Evening star., 1949-10-02

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problems to discuss the issues ane
ton regarding Latin America.
Apparently the Secretary ha!
we might easily win the battles OF
Berlin, Western Europe and the
Near East against an immediate
onrush of communism and at the
same time find our own American
community a hot bed of plotting
dictators, military revolts, eco
nomic confusion and disgruntled
neighborS.
In fact, in recent carefully
prepared address before the Pan
American Society of New York he
admitted as much. For two
years." Mr.. Acheson said, "the
Caribbean area has been disturbed
by plots and counterplots-at
times the whole area has ap-
preached a state of political tur-
moil." The Secretary declared
that the whole Inter-American
security system" is now facing a
severe test. He deplored the mill
tary coups that have taken place,
acknowledged the unfortunate
economic conditions that prevail
in many of the countries next
door, and offered a program of
and helpfulness to
those countries which are trying
to help themselves and whose
leaders are trying to follow more
democratic principles.
Problems Kicked Around
The Secretary could not have
been unmindful of the fact that.
while the neighboring countries
have been drifting toward the po-
litical and economic rocks, our
own Governments attitude toward
them has often been a tumble OF
confusion and misunderstanding.
Since the retirement of Cordell
Hull, the State Department has
been what one critic has called
"a way station for transitory Sec
retaries of State and top officials.
most Of whom knew little or
nothing about Latin America to
begin with, and did not stay long
enough to find out very much"
Much of the time hemisphere
problems have been kicked back
and forth between the White
House, Congress and the Depart
ment and various other political
groups until the experts in the
foreign service themselves seldom
knew what the actual policy
toward any country really was.
Only q few months ago one OF our
ablest ambassadors in South
America said, Everybody seems
to be running our Latin American
diplomacy except the diplomats. :"
The Argentine question was for
several years a merry-go-round OF
contradictions. Ambassadors dis
puted and often opposed the de-
partment's instructions. Itinerant
Senators and Representatives, who
spent as much as "a hours In
Buenos Aires, or who had never
been in the Pampas country
at all, took up the cudgels for
or against President Juan Do
mingo Peron's strong-armed gov
ernment. For a time the brass
hats of the military took a hand
in shaping Argentine policy. More
recently the Mexican oil question
has ben a subject of rancid dis
agreement between the experts OF
the Department, persons close to
the White House" and certain
members of Congress. All OF
which had left the Latins them
selves with no clear idea as to
what Uncle Sans policy was to-
ward them.
Hull's Reaction Noted
The AcheSon statement Is
significant for more than one rea-
son. In the first place it was not
a hurried improvisation. While
the Secretary and other top
spokesmen of the Department have
had little or nothing to say on
the subject until now, the Policy
Planning Board has been giving
serious attention to the question
ever since Mr.. Acheson took over
the administration of our foreign
relations. George Butler, quiet
but two-fisted expert on Latin
American affairs and vice chair
man of the Planning Board. had
spent months studying, investigat-
ing and weighing the problems OF
our neighbors. Immediately fol-
lowing his appointment the new
Assistant Secretary in charge OF
Inter-American Affairs, Edward G.
Miller. jr., called for a complete
survey of the whole hemisphere
situation and the Acheson speech
was the result.
In the second place, the de-
partment has seemingly gone back
to the original "good-neighbor
policy" not as conceived by the
Rooseveltian New Dealers but as
interpreted by former Secretary
Hull. It was hardly a coinci-
dence that the former Secretary
sent a telegram to the New York
Pan American Society before
which Mr.. Acheson spoke praising
the ability and craftsmanship Of
his successor. At any rate, ac-
cording to the latest interpreta-
tion, the good-neighbor relation
in the future is to be what one
department official describes as
"a two-way road and not q one
way 'street-a relation In which
each party not only respects the
rights Of the other, but insists
that each has duties and response
bilities to the hemisphere COM