Evening star., 1944-02-13
Long-Range Planning Vital
For Peace in Caribbean Area
Development of Production of War Supplies of
Critical Materials Raises Problem for
Postwar Period
By Marquis ". Chids.
By Marquis ". Childs.

How close the Nazis came to achieving
victory-a limited victory but victory
neverthe]ess-in the Caribbean was dis
closed in a study released by the State
Department.
When the crisis was most grave, at
the height of the submarine warfare in
the spring and summer of 1912, most of
the facts were kept from the American
public. Some OF the details are revealed
in q pamphlet prepared by the United
States section of the Anglo-American
Caribbean Commission.
Submarines came in force" the re-
port says. They not only attacked
shipping of the vital petroleum and
bauxite supply lines but engaged in ac-
tivities particularly designed to soften
the area Small schooners carrying
food and laborers from island to island
were sunk by shellfire. U-boats brazenly
sailed into undefended harbors Destroy
ing shipping at anchor and at dock,
and occasionally dropped shells on the
islands themselves"
The pinch of hunger was so severe in
Puerto Rico that on at least one occa-
sion the island police had to use force
to prevent the spread of serious rioting.
All the time the Axis radio kept harping
nthe doom of the Caribbean
Must Raise Standards.
The study is not limited to analysis
Of the Nazi threat and how it was
overcome. Dealing broadly with the
future OF the area, the report sug-
gests what long term measures must be
taken to raise the substandards of what
has been called the Caribbean poor
house" The work of the Anglo-Ameri-
can Caribbean Commission must obvi-
ously be continued after the war in an
effort to bring some sense out of the
random collection of peoples territories
and sovereignties scattered through the
warm blue Caribbean.
Last year I came through that area in
the course of an air trip to South
America. Even the passing visitor hears
an echo of the deep diSaffection which
prevailed in these impoverished islands
long before the war. In Jamaica before
the war rioting and repeated violence
grew out of unemployment In Trini-
dad likewise there was prolonged un-
rest. The visitor is told today that the
island will not tolerate British rule
when the war ends
The impact of the world conflict in
the first stages was two-fold. Construc-
ton by the United States of the bases
acquired through the destroyer deal alb
sorbed all available labor in many areas.
At the same time it stirred a boom that
caused prices to rise rapidly, unsettling
the relatively simple subsistence econ
ony existing in most of the area.
With American entry into the war
after Pearl Harbor more complex trouble
quickly developed. In most of the
region, which includes the independent
states of Cuba, Haiti and the Domini-
can Republic as well as the British
islands, British Guiana and British
Honduras, the French and Netherlands
possessions, Puerto Rico and the Virgin
Islands, sugar Is the main crop. Nor
mally very little foodstuff is raised and
basic supplies as well as luxury foods
are imported. At the outbreak of hos
tilities the Caribbean was producing 16
per cent of the worlds sugar.
Workers Were Idle.
The major sugar-consuming nations
quickly imposed import restrictions on
sugar and rationed consumers Boats
were needed for more valuable cargoes.
With the fall of France all European
markets we're lost. The submarine war;
fare cut deeply into the ships that were
still available for the sugar trade. On
docks and in the cane fields workers
were idle.
In many places in the Caribbean far
from creating employments the effect
of the war was to cause wholesale un-
employment This was particularly true
In Puerto Rico. There in August of
ulation was totally unemployed. To get
some idea of what this meant, in March
Of 1888, at the bottom of the worst de-
preston in American history, it was
estimated that II per cent of our popu-
lation was jobless. In March, 1943,
when about 43,500 persons were put on
WPA, over $4,000 others equally ELI
gible" were ON the waiting list.
Throughout the spring and summer
of 1912" says the report, "the Berlin
radio reminded its listeners in the Carib-
bean area constantly of the success of
its submarine campaign in that area.
Ship sinkings were reported with de-
tails as to the nationalities of the ships.
Emphasis was placed upon increased
hardships in the countries dependent
upon Caribbean seaborne commerce and
upon loss of control by the United States
in the Caribbean.
"'He who sails for North America
sails certainly to DEATH was the slogan
used in this period"
The desperate situation was reflected
In f1areups of violence. There were SER
ious disturbances in the Bahamas in
June of 1912 and in Jamaica in June
and July. At st. Lucia two torpedoed
ships were looted in the harbor of
Castries Efforts to work out solution
were complicated by division of author
ity, not only between different govern
ments but within the administration in
Washington. Nine regular cabinet de-
partments and 10 emergency agencies
exercised some degree OF civil RESPONSE
bility in the Caribbean area.
Welles Issues Warning.
1t was with the hope of cutting
through this complicated tangle that
the Anglo-American Caribbean Commits
sion was founded on March 9, 1912, with