Evening star., 1951-05-06

cruoe ana unaDaShed expansions
days Of his regime, had beer
noticeably absent. In fact, he hac
been so occupied with serious
economic problems which actual.
ly threatened his own government
that he had had little time te
think about international policies
or to engage in pressuring other
governments to go along with him
Due to extravaganza and poor
management of the nations
finances. the big gold balances &C
cumulated during the last war,
including over half a billion dol
lars In this country, had dwindled
away. Markets in the European
countries had practically disap-
peared because of a lack of dollars
or any other currency with which
to pay for Argentine grains and
meat. Later bumper wheat crops
In this country. Canada and else
where made it impossible to sell
that product to the old world
under the Marshall Plan.
Low prices paid to local farm
ers and ranchers for agricultural
products and live stock, along with
government control of all produc-
ton as well as imports and ex-
ports, cut down the nations out
put. Arbitrarily high wages which
the government compelled busi-
ness to pay labor, and a hundred
and one other interferences with
industry and commerce, had
brought Argentina to the brink of
bankruptcy.
1t must be admitted that when
Peron eventually realized the
plight that confronted him he
fired a lot of impractical and
grating officials and put fairly
competent men in their places.
Fortunately. decisive action at
home was followed by the gradual
improvement of European econo-
mics, with a consequent increase
in the buying power and ability
Of most of the countries to pay for
grain, vegetable oils and other
food products. All this along
with a timely windfall, in the
form of a $125 million loan, or
credit" from the Export Import
Bank, helped to save the situation.
Throwing Weight Around
Now. thanks to the Korean con-
flict. the menacing possibility of
a third world war, and the neces-
sity of vast new arms program
for the entire Western world,
bringing unlimited demands for
food and all manner of raw ma
terials, not to mention the sky
rocketing of prices, Argentina as
In all wars and great International
emergencies, is again on easy
street economically. Therefore,
like the totalitarian dictators he
is won't to emulate, Peron is once
more asserting himself and throw
ing his weight around.
According to one high diplomat
at the recent Foreign Ministers
Conference here in Washington,
apparently he is reverting to some
of his former techniques. I'm
some instances" this official told
me, "he is resorting to yelled
threats and intimidation. Again
he is not only flattering other
strong-arme rulers and playing
up to ambitious reactionary politi-
clans but there is evidence that
he is subsidizing certain news
papers and supporting extreme
rightest groups in several coun-
tries"
On April 6, toward the end
of the Washington meeting, the
dictator put on a spectacular
demonstration of Argentina's mil
itary might. Ostensibly the dem
onstration, a spectacular review
of the armed forces. was in honor
of Prince Bernhard of the Meth
erlands, who was visiting in
Buenos Aires at the time. But
apparently the chief purpose of
the occasion was the unveiling of
an Argentine manufactured jet
plane, known as Pulqui-2, for
the benefit of the diplomats and
military attaches from other
countries accredited to the Argen-
tine capital. Government state
ments claimed that the plane
was flown 945 kilometers an hour.
Meantime many people inter-
preted the unprecedented reti-
cense of the Argentine delegation
at the foreign ministers meeting
as a new sign of agreeableness
and collaboration. But the state
ments made by DR.. Jesus Paz,
Argentine Minister of Foreign At
fairs, upon his return home, in
dicates that in military matters
Argentina will. as in the past,
maintain her traditional neutral
ity. DR.. Paz pointed out that
Argentina had registered excep-
tions to all the military proposals
at the conference, and particu-
larly emphasized what he called,
'the reservations maintained by
the delegation on the use nf
her troops outside the country's
boundaries.
Neighboring Dictators Confer
Recently several important po-
litical leaders from border coun-
tries have been sitting at the feet
of the boss of the Pompa country,
apparently with the intention of
working in close harmony with him
if fortune should smile upon their