Evening star., 1949-04-03

bC44oWo "a SAA~A% T@~F~~o~-
chine full force In an attempt u
intensity the blaze once again
They are shouting about wha
one red-front newspaper in Ha'
vana calls Yankee oppressors Of
the helpless inhabitants OF de-
pendent American territories.
Yet, among all the more thar
1000 colonies, islands. islets anc
possessions in the Western AT
lantic, only Puerto Rico and q
part of the tiny Virgin ISLANDS
group are integral parts OF the
United States. While we admin
ister the territory of the Cana
Zone, we do not own it; we REM
1t from the Republic of Panama
Even the most critical observers
now admit that of all these terri
tories that extend from Green
land in the Arctic to the bliz-
zardy islands and atolls south ol
Cape Horn, Puerto Rico enjoys
the greatest measure OF political
freedom and self-government.
Although the Stars and Stripes
was raised over Puerto Rico barely
so years ago. democratic proc
esses of government have been SC
steadily applied that today the
people of the island elect their
own Governor and their own Sen
ate and House of Representatives
which make all the laws. Equally
important, the local legislature
levies all the taxes, no portion oil
which comes to the United States
None of the 48 sovereign States
of the Union enjoys such au-
tonomy in the economic field. The
only Puerto Rican officials ap-
pointed by the President OF the
United States are the members
of the Supreme Court and the
auditors of the island. Practically
all the other dependent territories
in the Americas are mere Euro
pean communities. After several
centuries the lives of their 4,5O0,-
600 people are still almost com
pletely dominated by Old Worlo
officialdon.
Fiction Is Elaborated
notwithstanding these facts. the
Inter-American Commission on
Dependent Territories. ATTENDED
by representatives Of IL Latin
American republics, which has
been meeting in Havana, has con-
tributed further to the fiction that
the United States is the CHIEF
stumbling block to the freedom
and independence of the subject
peoples of the Americas. Because
we have refused to participate IN
the gathering. the representative
of Guatemala and others have &C
cused us of running out on our
neiphbors, and lining up solldly
with the imperialists OF the Ola
world. -
But the Havana meetings have
also emphasized the social and po-
Iitical unrest, as we'll as the agita-
tion for more self-government
among the peoples of the Euro
mean colonies, not to mention the
strong desire of some of the Latin
American nations themselves to
control certain ones of them. In
fact, Argentina has openly de-
manded that Britain turn over the
falkland Islands to her, while
Guatemala and Mexico insist that
British Honduras be divided be-
tween them.
All of which has explosive and
dangerous potentialities, especially
when we consider the extent OF
these territories, their strategic
positions and the conglomerate So
cial and racial status OF their pop
ulations. A mere glance at the
map is enough to suggest that
Greenland, Bermuda, the Ba-
hamas. the West Indies, the Falk-
lands and others are to the Amer
lean continents what the Aleu-
tians, the Islands of Japan, For
mosa, the Philippines and Indo-
nesia are to the Asiatic continent
They are sentinels and outposts OF
the hemisphere. Whoever has
their friendship and cooperation
making possible the maintenance
of naval and air bases on them
controls the approaches to the
New World. This fact, of course
is the inspiration for the Com
munist propaganda being aimed in
their direction at the moment.
Ripe for Plucking
Besides, most of them are ripe
plums for the Communist basket
At least they are ideal targets for
Red propaganda. They present
the real race question of the West
ern Hemisphere. None of the Eu-
ropean territories is Spanish OF
Latin. Only in Puerto Rico is the
preponderance of the population
of Spanish descent. Ninety pei
cent of all the people of the Euro
pean-controlled territories are
Negroes, every one a descendant
of a former African slave, or ORR
entails who were brought over as
"indentured servants"
Trinidad and British and Dutch
Guiana take on an Oriental at
mosphere because of the great
number of Far Fasteners in
them. In recent years the Dutch
or Surinam, or Dutch Guiana
have brought over great numbers
of Javanese to work on the rice
and sugar cane plantations. The
British of Trinidad and British
Guiana imported thousands OF
Hindus and other East Indians, as
well as Chinese for similar pur-
poses. All of them have multi
piled rapidly. Among these peo-
Piles the new independence move
ments in India and Indonesia
along with the Communist sue
cesses In China. have produced
considerable unrest In recent
months.
Among the native poptIlations