Evening star., 1947-08-03

1ai6iWoyt OCSlSilCu 10 INK tue
United States with Panama City ir
Central America. Canol was aban.
doned at the end Of hostilities, hsv.
ing cost the taxpayers Of this coun.
try about 100 million dollars. The
Highway already has cost upware
Of 6s million dollars, and according
to Chairman Homer Ferguson Of the
Investigating Committee, its compile
ton Is not now "foreseeable.
Condemned by Truman
Both were undertaken In the
spring OF 1912 as urgent military
ventures. largely at the instance oi
1t. Gen. Brehon H. Somervell
then head Of the Services of Supply
When President Truman was chair
man Of the War Investigating Com
mittee he issued q report strongly
condemning the whole Canol prof.
ect and censuring Gen. Somervell
Mr.. Truman's successor, Senator
Ferguson. has now come forth witt
O parallel indictment Of the Wal
Departments wartime fumbline
south Of the border.
In its 81-page report, Senate,
Ferruson's committee found q
shocking lack of competent plan
ming Of ths highway. It disclosed
that the War Departments engi-
neers and the United States Public
Roads Administration has been al
each others throat in violent dis.
agreement" over routes, and that
waste and inefnciency had sky.
rocketed costs and plummeted con-
crete results.
Senator Ferguson said that only
347 miles Of road have been COM
pleted by Army Engineers at an
expenditure exceeding So million
dollars, although 1t had been esti-
mated that more than $50 miles oi
road could be built for 141a mil
lion dollars. Before the Army took
it over, this country had spent SO
million dollars on the project. The
committee dumped into the lap Of
Congress the question Of spending
more American dollars, while causti-
cally scoring the War Department
for undertaking 1t at all as an
emergency war measure.
Departments Clash
As developed In the committee
report, one Of the strangest phases
of the highway story was the juxta-
position Of roles by the War Depart
ment and the State Department
when their spokesman testified be-
fore the committee. The War De-
partment insisted that it had gone
ahead with the work. not for mill
tary reasons. but for diplomatic
motives - continental solidarity.
Witnesses for the State Department
expressed amazement at this and
insisted with equal dgor that it had
assented to the project only on the
word Of the War Department that
it was q military necessity. On the
political front 1t was a bad wartime
move, said the State Department
because of the traditional fear and
suspicion on the part Of the Latin
American countries of any military
operations by the United States in
their territories.
The committee sought to make
some sense OF this anomalous Situa-
ton by explaining that the War
Department considered the highway
as urgent from a military point OF
view, not for supply or other mill
tary purposes, but because con
tinental solidarity" was considered
essential from a military point of
view.
"The committee believes" said the
report. that the War Department
invaded the province of the State
Department in certifying that the
promotion of continental solidarity
was an urgent military necessity
The committee further believes that
defense funds and scarce manpower
materials. machinery and shipping
should not have been diverted to q
project Of such questionable and
nebulous benefit to our war effort
Things Moved Slowly
Before the War Department seized
the project as wartime must" 1t
had been q peacetime undertaking
in collaboration with the Central
American republics, duly authorized
by act Of Congress. 1t was to be-
and presumably some day will be, q
part of more extensive system OF
highways joining the South Amer
lean countries with the United
States and Canada. popularly called
the Pan American highway. The
Inter American highway is the link
Of the Pan American highway lying
between the United States-Mexicar
border at Laredo, Tex, and the
Panama Canal.
This link is about $3.50 miles loni
and runs through Mexico, Guate
mala, Ell Salvador, Honduras, Mica
ragua, Costa Rica and Panama. Tn,
Congressional Act of December 26
1s41, authorized this nation to con
tribute two-thirds of the cost O.
the road, providing the individua
Central American countries agreee
to pay the remaining one-third fol
construction within their borders.
But things went slowly. Mexico
disdained financial grant from this
country, borrowing 40 million dollars
instead, and said 1t would do al
the road work within its borders
Other countries, like Costa Rica