The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-12-02

CAIap@S NkeNcASS SuSpeCVeu o& hNt and spectators SkyroclSet prices Of American materials, and by various subterfugeS seek to de- liver goods to the banned organ~ izationS.
 The E2change Control Board oi Argentina denies import licenses for American materials until thS demand becomes overwhelming - since the needed products arc not to Do had elsewhere - and then 1t Is too late. Priorlties and lack of shipping facilities prevent delivery,
 Building and construction work comes to an end, There is Q short. age of steel. A housing shortage iS in the otting, with . consequent rise In prices, There Is no boom, as In Brazil, but, on the contrary, q tightening economic situation is presented,
 PRESIDENT ORTIZ
 NCAPACITATED
 Meantime President Roberto M, Ortiz Is ineApaeitated, He Is virtual. ly blind, ArgentineS of high stand ing, and close to the President, say; "IIe will assume control of the gov ernment within the next two months, He is to undergo an operation two weeks hence. His doctors assure him it will he Q success, He will see per- teetly, and then we shall have leadership" It Is explained that In early November Ortis asked that President Roosevelt be informed that Argentina awaits you T leadership"
 To which others who are just as well informed reply that the Pres- ident Is not In q position to fulttll any assurances, Further, that his friends have been saying daily, for the past eight months that OrtiS would undergo an operation, but there has been no operation, and now they say we must have leadership"
 The closest parallel to this situation dates back to the illness of the late President Woodrow Wilson when the seriousness of his affliction was not admitted and there was, In effect, no funetloning head of the American government, For Argentina, Ramon s, Castillo, Vice. President, Is Acting Pvesa ident, He Is under vigorous fire,
 Tho Chamber of Deputies and Senate are deadlocked, the Rad- ieal party controlling one branch and the Conservatives the other. No appropriation bills have been passed for two years, and the Con- gres sis in virtually constant recess,
 Foreign Minister Enrique Ruiz Guinazu Is said to believe firmly that Germany Is going to win the war, and that Argentina should chart her course accordingly. Friends of Acting President Castillo deny that he shares this belief or that he can be classed as pro-Naxi, in any sense. He just doesn't want to do anything. He is variously described as a Coolidge" by some Americans and as Q provincial" or Q man "who doesn't know what he wants, or where he is going or how" by we'll placed Argentines.
 There is complete unanimity of opinion that 90 per cent of the people of Argentina are pro- American and pro-British. The further down the mass scale you go, too, the more they are said to be Russian, without reservations, PEOPLE ARE
 PRO-ANERICAN
 All of the leading newspapers are anti i-totalitarian and pro-democracy. "EI Pampero," German newspaper, continues to survive, but its editor Enrique Oses. and hls associates spe:' almost as much time in Jail as out. OSes is constantly being jdsged, charged with one minor of- fense or another, and his life Is not a happy one.
 W..en an American picture magazine recently had a layout of nude statues, photographed in Bu- enos Aires parks, saying that a campaign was on to remove them, ''Pompero" commented that the Rockefeller Committee in Washing ton should appropriate few million dollars to put pantieS on the statu- ary.
 Against the background of un- certainty in the government and increasing economic tension, every one given Q political thought be- liev that forces will soon be or- ganized looking toward more posi- tive leadership. If there should be any shift toward the totalitariau powers, or continued lack of action, 1t l. considered certain that a group will move in to bring powerful pres sure on Castillo.
 The man most oftsn mentioned