certain backseat drivers in and out oi Washington any time...
...And the ins portant point is that these stoppages get us nowben All the points of difference which are settled by tket could be better settled without them...
...At l..„„f, it was revealed that international understanding g(j lies in tbe future and that tor the present brute (¦,,, etil...
...Labor and industrial msnsgeaien like the national governments, are turning the eh* back by a century...
...Seas* "The Potsdam settlement has in it not s single constructive idea, not a single hopeful perspective for the postwar world...
...But, while there may he some weaknesses in bis personality, he proved himself a splendid soldier in the war and has shown the qualities of a capable administrator' in Japan...
...We netd, first of all, the establisl ment of some sort of a standard by which the adequar of a wage can be judged...
...But it is premature to feel certain that China will be able to exercise full sovereignty in Manchuria...
...For four years ihei strike weapon has been barred...
...We hat one strike after another, and still there is no civilis] machinery for forestalling labor trouble or dealing wit it after it arises...
...America has both the right and the duty to presM for something better ia the postwar settlement than a mere restoration ef an imperialist .-ia ? us quo...
...It is perhaps unfortunate that some of the discussion of policy in Japan has revolved around the personality of General MacAithin...
...We did not light the war with the conscious intention of making Fast Asia and Central Europe Sialimte preserves...
...The Economist of London...
...Some of his proclamations have been On the flowery and flamboyant side and his eye for publicity is keen...
...The f>»t-up outlined in the treaty, with the Soviet Government possessing joint control of the entire Manchurian railway system, a naval base at Port Arthur and special economic rights in Dairen, is admirably suited for the bringing of atrong economic pressure on the local Chinese authorities...
...lules On tbe home front the first postwar moo (J givu us a similar disheartening revelation...
...Somehow th* atmosphere must t> changed...
...Our aim in Japan should l'· to preserve undivided control so long as the military occupation of the country is necessary and to create conditions under which liberal and moderate elements in that country can create an orderly, responsible, non-injlitarist government...
...It certainly does reflect a desire-on Stalin's part to avoid the very serious crisis in American-Soviet relations which would have followed any such openly aggressive and divisive moves as the outright annexation of Manchuria or Ihn recognition of the Yenan Communists as the legitimate government of China...
...It is interesting to note thst every commentator in this country who hews more or leas closely to ihe Kremlin line is making Ihe welkin ring with cries for a "tough" peace...
...The General'« words and behavior at the time of the surrender were excellent, dignified, humane, free from any suggestion of vulgar gloating...
...MaeArthur has shown reasonable discrimination in the number and types of Japanese who have been arrested for trial as war criminals...
...Labor leaders would gain in reputatie and influence if they were to take the lead in bringis about this change...
...Western Powera that Communism would seem a form of salvation...
...The situation in China has been overshadowed by the Srno-Soviet treaty...
...Congress cannot be expected ti accomplish any such complicated and difficult task...
...When we read that aom b,000,000 tons of coal have remained unmined becaiu of the strike of nearly 200,000 miners we are horrific* We think of all the people who will go cold during th coming winter and of the industries which, deprived * coal, have their reconversion delayed and the numbs of jobs which they can furnish reduced...
...But during the war we h»» grown accustomed to labor peace and continuoosjhir...
...1 had proof of this fact when I interviewed Shidehara, long out of office, in his Tokyo villa in the late 1980's...
...The carrying out of the occupation without serious, incidents was a proof of his military and ad miuistrative ability...
...In the public interest it is up to thi conference to Suggest that sort of mechanism...
...General Eisenhower has ordered this practice stopped, pending further orders from Washington...
...For many of then wages have been kept down while prices have gone ui Their outbursts are spontaneous results of accumulate grievances...
...For this rickety atrurlure will t .sabirat the first serious pelitirsl or military storm...
...production...
...This is that there is not the tlightett chance of an evolution toward genuine free and ? expansible government in theie countries unless industry, shipping and foreign trade are permitted to revive, with suitable controls to prevent remilitarization...
...Then the ground would be prepared for a gigantic bloc of totalitarian regimes from the Rhine to the ? miles • * * Chinese Sovereignty Im Monchnrfe IT certainly Serves no Americsn interest to promote such a bloc...
...aAl.l...
...of this should focus public attention on the go* eminent-management-labor conference which will mee in Washington on November 5. The time is ripe U find a formula to mitigate the violence of class conflic in postwar America...
Vol. 28 • October 1945 • No. 41
