Evening star., 1951-04-01

ASAHOAo taidb gllClC ID dAly grave W
" from across the seas.
Secretary of State Acheson, il
Iconfronted with and worried abou
,local economic emergencies. In
lf1ation. high prices, shortages o,
I foods and other necessities ar
serious problems with most o.
4 them. While our officials are urg.
sling the Latin leaders to widel
participation in the physical re.
'lsistance to Communist aggres.
sion, they insist that the greatest
danger to this hemisphere lies ir
1.-THE economic DEFICIENCIES of theil
Irrespective countries.
What They Need
/ Top officials in the United
States do not seem to appreciate
the fact that in rural Mexico, the
iImountain and jungle areas ot
Peru and Ecuador, as well as ir
Northern Brazil and others, there
Iare hundreds of thousands o1
people who have never had enough
to eat, never lived in a house
never worn a factory-made shoe
Except for airplanes, modern
transportation in many of these
nations is almost non-exiStent
In several of them food crops &c
to waste within 200 miles of great
metropolitan centers because OF
Hack of. means of getting them to
the markets.
One of the chief Brazilian dele
gates summed 1t all up by saying
I'VE need more plows and trac-
tors, instead of more guns and
warships. We not only need dol
liar loans but greater production
and larger flow of goods be-
tween countries. With more pro-
duction of goods and the means
of getting them to our own and
the markets Of the world, our
living standards will begin to rise.
but we must have machinery and
tools with which to do this. II
you can grant credits. allocate
agricultural and industrial ma
lchinery, we will produce more,
raise our buying power and sup
lply you with more of the things
you need. AS I see it," he said,
agricultural machinery. ma
Ichinery for small factories and
plants, the development of more
electrical power. more transporta-
tion facilities, all these things will
be more effective as a means of
defending our countries from
communism than a greatly ex-
fpanded arms program.
This, like other conferences, has
already been surfeited with talk
about Individual and personal
Freedom, but almost no one so far
has dared to speak out against the
denial of freedom and the rights
|of the individual in so many of
1.-THE countries of this hemisphere
where dictators and strong arm
governments hold sway. Even
while the conference is in session
Peron of Argentina goes relent-
lessly on snuffing out whatever
freedom remained in that once en-
| Ilightened nation.
Miffed at Argentina
He has now made it perfectly
plain that he intended all the
time to take over bodily and con.
flscate the great independent
newspaper, La Prensa, and to de
away with a free press and free.
dom of speech in his country. Al
another slap in the face of this
country, he suspended for severa
days the local Voice of Americs
programs. With bombast anC
efrontery he has sought to bully
the hemisphere with atomic
threats. Yet no one so far has hat
the temerity to express alarm over
much less to condemn, such be-
havior on the part of a member
of the American family of nations
which is a party to all the pacts
and treaties Of the Organization ol
American States.
One of the sore points amone
Argentina'S neighbors is the fac
that heretofore it has not seemed
necessary to cooperate with thu
United States in order to receive
favors from it. The Brazilians anc
others still do not see the logic ir
lending Peron $125 million purely
for the purpose of paying pas
debts to this country. In plan.
ming the $50 million arms program
now being discussed by our owl
officials. it is hoped that we vii
be more realistic than we have
been in the past, and withhold new
equipment from any who do no
give specific and active support te
the common defense of the hemi.
sphere. Our recent sale of tws
cruisers to Argentina, as wen a.
to Brazil and Chile, has met with
considerable criticism.
In supplying two each to thu
three countries, it was the purpose
Iof Washington to maintain the
present parity and at the same
time help to strengthen the prin.
cipal naval powers of the South
American continent. Actually, &C.
cording to the Brazilians, we de.
stroyed whatever parity existed
They point out that Argentina no
only failed to participate in The
last war, but lost no ships of an,
kind. Brazil, on the other hand
not only sent an army overseas
but her navy helped battle Hitler
submarines in the South Atlantic
and numbers of her warcraft wert
torpedoed and sunk. Thus, we hav,
T. l.