THE PEACE IN PREPARATION

...Bevin lashed out at the governments of Bulgaria, Rumania, and Hungary as undemocratic, asserted that Britain will not recognize them at present because "they do not, in our view, represent a majority of the people, and the impression we get from recent developments is that one kind of totalitarianism is being replaced by another...

...This accord between Moscow and Chungking, if it is as definite and clear-cut as the Moscow radio hinted it was, could go far toward eliminating the bitter friction between Yenan and Chungking...

...Meanwhile, the Moscow radio announced that the Soviet Union and China had signed a treaty and that "agreement had been reached on all points...

...The Chinese Army newspaper...

...they will not consider signing a peace treaty with the former Axis satellite nation...

...In this connection, a subcommittee of the House Naval Committee issued a report last week calling for outright retention by the United States of a group of Pacific islands, including some now claimed by Prince, Australia, and Great Britain, and a number of islands formerly held by the Japanese...

...The tension between the central, Chungking regime of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, and the Communist group at Yenan was reported somewhat eased at mid-week when the latter agreed, after days of refusal, to send a representative to Chungking to discuss outstanding issues...

...Walter Trohan, Washington correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, broke a story from Washington after release of censorship restrictions in which he contended that Japan's first peace bid was relayed to the White House seven months ago...

...Replying to those "who challenge the justification" for retention of the bases, the House committee had this to say: "We will have restored peace to the Pacific almost (vngle-handedly, and if we are to be charged with the responsibility for maintaining that peace, we must be given the authority and the means by which to maintain the peace—one of the principal means being the authority over strategic islands in the Pacific...

...President Truman had won Premier Stalin's and A ttlee's* agreement to the proposition that America has the paramount interest in preserving peace in the Pacific and eastern Asia...

...Douglas MacArthur's demand for prompt action and dispatched its peace delegation to Manila last weekend...

...Speaking through King George VI in the House of Lords, the Labor regime promised nationalization of the coal industry, increased housing, action to promote self-government for India, legislation to put the Bank of England under public ownership, creation of machinery for state planning of investment that is to direct the flow of capital with an eye to national interests rather than private property, and a bill to coordinate electricity and gas utilities...

...After one day of conferences in which American and Japanese officials discussed the terms of formal capitulation, Gen...

...This sharp attack on 1the internal policies of one of the key nations in Russia's Eastern European sphere of influence created a Bulgarian cabinet crisis and served notice on other satellite nations now under Red control that the U. ffc and Britain mean what they said when they committed themselves to supporting free, democratic elections in nations liberated from the Axis yoke...

...THE PEACE IN PREPARATION • • • WORLD WAR II ground its way to all but a complete stop this week as the post-surrender fighting in Manchuria and along the mountain passes of Pacific islands ended at long last...

...It was preserved in the files of the high command, however, and subsequently became the basis of the Tru-man-Attlee Potsdam declaration calling for surrender of Japan...

...MacArthur, the supreme Allied commander, announced that formal surrender of Japan will be signed before Sept...

...Political observers promptly predicted that the Socialists might make a bold bid to emerge from the forthcoming general election as France's strongest party...

...After a series of delays, for which no reason was immediately forthcoming, the new Japanese government responded to Gen...

...It is my earnest hope that pending the formal accomplishment of the instrument of surrender, armistice conditions may prevail on every front and that a bloodless surrender may be effectuated...

...IN the midst of world rejoicing over the end of hostilities there were two significant reports of Japanese efforts to end the struggle even before the use of the atomic bomb or the entrance of Russia into the con-fi"ct...

...Otherwise, said the two democracies...

...Pre-war mandates mean little to enforcement of world peace if the countries that hold them are incapable of maintaining and defending the islands...

...The treaty was described as a pact "of friendship and alliance," and, said the Moscow radio, "fuf agreement was also reached on all other questions of common interest...

...Two days before the late President Roosevelt left for the Yalta conference with Prime Minister Churchill and Dictator Stalin, he received a Japanese offer identical with the terms subsequently concluded by his successor, President Truman," Trohan wrote...

...President Roosevelt dismissed the General's communication, which was studded with solemn references to the Deity, after a casual reading with the remark, 'MacArthur is our greatest general and our poorest politician.' "The MacArthur report was not taken to Yalta...

...One of the thorniest problems facing American and Allied statesmanship is China where bloody civil war remains a threat to the peace...

...MEANWHILE, it seemed clear from developments in the Orient and reports from Washington that the United States had assumed the dominant role in shaping the course of action in the Pacific...

...Sao Tang Pao, asserted last week that Japan was ready to offer up her war leaders as hara kiri victims and retreat to her 1931 boundaries as conditions of peace last June...

...MacArthur in or near Tokyo...

...France's Socialist Party voted overwhelmingly against merging with the Communists, whose undemocratic tactics and program they decried...

...In a speech of great significance, Bevin also, 1) urged the Poles and Greeks to unite in their own lands for the tasks of reconstruction, 2) criticized the boundary settlement in Poland, 3) denied the allegations of the Communist-dominated Yugoslav regime about British treatment of Slav-speaking Greeks, 4) rejected the theory that the British Government will "promote or encourage civil war" in Spain, although he did make it clear that Britain would take a "favorable view" if the Spanish people themselves changed the Franco regime...

...Of far-reaching importance was the action of the U. S. and British Government in rejecting as undemocratic the i -heduled elections in Bulgaria and warning the Soviet-dominated Bulgarian regime to free its forthcoming elections from fear and intimidation so that they may be truly democratic...

...1, with the victorious American forces entering Japan at about that time for occupation of the conquered nation...

...Although no details were revealed, it was understood that formal surrender will be signed by Gen...

...The Jap offer, based on five separate peace overtures, was relayed to the White House by Gen...

...The American commander, who had just returned triumphantly to Bafaan, urged negotiations on the basis of the Jap overtures...

...Mac-Arthur in a 40-page communication...

...These bases are necessary, the group of Congressmen maintained, if the U. S. is to assume responsibility for keeping peace in the Pacific...

...This refusal to underwrite Soviet-dominated, undemocratic regimes in the Balkans received tremendous support this week when Britain's Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin, one of the ablest and most aggressive of the Labor Party's leaders, told a cheering House of Commons that Britain will oppose any attempts to substitute "one form of totalitarianism for another" in liberated Europe...

...MEANWHILE, Britain's Labor Party revealed its plans for the first installment of socialism in Britain...

...The Yenan group, which has no official status as a government, has demanded the right to accept surrender of Japanese units and arms, take over liberated Chinese territory, and sit in on the peace negotiations...

...The former is almost certain to respond to orders from Moscow to cease its civil war—if such orders come from Moscow...

...ALTHOUGH the world spotlight played mostly this week on the Far East, of course, there were significant developments aplenty in Europe too...

...Belated revelations regarding the agreements of the Potsdam Conference emphasized the conclusion that in return for acquiescing in Russia's domination of Europe, especially the Baltic and Balkan nations, Poland, Germany, Finland, and Czechoslovakia...

...On the continent, the French Ministry of War announced a program under which youths between 17 and 20 will engage in military training four hours a week, after which they will be called to the colors for full-time service...

...I shall soon proceed to Japan with accompanying forces composed of ground, naval, and air elements," MacArthur said...