August 30, 1945 The Billings County Pioneer
/ VOL. XXVII. MEDORA, BILLINGS COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA Thursday, August 30, 1945 NO. 13. WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS, Japs Guard Against Uprising; Plan to Demobilize 7,000,000; Nation Shifts to Peace Economy Released by Western Newspaper Union (EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed In these eoluane, they are those of Western NewepnPer Union's mews analysts and not necessarily of ~bhJ newspaper.) Following the ]oyous news o! yapan's capitulation, man)' persons the country over ray. erentl~ made their way to church to offer prayers in graB- rude for the cessation o] hoe. tilities. The crowd worship. ping on the steps el St. Pat. rick's cathedral in New York City was typical, with a con. stant stream arriving to express their thanksgiving. service must prepare to accept over- PEACE: seas assignments, the army de- Tighten Imperial Grip clared. Even as General MaeArthur ar- Ease Controls ranged the complicated procedure for Japanese surrender and occupa- tion, the U. S. prepared for the ma- jor readjustments looming ahead be- fore the nation once again could tread the paths of peace With the Japanese government anxious to bring about a cessation of firing before the preliminarY surren- der parley in Manila, the conference was postponed to permit members of the imparted household to fly to the far-flung Asiatic battlefronts to en- force the emperor's ord.ers to lay down arms. Appointment of tough and able 57- year-old Prince Higashi-Kunl as Jap premier disclosed an effort to bring all of the weight of the imperial family behind the surrender accept- ance to avert any outbreak of die- hards which might upset the inter- nal situation. A second cousin of the emperor and an uncle of the empress, Higashi-Kuni has had a long career in the Jap army. serv- ing as chief of the military aviation board, commander of defense head- quarters and a member of the su- preme war council. While it was expected that some fanatical officers may try to fight on, or commit hara-kiri, the great mass' of Japanese were expected to give up peaceably. "There will be no trouble when American soldiers go to Japan if it" is the wish of the emperor," said one Jap naval of- ricer. "The army, navy and Japa- nese p~ople exist only by the wiLl of the emperor." U. S. Demobilizes With the end of the war, the serv- ices' carefully prepared demobiliza- tion plans were scheduled to be put into effect, with the draft continuing for men under 25 years of .age un- less the President or congress or- dained otherwise. Approximately 261,000 enlisted men and 40,000 officers are eligible for release under the navy's newly announced discharge plan requiring 44 points for the enlisted men and 49 for the officers. Under the program, one-half point is allowed for each year of age up to the nearest birth- day; one-half point for each full month of active duty since Septem- ber I, 1939, and 10 extra points for dependents regardless of number. Requirements for WAVES are about 14 points lower, with the same cred- ~,t computations. Designed to relieve men with the longest service, the navy program will permit release of about 2,000,000 men within the next 12 to 18 months, which, with the army's plan for dis- charging 5,000,000 G.I.s within a year, will result in a total demO- bilization of 7,000,000 by 1947. Except for four categories of spe- cialists, all army personnel with 8,5 points or more will be immediately released, along with men 38 years of age or over. Until such a time as the size of the occupation force needed in Japan can be determined, however, there will be no reduction in the present point system, it was indicated. With G.I.s in the Pacific eligible for discharge due to be released, men with low-point scores in the U. S. or with only brief European Though five million people were expected to be discharged from war work following cessation of hostili- ties, industrial plans for a rapid re, conversion to civilian manufacture promised early re-employment. Fortunately, such basic industries as steel will be able to furnish civil- ian materials with little delay, and plans have been set up to continue government supervision over scarce items to permit more even distritm. tion and prevent speculative hoard- ing and pressure for price increases. With its financial position greatly bolstered by heavy wartime produc- tion, and with banking funds avail- able before settlement of cancelled war contracts, industry generally is strongly heeled for reconversion, Meanwhile, civilians have record cash balances and bond holdings, Economic Stsbiliser Davis (left) and Secretary of Labor 8chwellen- bach leave White House after re- conversion confab. and will be able to draw unemploy- ment compensation to tide them over the early transition period. While manpower controls were re- moved with Japan's defeat, wage checks were retained to prevent an inflationary spiral, and efforts made to minimize strike threats. With another bumper crop on tap, farmers could look to continued heavy government purchases for the large militarY and naval establish- ments and foreign relief, and an un- certain domestic market dependent on the speed of the reconversion program. Under congressional leg- islation, however, farmers have )sen assured of federal price sup- port for at least two years after the war. Among the first effects of reduced military requirements was the re- moval of gas, fuel off, canned fruits, vegetables and juices and other processed foods from the rationing lists. At the same time, price con- trol was lifted from such items as j~welry, sports equipment, toys sell- ing at 25 cents or less, cigarette lighters, pipes, luxury furs and gar- ments, some photographic apparatus and notions. Because of the shortage of sup- plies, and no possibility for imme- diate increases, rationing will be re- tained on meats, fats and oils, but- ter, sugar, shoes and tires. In the case of tires, OPA an- nounced, drivers of cars used for occupational purposes will continue to receive cords according to the importance of their work, and "A" card holders will be given consider- Rion in cases of unusual hardship. Though a check will be kept on shoes, men's and women's wear manufactured before March 1, 1944, and priced at $3.50 or less a pair, will be ration-free through to Sep- tember 29. CROPS: Another Good Year Owing to record yields of wheat, oats, peanuts, rice, peaches, pecans and commercial truck crops; near record prospects for hay, tobacco, soybeans, sugar cane, and large pro- duction for potatoes, sorghum grains and flaxseed, the department of ag- riculture predicted the 1945 harvest would be the third best in history. With the wheat crop estimated at a record 1,146,263,000 bushels on the basis of conditions as of August 1, and with oats at 1,M6,032,000 Imsh- els, feed grain production was at a high level despite the estimated drop in the corn harvest to 2,844,478,- 000 bushels. One of the bright spots in the picture was the estimated increase in sugar cane production to 6,976,000 tons, and rise in sugar beet output to 9,332,000 tons, promising to relieve the tight supply in the commodity. Conservation Needed After the most extensive study of India' Army Force For Unifying Country Common Language and Habits Tend to Break Down Former Prejudices; Troops Take Leadership in Communal Affairs, By BAUKHAGE News Analyst end Commentat~ WNU Service, 1816 Eye Street NW, Washington, D. C. One heartening postwar picture arose out of the welter of hope, fear and expectation which held Wash- ington in its grip through the news of the atomic bombs, the entrance country -- "Something," he said, "which everY one of our soldiers who has been fighting for the ideals of the United Nations expects." Like his fellow-countrymen and the Brit- ish officers with whom I have talked, General Cariappa is proud of the EMPEROR ONCE DEMOCRATIC Twenty-three years ago. this writer, visiting in Japan, got consid- erable first-hand information about the emperor from a young Japa- nese Quaker, Renzo Sawada, who had been picked to accompany Hlro- hlto, then crown prince, on a trip to see the western world. Why Sawada. educated in a Qua- ker school in Tokyo. was chosen to accompany the young prince on this history.making trip, I do not know. except that the Imperial council of education wanted a commoner of Hirohito's age who spoke English and French to travel with the fu- ture emperor. farmland resources ever under, of Russia into the war and then the taken by any nation, the soil con- i exciting flash from Japan that kept servation service reported that more us on tenter-hooks so long. When than 90 per cent of the country's there seemed little to contemplate farmland was in need of treatment about but the lush growth of evil to protect it from erosion and main- which had sprung from the planting tain fertility, of the dragon's teeth of war, I found, More than 3,600,000 man years of strangely enough, in the office of the labor would be required for the huge representative of India in Washing- task, the service said, along with ton the belief that the war would 327,441 years of motor equipment; turn out to be, in one respect, a 1,089,978 years of horse-drawn fa- blessing to that perturbed country. eilities, and 2.544,106 tons of seed. India has furnished an army of 2Ya Of the 417,561,000 acres of farm- million men (the largest volunteer land now under actual cultivation, force in the world) in the prosecu- the service said that 43,000,000 tion of this war and that army has should be retired because of steep- turned out to be "the greatest school ness, erosion, wetness and stone, of adult education" in the world. That's what the Indians proudly call i ] it. True, soldLers in other armies LABORITE BRITAIN I have been "taught while they fought," but few have ever been able to add so much to the total knowl- With Great Britain and all the edge of their nation. rest of the world awaiting the I am told that after the last war, pattern of postwar life in the United Kingdom, King George VI presented the victorious La. bor party's legislative program, with nationalization of the Bank of England and the coal mines heading the agenda. At the same time, the king revealed that the war's end would not bring about a release of wartime restrictions, with the Laborites seeking power during the reconversion period to main- tain control over materials and services to assure proper distri. butlon at fair prices. Besides nationalizing the Bank of England to promote employ- ment and development, and so- eializing the coal mines as part of a program to integrate rite fuel and power industry, the La- borites propose to reorganize transport; provide docial secu- rity and industrial insurance; buy land for housing, and set up machinerY for planning in- vedtments in new business. WORLD RELIEF: Needs Boosted With the termination of the war in th~ Pacific expected to multiply its problems, the United Nations Re- llef and Rehabilitation Administra. finn Director Herbert Lehman de- clarnd that more than two billion dollars in additional funds would be needed to help stricken countries before their restoration of stable economies. Speaking at the third internation- al conference of UNRRA at London, Lehman revealed plans for coping with the Asiatic relief problem, dis- closing that plans already have been formulated for the shipment of sup- plies to China over the Stilwell road and through coastal ports. Of the 100 million Chinese reported des- titute, many are expected to suc- cumb even if relief should be of- fared immediately. The London meeting was eniiv- ened by Australia's demand to broaden the tTNRRA control council to nine members instead of the pres- ent Big Four to provide smaller na- tions with greater representation in the allocation of funds. FRANCE: Break Marshal Leader of France's liberation move- ment, Gem Charles de GauLle spared the life of Marshal Henri Petain by commuting his death sentence for plotting against the internal safety of the country to life imprisonment. Nevetheless, the jury's additional sentence of national indignity stood, imposed even after Petain's final as- sertion: "My thought, my only thought, was to remain with the peo- ple of France as I promised instead of abandoning them in their agony. . . My honor belongs to your country Most controversial ranch case of the century, Petain's trial found the country sharply divided, with charges on the one hand that the old marshal had delivered the state up to the Germans, and counter. charges on the other that prewar politicians were using the proceed. ings to whitewash themselves. when an Indian village was found, especially in the Punjab. which was a little better run, with more pro- gressive ideas and a more active social consciousness, it would also be discovered that its moving spirit was an ex-soldier--an Indian (Hin- du or Moslem, Rajput or Sikh, no matter) who had brought home ideas on sanitation and hygiene, co- operation and understanding, ab, sorbed during his period of service at home or abroad. But now the po- tentlalities of this mil/tary mission. aryshlp are immensely greater. Not merely because the Indian army is so much bigger, but because al- ready it has served as a great melt- ing pot, breaking down ancient preJ- udices and taboos which heretofore have made Indian unity impossible. Gmeral' s Spirlt Hopeful If tall, lean and eager General Cariappa, with whom I talked at length when he was here on a ruts- sign connected with the founding of a new military academy in India, is typical, the army is indeed a force. His enthusiasm, his op- timism and his energy are hopeful signs in themselves. I enjoyed that interview, seated in the office of the Agent General for India, where I heard this earnest man speak with an apparent sincerity and conviction which could not help but impress anyone who heard him. General Cariappa was one of the first Indian cadets to be com- missioned in the Indian army in I920. As a young man he had not yet attained his majority. He has been in the army ever since and was the first Indian officer to com- mand a battalion. He raised a ma- chine-gun outfit himself and as lieutenant - colonel led his men through the bitter days of the Bur- ma campaign, Now he is a general staff officer, one of India's four brig- adiers, and also a member of the army reorganization committee. It was in the latter capacity that he has Just completed a tour of inspec- tion of the British militaf-y schools at Woolwich and Sandhurst. then the Canadian school at Kingston, and finally WeSt Point and some of our specialist schools. He hopes to take acceptable features of all these schools and combine them ~n the new Indian Military academy, the site of which has not yet been de- termined but the plans for which are well under way. The commit. tee on reorganization also hopes to revise Indian preliminary education so that it will develop leadership. When I saw General Cariappa he was politely but none the less deep- ly pained over some of the reports in the American press which belit- tled India's participation in the war. He explained (which we in Washington knew) that there were two Indian soldiers to every one British soldier in the Burma fight- ing. General Carlappa is working to prepare a completely independent Indian army. It is also, I dare to suggest, for an independent India. As a soldier, ~e general refused to discuss politics, but he said that nat- urally every loyal Indian looks for- ward to the independence of his seeds of unity which have been sown, Never before had a ruler of Japan in the army. j left its shores. In the past scarce. In the first place, the army speaks lly was the emperor even seen by and also reads and writes one lan- i his subjects. Some idea of his isola- guage. Most of the soldiers when ttion can be gained from the fact they enlist are of the peasant class I that the word "mika" means and are illiterate. When their train- t "awful"; the word "do" means ing commences they are immedi, t ately taught to read and write in t''place''; and the name "Mikado" Roman Urdu, which is a simplified i means "awful-place." Hindustani written with English (Ro- I In the old days, priests came to man) letters. Aside from the value I worship at the "awful place," but of eradicating illiteracy, the knowl- t they never saw the emperor whose edge and use of a common language I other name even today is "Tenno," meaning "son of Heaven." The removes one of the chief obstacles emperor is synonymous with the sun to harmony and understandingand from this comes the Japanese among the people. (There are 12flag, with 16 spreading rays sym- principal languages and 100 dis- bolic of the rising sun and the em- lects spoken in India.) Many preju- dices go when the language barrier peror. is broken down. When the war is In those days, the Mikado was the over at least 2 million Indians will theoretical owner of all the land and have the bond of a common tongue, all the people and their posses- But more than that, they will have signs. He was their God and pro- lived together, eaten together, in the teeter. His lance and shield came field at least, lived in close eom- from Area. "the ancestral region." panionship in barracks and devel- oped teamwork and tolerance. There has been some suggestion that Basis English be made the official lan- guage of the army in India, and while, for the present, Hindustani appears more practical the for. mer has been taught on a large scale. General Car/appa has a sense of humor and a perfect command of English (basic, colloquia] and alas- sic) in which to express it. (He went to school in England as s boy.) He told me the following story to il- lustrate the ramifications of the lane guage problem in the Indian army: A young British officer remarked to his native sergeant that it was really remarkable that in his corn. putatively small unit of only 300 men. six different languages were spoken. "Oh, more than that. sir," the ser- geant answered. "Nine different languages are spoken here. There are the dix provincial languages. Then there id English, which you and I speak. Then there is Hindustani. which we all must speak. Then there is YOUR Hindustan/." Army With a Languale Problem It is true that most of the Indian army has remained within the con. tinental limits of the country, but that is not really strange, General Cartappa explained, since it takes 18 men "in the tail" as he put It, to keep one fighting man going. Many foreigners, seeing so many uniforms in India, received the im- pression that the whole army was "sitting down." These men. of course, are not combat troops held back for political or other reasons. the general said; but are largely the work troops, the great service of Supply required to keep the armies in the field going. The general claims that Indian soldiers are second to none as fight- ing men. The greater proportion of them are Madrasi, not at all the traditional fighting tribes who in the past have constituted what was salted the "martial race." That term, long outmoded, has long since been dropped. The excuse for its use disappeared much earlier. In the past there may have been some basis for this concept. Fight. ing begets fighters. As the British conquest of lndia moved slowly northward it left peace behind It, but ignited war ahead of it. So the northerners were the last whose vocation, or at least avocation, was mortal combat. The southerners re- turned to the gentler arts. But to return to the general He quoted that truism which all military men know is sound: "There are no bad soldiers. There are only bad of- fleers." Let me end this column as I be- gan it. If General Cariappa is typ- ical of India's officers, there is hope, not only for a powerful Indian army, which I, with the rest of you, pray India will never need, but hope that here among these 2 million men who have found a common tongue and a common purpose has been planted the leaven of tolerance that may bring about the unity of a h'ee India. Thus arose the cult of Shintoism which actually means "rule of the superiors" or "way of the Gods." Even the word for government in Japan. "matusurigoto" means "shrine visiting" or "religion." Modernistng the Emperor. Thus during most of Japanese history; in fact, up until just after the arrival of Commander Perry tn 1852, the Mikado was an ethereal spiritual being, not a ruler; and it came as a definite shock to many Japanese that their emperor-to-be should sail off to England and France to absorb western culture. In fact. some of the more intense patriots actually threw themdelvea on the railroad tracks in front of the train carrYing Hirohito to Yoke- hams in protest against the depart. ure. Naturally ilirohito may hav~ changed a lot during the U years shtce his trip. Naturally, also my friend Sawads wJ~s pre~tdieed in his favor. How- ever. the story ef that voyage wl8 one of young m~ smxioua to mingle with his feb. Iowmen, astound the emperor. worshippers by wrestling on the deck with bin ames, get a bloody nose, and dance democratically with the servants ot the Duke of Atholl in the same "bar- bsrle" Scotl~d, wMeh, aecord- ink to Shinto priests, is ms.lv from the mud and seafoam left over after creation of the "heavenly isles" -- Japan. Hirohtto even managed to de- liver a public speech to the lord mayor of London; and no emperor in all the history of Japan had ever delivered a public speech before. In all Japanese history, furthermore, no emperor had purchased an arti- cle of any shape, size or form. In Paris, however. Hirohito insisted on going alone and buying a necktie, and later a pearl for his mother. Hlrohito Goes Underground, His greatest ambition, however, was to ride on the Paris subway or "metro." Before leaving Tokyo, Hirohito's staff had been strictly for- bidden to let the heir to the throne ride on any subway; but despite this, the crown prince bolted most of his staff and ventured under- ground. He insisted on buying the tickets himself and handed them to the fat lady guarding the gate. But he handed them to her in a bunch, instead of spreading them out fan shape, so that she could not punch them quickly. All of which brought forth a storm of abuse tn metro French, heaped on the head of the future ruler of Japan. a s CAPITAL CHAFF K The 1946 congressional elections probably will see the bitterest fight and the most money spent in years. Both sides are gearing for a show* down, partly as a result of the Brit- ish elections. Conservatives are say- ing: "It can't happen here." Truman was kept informed re- garding all these incidents . . . tip- off that Japan was weakening came after Russia declared war, and the Japs did not declare war in return.