THE PEACE IN PREPARATION
• • • THE PEACE IN PREPARATION ••• THE American occupation of Japan continued this week to dominate news of the peace in preparation. A loud uproar among the armchair warriors of the nation for a...
...Cripps vs...
...American doctors saved his life with the help of a pint of blood donated by an American mess sergeant...
...The Japanese Government long have had a reputation abroad as liars because they were unable to control the Japanese militarists in the field, or often didn't know what the militarists were doing...
...However, by making the most of existing Japanese agencies, purposes of the surrender terms can be accomplished with only a small fraction of the men, time, and money originally planned...
...There was probably no greater gamble taken in history," Gen...
...The news, however, was not available to the public for the Foreign Ministers of Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States were meeting in the strictest secrecy...
...This situation involved grave initial risk, but successful penetration and subsequent progress of the operation now assures success of the venture...
...Mac-Arthur said, "than the initial landings where our ground forces were outnumbered 1,000 to one by armed Japanese...
...Blame Placed On Tojo In an earlier statement, MacArthur had made it clear that the surrender terms imposed on the beaten empire would be carried out in stern, uncompromising fashion...
...Tojo attempted to commit suicide by shooting...
...Japanese press and radio facilities were ordered curbed, the Japanese press was required to pub-' lish the reports of Japanese atrocities during the war, and Japanese war criminals were ordered rounded up immediately...
...Number one on Gen...
...Speaking in London, Sir Stafford Cripps, president of the Board of Trade in the Labor Government (equivalent to Henry Wallace's post as Secretary of Commerce), asserted that the Labor Government has become a "third partner" in business and industry seeking to "create orderly conditions by which private enterprise can make the most economic contribution to the nation's welfare...
...Cripps' statement was interpreted by correspondents as a repudiation of remarks by Prof...
...The Government is now becoming wholeheartedly a third partner, representing the national interests and stressing the consumer needs as against production needs...
...First of the many problems on the agenda was the peace settlement for Italy...
...Reports leaking to correspondents indicated that the American delegation, headed by Secretary of State James F. Byrnes, had reversed its earlier position and was now in favor of depriving Italy of her African colonies...
...He aimed at his heart but missed...
...He insisted that he could have prevented war if the Japanese Army leaders had permitted hinrto go ahead with his proposed conference with Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Summer of 1941...
...Harold J. Laski, chairman of the Labor Party's executive committee, who told a conference of British trade unions that "the age of capitalism is drawing to a close...
...This would have required several million troops...
...A loud uproar among the armchair warriors of the nation for a far harsher and more revenge-minded peace than Gen...
...This fell through, he said, because "the Japanese Government was considered a liar, because no matter what we proposed regarding the end of the war in China, the final decision depends upon the military and they would not consent to the removal of our troops from China...
...The conference had issued no official statement on the Italian settlement, or on any other of the many major issues before it, at mid-week, and the British and American press dealt largely with rumors and whispers which are inevitable when secret diplomacy is practiced...
...Douglas MacArthur is administering led the Allied commander-in-chief to issue a formal statement explaining that the American landing in still armed Japan—the greatest gamble in military history—has paid off so well that occupation forces probably will be cut to not more than 200,-000 men within six months...
...Secrecy In London Most significant news of the week in Europe was being made in London's luxurious Lancaster House, where the Council of Foreign Ministers, representing the Big Five, was in session...
...I shall do my utmost to stimulate the efficiency of British industry and of British commerce and trade in every part of the globe," Cripps said...
...Blame for the war was placed on Tojo last week by Prince Fuminaro Konoye, present vice premier who was Tojo's predecessor as premier in 1941...
...This problem, he said, is waiting completion of the military phase of the surrender—and is one that undoubtedly will be determined "upon the highest diplomatic level of the United Nations...
...its position as a partner means being called in all the time...
...But, he added, "the stakes were worth it...
...Hideki Tojo, first of Japan's three wartime dictators, who led the nation into war against the United States...
...Once Japan is disarmed, a force of 200,000 troops will be sufficiently strong to insure our will...
...The Government does not want to be called in only when industry has gotten into special difficulties...
...The unknown quantity at the beginning of the occupation, the general pointed out, was whether a military government would have to be established...
...I was glad when the surrender came because I have long battled the militarists of Japan, and this means their end," Prince Konoye declared...
...MacArthur's arrest list was Gen...
...Laski Americans had another glimpse this week of the deep ideological split in the ranks of Britain's ruling Labor Party...
...Major decisions involved in the problem of the military occupation, MacArthur emphasized, are completely separate from the future Japanese politico-governmental structure...
...Each industry must be given an indication as to how and where it fits into the general plan...
Vol. 9 • September 1945 • No. 38
