Evening star., 1947-02-09


up $4,000 votes, about 10 per cent
Of the total cast.
Communists everywhere can point
with pride to the pattern in Chile.
The new president, Gabriel Con-
zalez Videla, though not a Com
munist, was elected with Communist
support. The party accounted for
only about per cent of the votes
but provided the critical total Con-
zalez Videla needed. He paid OF
by giving the party three posts in
his 11-man cabinet-one of them
being the Ministry of Public Works,
the patronage-dispensing job. There
is argument. over whether the Conn
munists actually control the Chilean
Federation of Labor, but they do
manage the vital coal and nitrate
mining unions.
Drive Hard in Venezuela.
Argentine Communists are making
a strong effort but so far have been
able to account for only about 8
per cent of the votes. They are
seeking to wrest control of the labor
unions from President Peron, with
whom they are pursuing policy OF
cooperation. Their support Of
Peron illustrates the ease with which
the party can coalesce with Fas-
cistic regime when expediency war
rants.
The Communists are making q
concerted drive in Venezuela, espe-
cially for control of labor unions in
the oil fields. They do not control
the unions generally. In the last
elections they brought out only
half as many votes as they had
forecast, but the total still repre-
sented growth.
In Panama, important because OF
the Canal Zone, party membership
Is small and the government anti
Communist.
u. S. Doing Something.
An unusally well-informed OBJ
server not connected with the
Government told the Post-Dispatch
he thought the real danger to this
country will come when unrest
reaches such stage that the Latin
American people must turn some
where for leadership. If the United
States fails to provide it, Com
munists will.
North Americans in Government
and business are not just sitting
back apprehensively to see what
happens. They are doing something
about it; perhaps not enough, but
something.
Nelson A. Rockefeller, former Co
ordinator of Inter-American Affairs,
has announced plan to aid Brazil
ian industry and agriculture by
financing the installation of ma
chinery and modern equipment. An
organization known as the Inter-
American Council of Commerce and
Production, a sort of Western Hem
isphere chamber of commerce whose
United States sponsors include the
United States Chamber of Com
merce and the National Association
of Manufacturers, will hold trade
promotion session at Montevideo in
April.
Most persons concede the real So
luton Is the betterment of living
conditions. For several years there
has been program to set up model
farms and health and sanitation
districts stated by United States
technicians. Our Government wants
to encourage private enterprise in
Latin America and favors loans for
highways and new industries. An
immediate palliative might be .
Qualification of Soviet United States
relations. In the long view, the en-
couragement of an economy that
would create middle class is dis
cussed.
The State Department is undecid-
ed on a program of counteracting
Russian propaganda with propag-
anda of our own. This is field in
which we have Jagged far behind.
The difficulty in our position, OF
course, is the danger OF opening
ourselves to the traditional charge
of "bossism."
There is one final conclusion
reached by virtually every observer.
That is that the best way to bury
fascism and communism in Latin
America is to make democracy work
at home. The force of example, 1t
is thought, is the strongest possible
argument.
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