The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-02-21

oS o4AAOO ClAS I1A4O.
 But beneath the surface they will be lrrltated at several things which have lowered Good Neigh bOr' prestige to about the lowest cob since 1927 when U $. Marines invaded Nicaragua.
 Irritant No. l-IS growing indi- cation that the U. $. A. intends to keep certain Latin American bases after the war There b nothing that rifles Latin America more than American armed forces on their soil.
 Irritant No. 2.-Is the peremp- tory way President Roosevelt re- gently demanded that six Good NeighbOrs" come into the war. Some people wondered why Peru, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, ant Ecuador trooped up to the Allied table just as the Red Army neared Berlin and signed up.
 This was not because they wanted to. It was because they got letter from no less than the President of the United States telling them to join the Allies-or else.
 The 'Or else" was a warning that they could not sit at the United Nations conference, now scheduled for San Francisco, if they did not declare war.
 What made the Latin dOubiy sore was their belief that RoO3c- welt was acting at the instance of Stalin who had laid down the law that no nOn-belliger- ent could sit in United Nations Councils. Most of the Latin American governments don't recognize Stalin and don't like dictatiOn from him-even if in- direct.
 Also they remembered the oral word of the State Department that all they had to do was to break relations with the Axis, not de- clare war. For instance, Chile, when it broke with the Axis, in formed the State Department that it was also ready to declare war. But Under Secretary of State Sumner WelleS, after conferring with the White House told them this would be unnecessary. All VIC wanted was a break in diploma tic relations, the Chileans were told. So now when we need American solidarity more than ever, the Good Neighbors aren't too happy.
 FRANCO HAUNTS MEXICO
 Last month, members of the old Spanish Cortez tried to hold a meeting in Mexico City. The Cortez is the Spanish parliament, and ever since Franco set up his dictatorship, it's members have been eXiled, many in Latin Amer ica.
 So it was proposed that the remnants of Democratic Spain get together and hold a meeting ill Mexico City.
 But they did not reckon with our State Department.
 When James C. Dunn (hus- band of the Armour milliOns) called before the Senate during the confirmation fight over his promotion to be assistant sec retary of state. he told SenatOr Guffey of Pennsylvania that the had never been favorable to Franco. Since then he has in- Spired series of newspaper col umns purpOrting to tell how he had nothing to do with the boy colt of LOyalist Spain.
 However, when two members of the Spanish Cortez sought pass port visas to cross the Panama Canal to attend the meeting in Mexico City, the State Depart ment said no. The Spanish con- gressmen were south of the Pan- anna Canal and the Mexico City meeting was north. The canal lay across their path, and the State Department refused to let them cross. The man in the State Department who passes primarily on these matters is James c. Dunn. Hull is no longer in the State Department. Stettinius was either away or busy with the Big Conference. The main decision was up to Dunn.
 So the Spanish COrtez could not get quorum and was not held. But In some respects the Inter American conference now