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University Daily Kansan Monday, April 23.1956.
Sen. Symington's Hopes Dim
With Sen. Estes Kefauver (D.-Tenn.) gaining more and more support in his bid for the Democratic Presidential nomination, the darkhorse candidate of Missouri, Stuart Symington, is going to find it harder to get votes.
Sen. Symington has used his position as chairman of the Senate committee to investigate national defense as a means of publicity for his campaign.
However, several things have happened to take him out of the spotlight on this issue, or at least to decrease the amount of headline material he may get from investigating the present defense policy.
The first thing to hurt Sen. Symington was the "administration's decision to ask Congress for $550 million more for defense, mainly to hasten production of long-range B-52 jet bombers."
The decision beat Sen. Symington to the punch, since he had planned to ask the same thing and benefit from the resulting publicity.
Sen. Symington also expected to gain favorably by an attack on the government's progress in guided missiles. However, here again the administration anticipated his move and appointed Eger V. Murphree to head the missile program and to see that the program gets moving.
A third factor against Sen. Symington is that he is not alone by far in his attacks upon the government's defense policy. Former Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Trevor Gardner (he resigned in February) has blasted both the administration and Secretary of Defense Charles Wilson. In face of the rapid growth of Red air power, Mr. Gardner says "Wilson reflects the same complacency in the Pentagon that provoked Gen. Billy Mitchell's revolt against the defense planners of his time."
The final factor against Sen. Symington is his party's own campaign issue of cutting the budget. Economy is a natural election year issue, and the Democrats are putting the Republicans on the defensive, just as the Republicans would
have done to them if the situation were reversed.
The administration is caught in the middle. Those gravely concerned about reports that Russia is daily surpassing our production of planes and ballistic missiles charge that our Air Force is becoming "second best." They say the government is being "dollar-wise and time-foolish." Then Sen. Symington follows it up with charges that the present defense policy is not doing the best job possible. Yet, the Democrats say they favor a budget decrease.
The Democrats will have trouble fitting these two planks on the same platform.
—Louis Stroup Jr.
..Short Ones..
The sorry aspect of the Grace Kelly news items isn't that the newspapers are printing them but that the subscribers aren't objecting to the "world tipping" events being publicized.
—Ray Wingerson
With the Democrats accusing Ike with a do-nothing administration, they might relabel his middle-of-the-road program as one of the shoulder-of-the-road.
European autos have always surpassed American models. Now they come equipped with T-bar extensions from the hub-caps to cut down pedestrian near-misses.
Professors are losing their academic touch. Any how they almost seemed to be socially acceptable.
From the way women drive on highways. Ike's middle-of-the-road program should have high appeal for them.
We bid that the "reckless" in reckless driving be changed to "wreckmore."
Some Of The Problems Of Central America
One of the bloodiest revolutions this hemisphere has ever seen occurred in Guatemala in 1944 when that country overthrew its dictatorial government. Today, 12 years later, a revolt there seems nearly impossible.
About three months ago, Guatemala put the finishing touches on a new public-order law in its constitution. Under the law, the president of the country, when faced by the mildest disturbance, can dissolve political parties, order troops to fire on demonstrators, permit police to enter homes without warrants and force newspapers to accept censorship or shut down.
Many protests arose toward the president's new powers, but nevertheless when the vote was taken, the law passed 27-12.
Guatemala is one of the five Central American countries which K. H. Silvert, American Universities Field Staff expert, will talk about during his visit to the University this week. The others are Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Costa Rica.
Because of Central America's importance as a frontier zone between North America and Latin America, the United States is greatly concerned with the five countries to the south of Mexico for economic and strategic reasons. In fact, U.S. concern has led to invocation of the Monroe Doctrine.
Strong dictators, ruled Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras when those countries entered World War II. Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras went into revolution following the war, seemingly to become democracies. Nicaragua remained, and still is under the dictator, Anastasio Sormoza.
Dictators In Power
Honduras appears to be in the most uncertain situation today, since its president gained office only because no one else could get a clear electoral majority.
El Salvador has become a strong progressive country after having a "moderately leftist government" for a short time.
Following its liberation from dictator Jorge Ubico, Guatemala jeered the U.S. and considered going to Communism. But the 1944
uprising brought forth the ideals which have stood up, even with the present government, which came into power in June 1954. Industrialization is now being stressed, with increased social services and democratic practices.
Costa Rica had the latest revolution of the Middle Americans, in 1948. It wasn't a bloody revolt like Guatemala's, but it was just as effective. The revolutionists banished the Communists and guaranteed continuance of constitutional rule. Costa Rica changed presidents in 1953, and suffered an invasion from Nicaragua in 1955.
Democracy In Costa Rica
These countries revolted and gained their independence from Spain in 1821, but that in itself didn't lead to nationalism. The revolutionists were undecided whether to affiliate, with Mexico, to establish a confederation, or go along under the rule of a representative assembly.
Guatemala is the most heavily populated, the most important, and most influential country, and has been since colonial time when Spain controlled what are now the five Central, or Middle American republics.
ODECA's only important political action came in 1953 when El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica joined to condemn the exportation of pro-Communist propaganda from Guatemala. Guatemala withdrew its membership temporarily, but rejoined when Col. Castillo Armas took over as president from Jacobo Arbenz.
The Organization of American States turned back the invaders and thus insured Costa Rica to remain one of two clearly democratic countries in the Caribbean region. Mexico is the other.
They tried all three, with the Central American Federation being the most successful. The federation lasted from 1824 to 1838. They then remained separated until 1915 when they joined The Organization of Central American States (ODECA).
Cultural progress has been achieved by ODECA through scholarships, a University Council and annual meetings of newspapermen.
Honduras and Nicaragua have about 59,000 and 57,000 square miles respectively, but Guatemala, with 42,000 square miles, has more people than both of them combined, about $3\frac{1}{2}$ million. Costa Rica is the smallest of the five in both area and population. It has 800,875 people spread over 19,238 square miles, or about one-fourth the size of Kansas.
It also has aided economic relations by promoting free trade with neighbors,by establishing an economic advisory council and by recommending treaties to make migration easier.
An agricultural economy prevails in each of the five countries. In Guatemala alone, 75 per cent of the active population is engaged in agriculture. None of the countryside as a whole are well off economically, food and poor and much of the working land is in mountainous areas.
However, Guatemala apparently is not waiting for ODECA to raise its economic standards, since the new Congress which went into effect in March called for a five-year $250 million economic development program.
Guatemala Moves Ahead
Guatemala's population is over half Indian; El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras predominantly inhabit the north and Costa, Hica, mostly European.
Income is concentrated in the hands of a small part of the population, so there are some very wealthy persons and many more very poor ones.
All are banana countries, but coffee is the major export and money crop in Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador. Other Middle American crops are corn, beans, rice, vegetables, sugar, meat and dairy products, which are exported as well as consumed within the country.
The U.S. is the principal market for Central American exports. In 1951 Central America republics exported $297 million to the U.S. and in turn imported $329 million. Stoppage of this mutual reliance upon the other would hurt both extensively.
CAR TUNES
-Kent Thomas
The 164-mile Garden State Parkway of New Jersey was the top highway in the nation from a safety standpoint in 1955. Although 38,000,000 vehicles used the road, there were just 10 traffic fatalities.
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It's Spring!
We saw two bluebirds Saturday. They had just returned from a warmer climate. Your car, though, had to fight the winter weather.
Now that spring is here, it would be wise to have your battery and lubrication checked so that you can enjoy warm weather trips in a car that is ready.
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Class of '57
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support in the general election last Wednesday. Those of us who have been selected as your Senior Class officers shall attempt to administer our duties in such a way as to realize a very successful year.
We would at any time welcome suggestions that would be of benefit to the class. Let's all join together to assure that our class be a class that is long remembered.
Richard Billings