Evening star., 1950-07-16

10 Improve 1CS inadequate LTauS-
portation system.
The Brazilian statesman, whose
genuine good will toward us goes
back to the days when he was
closely associated with Woodrow
Wilson and others in founding the
League of Nations, was voicing. in
the most diplomatic manner, the
deep sense of disappointment his
countrymen have come to feel
toward the United States, for what
they think is our economic neglect
Of them. 1t is not too much to
say that we have been losing the
historic friendship Of the Bra
lillian people.
At various times since the war,
the country has experienced in
fiation, grievous shortages Of man
ufactured goods, especially ma
chinery, lack of facilities to get
products to market and until re-
Gently. low prices on their princi-
pal crops. Brazil needs capital
to build railroads, highways, to
develop irrigation projects in the
arid northland, and very little has
been forthcoming from the great
Republic Of the North.
Most Of these difficulties may,
of course, be laid at the doors Of
their own ofiicials and leaders who
have raised discouraging barriers,
passed restrictive laws against and
otherwise failed to create a favor
able climate for foreign capital
and investment. Nevertheless,
justly or unjustly, the average
Brazilian blames us for many of
his problems.
Most Of this disappointment,
especially among the masses, has
been the result Of Communist
propaganda, some of it nurtured
by local small-time politicians.
Until outlawed in 1947. the Bra
lillian Communist Party was the
largest in the Americas. In the
presidential elections Of 1945 it
polled a half million votes, and
in the state and municipal elec-
tions of January. 1947. nearly
100000. When the Dutra admin
istration took action to suppress
it. the party had succeeded in
electing II representatives to
the Chamber Of Deputies, the
third largest party group in that
body. Its secretary general, Luis
Carlos Prestes, became an august
Senator, while 18 Of the so
members Of the City Council of
Rio de Janeiro itself were party
stalwarts. Though outlawed, few
of these people have been jailed
or deported. They are still
around, or disguised as members
of other parties and still active.
Poured Money Into Brazil
But a great portion Of the feel
ing of disappointment toward this
country is the result Of our own
prodigal actions and promises
during the last war, when we
literally poured hundreds Of mil
lions of dollars into Brazil. The
lavish expenditures by such war
time agencies as the Board Of
Economic Warfare and the famed
Rubber Reserve. later the Rubber
Development Corp. still seem like
episodes from the Arabian Nights.
We even bought up the entire
crop of Brazil nuts one year and
left most Of them to rot on the
docks Of Belem and Manaos. We
financed vast mining projects,
built scores Of elaborate flying
fields and advanced nearly $50
million to establish o steel in
dustry, and we promised that after
the war the country would con-
tinue to receive our whole hearted
financial and commercial assis-
tance.
However, when the war was
over we stopped buying Brizilian
minerals and metals. Thousands
Of people were suddenly thrown out
Of jobs. The sleepy old cities
Of the north slipped back into
poverty. Recife, the bustling
headquarters of our armed forces
during the critical submarine cam
paign in the South Atlantic, is
now one Of the principal centers
Of Communist activity.
Thousands of rubber workers
who were induced to go into the
Amazon Valley to gather latex
from the void trees were left
without means Of getting back
home. Some died of desease,
others Joined the poverty stricken
in the old river towns. You don't
hear much about any of this in
social circles In Rio, Sac Paulo or
the metropolitan and cosmopoli-
tan southland. But in Recife and
Natal, in Sac Luis. Maranhao and
Belem in the far north, you can
hear heart-rending stories Of all
these dark chapters in inter-
American relations.
Recently Brazilian disappoint-
ment hared into resentment when
Democratic Senator Gillette's con-
gressional committee condemned
Latin American coffee growers as
being largely responsible for ma
nipulating or otherwise helping
to hike coffee prices in this coun-
try during the past year and a
half. This meant. in effect, hold
ing the Brazilian growers respons-
ible for the high cost of our favor
ite breakfast beverage, since their
country is the principal source of
all coffee imported by us. The
Senator's condemnation struck
deeper than the growers, because
coffee is Brazil's money, its dollar
crop, its chief export and the
basis of its exchange and all its
trade with the outside world.
Never mind whether the Bra
lillian producers had much of a
hand in the rise of coffee prices.