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MemotieiM.uiPRAVDA'SPUERILECHARGEGene al MacArthur, now clothed with supreme, command in what is allitera-tively termed The Anzac Area (though his command . comprehends the Philippines and elsewhere), has. there can be no question of it. fired the imagination of the Allied nations. His brilliant soldiering at Luzon caused him to be regarded as Japan’s big headache Secretary of War Stimson, who, the other day announced the presence in large numbers of United States land and air forces and equipment in Australia, has before today described MacArthur as our most skilful fighter When this Japanese attacked Manila, the Communist press organ, “Pruvdi, accused MacArthur and his Manila force of “cowardice.” This much-quoted Russian newspaper, one of the two principal mouthpieces of Stalin and the Kremlin, charged the United States with having used Petain tactics in its efforts to spare Manila from Japanese bombs—an allusion to its declaration of that city as an open town.” These charges were not pub-li-hed in Australian newspapers, however.Pravdo claimed that MacArthur and his officers acted lik • ladybugs, which, lacking the courage to fight, roll overon their backs andMACARTHUR slick their legs to-A LADYBUG? words the sky whenan enemy appears. People who act like that. it said, are cowards.” But MacArthur was no ladyhug IIus solicitude was not for himself, but for the inhabitants of Manila. Mr William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard Syndicate Foreign Editor, pertinently remarked that Pravda appeared to be afflicted with a short memory It seems to have forgotten, he raid, that in the first rush of the Nazis last summer, Russian-held arras several times the size of the whole Philippine archipelago were quickly seized. The Russian-held half of Poland, all of Lithuania. Latvia and Estonia, part of Finland and cities like Kiev. Odessa, Nikolaiev, Bryansk and dozens ol others were soon lost. Some 50,000.000 Russians were driven from their homes and the major part of industrial Russia was occupied before the German hordes were stopped.This is not said in criticism of the Russians, says Mr. Simms, though in manpower they outnumbered the Nazis by mere than two to WITH BAD one and their me-GRACE chanical equipmentwas at least equal to that of the enemy. They were taken by surprise—as was the United States on December 7—ar.d it takes time to organise an adequate defence against a thoroughly prepared aggressor. This, it is pointed out, ‘Pravda’ seems to have forgotten. Moreover, it is addc-d, such criticism conies with exceptionally bad grace from a country which has been, and continues to be. the recipient of aid from the United States. But for the material sent across the Atlantic, it is remarked, the United States might have had more tanks, ’planes, guns and other munitions on hand in the Philippines.”By M.Now that we are able to talk about United States soldiers being in our midst—splendid fellows they are, too— I can tell that a very BUDDY AND big fraction of them O. HENRY arc Catholics. Is that a Knight of Columbus ring you are wearing? I asked one of them the other day. Yes, he replied, thousands cf our boys wear them. I had, myself, seen dozens of them wearing similar rings. What books are you reading? I queried. Well. he said with a drawl, I have my prayer-book, of course. I read from it every day. My favourite*115XO. HENRY.I» stilt o favourite.fiction writer is O. Henry. I’ve got an ‘omnibus’ collection of his stories in my lent. I suppose I’ve read all the stories in it half a dozen times. ‘‘What’s your favourite among O. Henry’s tales?” I inquired. I think ‘The Gift of the Magi’ is the one I like best, he replied.O. Henry happens to be a favourite of my own, and I was delighted to hear from this trans-Pacific brother-in-armsof our soldiers this HE WAS OLD- story about the FASHIONED writer who, himself, wrote such superb ones. Probably some folk would call O. Henry old-fashioned, he said. It’s pretty good to be old-fashioned in some things. Critics are fond of comparing O. Henry with Guy de Maupassant. Personally, I can’t see much resemblance between these two writers. One day a guy at a dinner at which O. Henry was a guest thought he was praising Porter—Sydney Porter was O. Henry's right name, you know —by calling him the ‘American de Maupassant.’ This didn’t please O. Henry at all. ‘Oh, no!!’ he said to his would-be flatterer, ‘I never wrote a dirty line in my life and de Maupassant did.’ O. Henry was right. He never did write a dirty line A pity some other American and other writers could make the same boast. With a grin ho added. They’re not *oId-fashioned’ enough, of course.
Newspaper Details
Melbourne Advocate
Melbourne, Victoria, AU
Thu, Mar 26, 1942
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
TX, USA 11 Oct 2022
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