Evening star., 1951-03-04

lity between Rio and Washington
explain, "in Brazil I am opposed
to the use of violence as a means
of combating it. I em convinced
that the best manner of confront
ing it is that of elevating the
standard of living Of our working
classes. This we will do by means
of a huge program of social
assistance. We must lower the
cost of living. guarantee more
reasonable wages and salaries.
provide more humane conditions
of housing, health and education.
and increase production"
Propaganda Continues
AS the official candidate of the
Labor Party. the burden of his re-
cent campaign has been the nt-
cessity of improving the lot of in-
dustrial and agricultural workers. :
but he had seldom stressed such
measures as means of fighting
the Red menace. Actually" he
told me, there is no deeply rooted ;
conviction to Communist princi-
pies here. What appears to some
as Communist tendencies IN
Brazil is simply a reaction and a
protest against the poor living
conditions to which so many OF
our people are subjected, and
which Communist prapagandists
are exploiting"
To an outsider this may seem
a little strange in view of the
fact that until late in 1947 Brazil
had the largest Communist Party
in the New World. In the 1946
general elections it cast nearly
100000 votes and elected the third
largest block of Communist rep !
resentatives to the Federal Cham y
ber of Deputies. But it must be
pointed out that since then. The
party as a political organization
has been outlawed by Congress.
although the head of the party.
Luis Carlos Prestes, is still at
large. apparently somewhere in
Brazil.
AS to exact measures for i'm
proving the working conditions OF
the masses, carrying out housing
projects, extending sorely needed
educational facilities and develop
ing the great natural resources.
neither Vargas nor his spokesmen
have so far been very definite.
State Official There
President Vargas has said that
there must be reductions in gov
ernment spending and has called
for a slash in n~the federal budget
of billion cruzeiros, or about $50
million. At the same time there
will be no sudden decrease in the
number of government. employees.
Almost nobody is in favor of high
er income taxes. which are very
low in comparison to those i'm
posed by almost every other coun-
try. It is the frank opinion OF
the majority Of our people resi-
dent in Brazil that present restric-
tions on United States investors
are such that unless greatly liber-
allied, comparatively little more
private capital is likely to come in.
Samuel Wainer, the Brazilian
newspaperman closest to the
President, indicates that WASH
ington is sin the mood" to take a
hand in large-scale assistance.
Assistant Secretary of State Ed
ward G. Miller has spent five days
in the Brazilian capital during
which he conferred with PreSi-
dent Vargas and others. Before
his arrival, Wainer predicted that
Miller would conduct direct ne
gotiations with President Vargas
on a joint program of economic.
political and military cooperation
between the two countries"
When questioned on the subject
Of just how future United States
loans and investments might be
handled. President Vargas was
extremely guarded in his reply.
"a mixed Brazilian United States
commission, he said, sis soon to
begin study Of the question, and
will work out q plan for Brazil's
recuperation. This country has
more than one economic problem
and it needs United States CO.
operation to solve them"
Investment Problem
When I pointed out Brazil's tre-
mendous resources in iron ore.
manganese and other strategic
minerals and metals, and the great
need for them in carrying out the
present extensive military pro-
gram both in the United States
and other countries, he agreed
that there is one of the ways in
which economic collaboration be-
VWCCA4 OlIC GWO OOullOk 1C0 COulO UC
effective, and I believe that it will
be possible"
Asked specifically whether in.
vestments in these enterprises
could be made directly with pri-
vate American companies operat-
ing on their own. or whether it
would be necessary for them to
operate through Brazilian COM
panies, with Brazilians in charge.
as has been the practice in recent
years, he insisted that there.
should not be any serious difficult
ties" but added that investments
would have to be made according
to Brazilian laws" r.
AS some of our best-informed
businessmen, with long experience
In Brazil, see it, that is the prob
lem. Present Brazilian laws pro-
vide, In effect, that all rights to
subSol resources, meaning oil,
iron ore and other mineral and
-