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Summer Session Kansan Tuesday, June 21, 1960
Peru Offers Wide Contrast of Societies
(Editor's note: This is the first of a series of reports intended to present the continuing picture of developments in countries south of the United States.)
LIMA, Peru—(UPI)Two-thirds of Peru's population is threadbare, landless, hungry, desperate.
Yet, in this "City of Kings," jewel of the ancient Peruvian land, glasses tinkle pleasantly in the sleek, cool atmosphere of the pavilion and the Bolivar.
Gleaming cars glide along the fine boulevards. A richly-dressed woman passes by. From luxurious hotel rooms, the sweep of Lima stretches to the white beach and the Pacific beyond.
This is the face of Peru, a face that radiates princely opulence, noble heritage, walled security. A proud face that recalls the once-great power wielded by Peru on the continent.
There are other faces. A woman
shuffles along a dusty street in Puno to the northeast, a land of aching want. She begs you to pay her 27 cents for her baby. These are Indians (Campesinos), the have-nots.
In a time when unrest in under-developed areas stirs the world, Peru struggles to solve the age-old problem of the elite and the poor, those who live grandly in the haciendas and those who sweat and die scratching a living out of the steaming jungle.
Communist agitators are at work exploiting the wants of the many by pointing to the plenty of the few.
Tension rose last summer when Peru was threatened by economic disaster. Peru's currency was deteriorating rapidly. The treasury was nearly without funds. The world price of lead, copper and zinc were falling. Strikes averaging one a week swept across the country in 1959. Investors pulled out.
Demonstrators clashed with police and truncheons smashed faces in Plaza San Martin. Mounted police lined the streets. Peasants buried their dead.
President Manuel Prado, faced with the possibility of a military junta taking over the government, turned to one of his harshest critics, Pedro Beltran, for help.
Beltran, stern advocate of hard money and free enterprise, took over as Prime Minister and Finance Minister in a desperate move by the shaky government to win back investor confidence.
His most dramatic move was the drafting of an industrial promotion law that promised tax concessions and future tariff protection to investors.
Each measure under his getough program took a little more of the wobble out of Peru's economy. The currency stabilized, but unrest and trouble continued.
At 6 a.m. last May 13, a Friday,
a strike began and paralyzed the
nation for 24 hours. Construction workers stayed home. Streetcars stood idle and buses stopped. The city was still. Heavy forces of police roamed the streets on the outlook for trouble.
Beltran appeared on television and said that the cost of living had flattened and predicted that it would drop further. He added that the government was giving serious thought to agrarian reform and housing.
While Beltran talked, rumors spread that he would resign voluntarily next July 25, his first anniversary in office. Some students opposed to his stringent economic moves clamored for his instant ouster.
Earthquakes, landslides, floods and drought also have dealt their share of misery to this country of 9.295.000.
A strong quake snows Arequipa this year. The United States rushed food, clothing and medical aid into the area. Despite such acts
of mercy, anti-United States feeling abounds in Peru.
"You miss the boat," a Liberal said. "Underline a real freedom when dealing with Communist-lullabied Indians. Freedom from hunger."
U. S.-Ambassador Selden Chapin says the United States is combating Red influence under the point-four program, bringing in seeds, agricultural know-how and subsidizing credit in loans as low as $1.50. But it's regarded as a holding action at best.
Chapin says the United States does not regard communism as a major menace in Peru yet, but a critical situation could arise from the reported arms smuggling and agitation around Lake Titicaca in Puno near the Bolivian border.
Beltran's emphasis on sound finance appears to be paving the way for future development in the fields of housing, education and agriculture.
Health Care Benefits Pass $5 Billion Mark
But time is vital
NEW YORK—(UPI) Americans received an average of more than $14 million a day in benefits from health insuring organizations in 1959 to help offset the cost of medical bills and replace income lost through disability.
The Health Insurance Institute reported that insurance companies, Blue Cross — Blue Shield and other health care plans paid out a total of $5175000.00 in benefits last year.
The figures were disclosed by the institute today in releasing results of the Health Insurance Council's 14th annual survey of the extent of voluntary health insurance coverage in the United States.
In 1958, 123 million persons had health insurance, and benefits totaled nearly $4.7 billion.
The number of Americans covered by some form of health insurance at the end of 1959 totaled 127,896,000. Both the coverage and benefit figures were new highs, according to the institute.
James R. Williams, institute vice president, said the figures were evidence of "sustained growth" by voluntary health insuring groups. He added:
"The decade just closed often has
Scholarship Given To Kansas City Girl
Dora Lee Kelley, a 1960 graduate of Wvandotte High School, has been awarded the Dowdal H. Davis memorial Scholarship to attend KU during the 1960-61 school year.
The $250 award is an endowed scholarship in honor of the late Mr. Davis, for many years editor and manager of the Kansas City Call, and a KU graduate.
The scholarship also allows the recipient to live in a scholarship hall while attending the University. Under this arrangement, a student's room and board is reduced about $300 through a cooperative work program within the living group.
Miss Kelley plans to study home economics at KU.
ANSWER TO PUZZLE
been called the 'Fabulous Fifties' and that is a fit description for the record compiled during the period of health insurance.
"From the beginning of 1950 to the end of 1959, the number of persons with health insurance virtually doubled, climbing from 66 million to nearly 128 million. Over the same period, benefits have more than quintupled, going from $957 million to almost $5.2 billion."
Williams said there also has been growth in the breadth of coverage. In addition to the nearly 128 million persons who have insurance against the cost of hospital bills, some 117 million now have insurance that helps pay for surgical bills, compared to only 41 million in 1949.
Eighty-two million persons also have coverage that pays for doctor visits for non-surgical care, compared to less than 17 million in 1949. Williams said.
And, 43 million wage earners were insured against the loss of income at the end of 1959, 10 million more than a decade before.
"When the decade of the '40's ended." Williams said, "the first major medical insurance plan had just gone into operation. Now, about 22 million persons have this broad form of protection against prolonged illness."
Major medical insurance provides benefits ranging as high as $10,000 or $15,000 for all areas of care prescribed by a physician, including care in and out of a hospital, charges for private duty nursing, drugs and medical appliances.
Army Puts New Tank Into Tests
Just a Step off the Campus for all your Beauty Needs
FORT KNOX, Ky.—(UPI)—The M60 tank, mounted with a 105 mm gun, is undergoing tests at the U.S. Armored Center here.
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One of the tank's new distinguishable features is a hump on the gun tube which is called the "hore evacuator." Its purpose is to draw gas and smoke from the end of the gun after firing, preventing the fumes from entering the turret.
Slated to become the Army's first line armored vehicle, it is constructed of aluminum as well as conventional steel.
The M60 is equipped with a 105 mm British manufactured gun. Its weight of approximately 52 tons is about the same as its predecessor, the M48 tank. A marked advantage of the M60 is its 350-mile cruising range, a distinct increase over the 160-185 range of the M48..
A 12 cylinder turbo-charged, diesel engine supplies the power to drive the vehicle about 32 miles an hour.
The tests which the M60 has undergone here include cruising range, maximum speed, acceleration, maneuverability, water fording and sustained operations under battlefield conditions, both day and night.
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Visiting Scientist Wants Buzz About Bee Nests
Could you show me the local bumblebee hangout?
The questioner is Domiciano Dias, a Brazilian scientist who is studying in the University's eniomology department under a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. Dias, who is on leave from the University of São Paulo School of Agriculture, is perhaps the first person to have studied in detail the biology of bumblebees in the tropics.
Now he needs bumblebee materials specifically bumblebee nests from this climate to compare with his tropical materials.
He is interested in the location of such nests and can be reached at KU extension 515. Don't send him the nest, however. In the interest of science, it is necessary that Dias remove the nest himself.
Dr. Charles D. Michener, chairman of the department of entomology and Watkins distinguished professor at KU, with whom Dias is studying, says the simplest sign of
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a bumblebee nest is "it's the place the bumblebee goes in or comes out.
Dias, who became acquainted with Dr. Michener when the latter spent a year at the University of Curitiba, seeks answers to basic information such as the mechanisms that cause some bees to become workers and others queens.
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