Evening star., 1949-04-03

| bushy- haired, eccentric, rabble-
rousing type Of speaker just as
determined to haye his way as the
North American boss Of the coal
miners. Bustamante is the son Of
an Irish father and a Negro
mother, and, therefore, unlike
most of his counterparts in the
other islands, is not full-blooded
Negro.
/ IOvercrowding Factor
/ Many of the islands are hope
lessly overcrowded In purely
agricultural Barbados more than
1900 people are jammed into
every square mile of territory.
Nearly 100000 Jamaicans try to
exc out q living from less than
400 square miles of farm lands,
most of which are owned by a
handful of British, many of them
absentee landlords. The balance
of the island, 1923 square miles,
consists of rocky and jagged
mountain peaks. Populous Trini-
dad is a little more fortunate in
that the oil industry, the export
of asphalt from the vast pitch
deposits on the island, give en-
ployment to many. Even British
Guiana with It's rich bauxite or
aluminium mines utilizes large
numbers Of laborers.
The great oil refineries on the
Dutch islands Of Aruba and Gu
racao provide employment for
most of their natives, along with
thousands of immigrants from
surrounding islands. The bauxite
industry in Dutch Guiana pre-
vents serious unemployment there,
but in the British Bahamas, the
Leeward Islands, French Mar,
Unique, Guadeloupe and the
others, a low standard of living,
lack of gainful employment and
meager educational facilities leave
most of their peoples in a misera-
BILE state.
Native. plantation owners, shop
keepers, and other employers,
particularly in the British islands,
fght any and all attempts to
false wages and pay. When United
States armed forces went into
various colonies to construct air.
fields, roads and other installa-
tions, as q result of the wartime
exchange Of destroyers- for-mili-
tary-bases agreement with Brit
ain, a bitter fight about the
wages we were to pay local labor
developed. In fact, Uncle Sam
is still condemned for demoraliz-
ing the poulations by introducing
what many of them called "radi-
cal economic ideas during the
war"
Completely Dominated
Except for the French colonies,
which have long enjoyed a large
measure of local autonomy, as
well as direct representation in
the French Parliament, nearly
all these possessions are under
complete political domination
from the European capitals,
through the well-known British
and Dutch Civil Service, headed
by appointed governors who carry
all the pomp and power of the
King of England and the Queen
of Holland.
Although the Yankees are dub
bed "the imperialists and oppres-
sors of the Caribbean" it was
this country which in wartime
went to the rescue of the island
peoples when the mother coun-
tries could do little or nothing
to defend or even feed them.
When their food supplies were
cut off during the German SUBJ
marine campaign in the early
part of the war, the United States
Government took the lead in
forming the Angelo-American
Caribbean Commission, which or
ganized the now famed land
water highway to take foods,
medicines and other necessities
from this country to the various
islands.
Supplies were shipped from
Florida to Havana, transported by
railroad 800 miles to Santiago at
the other end of the island, loaded
onto sail boats and other small
craft, guarded across the water to
Haiti, then trucked from Haiti to
the Dominican Republic, and
shipped once again to Puerto Rico
by boat. From there the supplies
were distributed to the various
islands. To begin with the United
States put up a revolving fund OF
$25, 10000 to help defray ex-
penses in organizing the project.
Not a Political Body
In 1916 this cooperative war
time agency was transformed into
the present Caribbean Commis-
sion. The French and the Dutch
have joined this country and
Great Britain in regional eco
nomic agency to work for the
material welfare and advance
ment of all the peoples Of the de-
pendent territories. The Carib-
bean Commission is not a political
or executive body. but it has Set
up a regional General Assembly
composed of two delegates from
each of the Is dependencies and
groups of territories, which meets
every two years to discuss and
make plans to meet regional prob
lens in the area. These meet
ings have brought together for
the first time in history, In an
official, international organiza-
tion. direct representatives Of the
colonial peoples of the Americas.
Uncle Sam has made many mis-
takes In the Caribbean. United
States citizens and interests have
often been guilty of exploitation
| in some of the countries. even IL