Consolations of history
By Patrick Kelley
Originally published 02:05 p.m., March 12, 2008
Updated 02:05 p.m., March 12, 2008
Things have not been going all that well for Emporia so far this year. Six months ago, the city’s future was looking bright. New industries were coming to town and the stage seemed set for a spate of new retail development.
Then the loss of 1,800 jobs at Tyson Fresh Meats sent the community into a tailspin. Gloom replaced optimism. Is Emporia done for?
Sixty-six years ago today. Gen. Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines and the remnants of his battered command. MacArthur’s superiors, convinced that there was no hope of repelling the Japanese invasion, ordered him back to the relative safety of Australia.
It was an especially bitter moment in a bitter time. Three months before, the Japanese had destroyed or crippled most of the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Less than a month after MacArthur left, the last U.S. resistance on the Bataan peninsula ended and thousands of American soldiers and civilians were sent into bitter captivity.
In Australia, MacArthur declared, “I shall return.” They were brave words, but seemed at that moment to be an idle boast.
But two months after MacArthur left the Philippines, the U.S. Navy brought the Japanese advance in the Pacific to a halt at the Battle of the Coral Sea. One month after that, the Navy destroyed much of Japan’s naval power at the Battle of Midway. The tide of the war had turned.
Two and a half years after his departure, MacArthur did return to the Philippines, leading the army that would defeat the Japanese and free the captives of 1942.
Comparing Emporia’s current situation with the debacle in the Philippines 66 years ago would be silly. An economic hiccough is not a war. But the nation’s experience in early 1942 does provide a lesson: History does not stand still.
Communities and nations have their victories and defeats, but neither victory nor defeat is permanent.
There may be more bad news ahead for Emporia. The national economy seems hell-bent on going into recession, and that would certainly be felt in Kansas.
But there is good news, too. Any farmer who can manage to harvest a crop is riding the crest of high prices in a seller’s market. Emporia, with plentiful power and water and excellent transportation, is still attractive to industry. Eventually — perhaps sooner than later — there will be new good jobs in town.
These may be dark days, but they are not so dark.
And brighter days will come.