Evening star., 1938-12-27


would be denied the privilege of ef-
fective protest either by force or
through diplomatic channels against
unjust seizures by any of the Pan
American Union states is not going
to succeed. The resolutions have
gone into the limbo for five years
in spite OF the support of Mexico and
two other republics, which did not
come out very openly In their ap-
proval Of the Mexican program.
The Mexican delegation is a
marked one. The so-called radical
elements on the delegation repre-
sent the aggressive, loud talking
labor leadership type which do not
get on well with the usual Latin
American delegate, who is a suave
and punctilious gentleman.
There is practically no sympathy
with the communistic program in
Mexico or its smaller counterpart in
Bolivia.
Bolivia Acted Cold Bloodedly.
The Bolivian confiscation was even
more characterless than that of
Mexico, If you can classify thus the
varying methods Of theft. The pre-
text of communist program and
revolutionary labor movement did
not exist in Bolivia. The Bolivians
were tempted by the oil properties,
so they went about in cold blood
to take them. The Bolivian govern
ment got ready by passing legisla-
ton which gave power to pack the
Supreme Court with a hand d-picked
personnel of judges just as they
have done in Mexico. Then they
deliberately manufactured case of
fraud against the companies which
they had designed to steal.
They backed this up with a cam
paign Of vituperation against the oil
companies and bitter reprisals
against all Bolivian lawyers who had
accepted service in the oil COM
panies or expressed opposition to
the government program and all cit
izens and officials of any degree who
did not approve the fight on United
States capital.
The oil companies did not fight
back. The government had seized
everything from cash in the bank
to the lead pencils in the desks of
the sta11. They had taken wells,
drilling equipment and refineries.
The more they took the louder they
screamed about the fraudulent &C
tivities of the companies. They
became puzzled and worried finally
because the companies made no
overtures.
Efficiency Decreased.
The effects of the sensational
seizure upon the general economic
situation was bad. The technical
operation of the plants was a fail
ure. The gasoline became poor. All
the servives taken over by the gov
ernment decreased in efficiency.
Moreover, there arrived the same
threat to economic disaster that
challenges Mexico. Some gold de-
velopments called for capital and
expert exploration. The United
States Smelling & Refining Co. had
evinced interest after a thorough
examination. Apparently a loan Of
$4,000, 900 was being favorably con-
sidered. After the seizure of the
oil properties the mining and smelt-
ing companies retired from the pic
ture and lost confidence in the
probity of the government. All the
countries down here need United
States capital and engineering skill.
but Bolivia failed to realize that
while she might put her pretense
of a grievance over amongst her
own government followers, she
couldn't hold the confidence and
friendly interest Of investive capital.
Recently some of her officials
have held out the idea of a COM
promise settlement of the issue
which has really no foundation to
start with. The practical confiscat.
ing mind of the Bolivian officials
who would like to steal back what