Evening star., 1951-04-01

tIllllbTdLlOU dIlu IuTtIiGT tIlIGdIS
found it easy to convince our n,
immediate danger to their securi
Both President Truman an
their opening addresses, lahore
eloquently to inject a sense 9
emergency" into the proceeding
and to arouse the delegates to
feeling that dire peril hangs owe
the heads of all the peoples an
nations of the New World. Blu
their carefully fashioned phrase
about "embattled freedom" an
"the mortal threat" of Soviet com
munism were received with un
usual calm and composure.
Perhaps the real reason for thi
seeming lack of deep concern upol
the part of the Latins, is the ap
parent apathy they find on tn
subject in this country, and par
ticularly in washington. The for
leign ministers arrived in our Ma
tion's Capital to find the Congress
engrossed not in the Korean wa
or the Red peril, but in wide
spread crime at home-big-tim'
gambling, gangster participation
in State and national politics
charges of graft and profiteerinl
among high officials. Nor has j
escaped the distinguished visitor
that large portion Of the gen
eral public itself is more eager Il
read about the fantastic doing
and to view on television the an
tics of these hoodlums than it i
to read the dispatches about th'
bloody conflict and casualties IL
far-of Asia.
Convened Too Late?
Furthermore. they have found
few, If any, indications Of hard
ships or food shortages. such as
exist in many of their countries
and little or no evidence Of sacri-
fices on account of the war in the
Far East. Washington is jammeo
from all over the country. Res
taurants are packed not with
soldiers and war workers, but with
prosperous looking businessmen
On top of this, they read com
plants from Gen. Marshall
the Secretary of Defense, that the
Nation has lost interest in the
defense program.
AS one high official of the con-
ference explained, There has
been too great a lapse OF time
between the call for and the con-
vening of the meeting" Three
months ago, when the State De-
partment asked for the consulta-
tions, our fate in Korea seemed to
hang in the balance. It appeared
that the hordes of Communist
Chinese might oyerrun our forces
any day, and that Russia was get
ting ready for an attack on Yugo-
slavia or some other Western
European front. Today. some OF
the most reliable observers admit
that the Soviet Union has aban-
doned, or at least postponed, any
large scale military advances
against the West.
Another thing, in a purely hemi-
sphere conference, our own Gov
ernment has insisted upon the
necessity of aiding the other ma
tions of the world to resist the
Red peril. At least in their key
note speeches, both the President
and Secretary of State stressed
the Importance of supporting the
United Nations, and the opinion
that security here as well as
throughout the world depends
primarily upon the support al
countries give to the world or
ganization.
. ANY one familiar with Latir
American public opinion knows
that this strategy is not popu'
lar. Ever since World War I
there has been almost universe
disappointment among officials
and responsible leaders in all tht
republics to the south about wha'
they have felt was our complett
preoccupation with the problems
of the nations of Europe and else.
where to the exclusion of tht
other Americas. Worse still. thi
feeling upon the part of oul
neighbors has supplied the Com
munist propagandists in all O.
these countries with their chic.
rallying cry.
See No Peril Now
The average citizen of any Latir
American country is not unaware
of the fact that while we have
extended such enormous sums O
money to the European countrie
to rehabilitate and aid them il
resisting communism, very fev
of them have sent more thar
token forces to fight with our
In Korea. The officials in mos
of the countries will co-operat,
willingly in strengthening th'
common defenses of this hemi
sphere, but good many will re
sist sending forces anywhere over
seas. Nor is it easy for tn
workingr1an in Brazil or Colombo;
to understand our anxiety abou
communism in the Americas whel
he has heard that in spite of ou
material aid to France and Italy
large contingents of Communis
Party representatives still sit il
their legislative halls. They know
as we'll as we that the Reds hav
the largest single party group il
the French Parliament.
Even some of the most conserva
lively spoken of the Latin dele
gates think it strange that W
find so little significance in wha
they have already done to rou
the Reds. They still remind u
that Is of the 20 nations to tn
south of us have outlaWed a.