ganize themselves voluntarily to cooperate with a Latin State and its people in building a better life.

Since this program was originated about a year ago, 25 of our States have allied themselves with 25 countries or subdivisions of these countries in Latin America. Though technically a part of the Alliance for Progress, the partners of the Alliance receive no financial support from the Federal Government but depend solely on contributions of time, money, and knowledge from individuals, business, fraternal, and civic organizations, women's clubs, school groups, and anyone else willing to lend a hand.

My own State of Maryland is the partner of the State of Rio de Janeiro. This State, while not including the famous city of Rio, comprises a land area half again as large as Maryland but a population nearly equal. The Maryland Partners for the Alliance was organized last fall with headquarters at 10 North Charles Street, Baltimore. This group of volunteers now includes 40 leading citizens from Maryland, organized and directed under the leadership of Mr. Albert Berney, president of Hamburgers, and Mr. Julian Stein of Potomac, Md.

Our two officers and the associate superintendent of Baltimore City schools, Dr. Vernon Vavrina, spent 10 days in Rio last November talking with the members of the Rio Partners Committee and planning specific forms of cooperation and assistance.

These men returned to Maryland to put their new understanding and their joint planning to work for Maryland's sister. The success of the Maryland Partners of the Alliance for Progress in interesting the citizens of Maryland in specific projects of benefit to citizens of our sister State has been unprecedented. The story is an exciting one.

is expected to be developed between these is expected to be developed between these two universities.

The health committee of the Maryland Partners of the Alliance, headed by Dr. Matthew Tayback, deputy commissioner of health for Baltimore City, has also initiated an number of programs and is now attempting to raise the $1,000 to provide a water supply for a clinic in the fishing village of Saquarema. Funds are also needed for the equipment of several hospitals which the Maryland team visited last fall.

A technical assistance committee of the Maryland partners is aiding a rural electrification project for the entire State of Rio.

They expect to receive assistance from the rural electric cooperatives in southern Maryland in furthering their effort.

Additional efforts are being made to interest local Kiwanis, Rotary, and other civic and service clubs in sponsoring activities of assistance to Rio. A number of Marylanders have been spending part or all of the summer in the State of Rio and have helped to spur the program as well as getting a better mutual understanding between the States. Included are a group of Maryland Boy Scouts who attended a jamboree in Rio, a professor from the University of Maryland, and two high school students. Plans are underway to bring students from Rio to Maryland during the winter. The St. Vincent de Paul Society has cooperated in sending money down for a school sponsored by the St. Vincent de Paul group in Rio.

A cultural exchange committee of the Maryland partners is now making plans for a Brazilian Trade Fair to be held in Baltimore.

Mr. President, these are only a few of the efforts at international cooperation being made by the Maryland partners. In order that my colleagues in the Senate and citizens of other States may understand and become interested in this program, I ask unanimous consent that the recent article from the Baltimore Sun entitled "Maryland Peace Corps in South America," be printed at this point in the RECORD.

thing people in Maryland know of, or probably can even imagine. The misery is deep.

ods are old-fashioned and farming equipment is primitive. In some villages there is not even an adequate water supply.

There are farms in Rio, but farming meth

NOT ENOUGH SCHOOLS

of them. There are roads, but many of them turn into impassable quagmires when it rains, and in numerous places there are no bridges where there should be bridges.

There are schools in Rio, but not enough

But just last November a group of Marylanders in Rio suggested to a farming community a simple solution to what had seemed an impossible problem. As a result, the their products to market again. farmers were able to build a bridge, and take

More recently, school children from nine Baltimore public schools held dances, parties, bake sales and other activities and raised $1,000 for building a schoolhouse in a Rio slum where the illiteracy rate is staggering.

It might not sound like much, but $1,000 will do a lot more in Brazil than it will in the United States. For between $800 and $1,200 a one-room schoolhouse, capable of accommodating up to 80 children a day, can

be built.

Also this year, $1,000 was raised by Marylanders to provide equipment for a school in Niteroi, the capital and largest city of the state of Rio (population 245,000).

GROUPS OF PRIVATE CITIZENS

All these projects to help the people of Rio-and these are only the beginning have been accomplished by groups of private citizens in Maryland. The projects are part of a program known as the Maryland Partners of the Alliance.

Apart of the Alliance for Progress partners of the alliance is a program in which the people of various States organize to help a state or country of Latin America.

Since the program was originated about a year ago, 25 States in this country have allied

themselves with 25 countries or subdivisions

of countries in Latin America.

Partners committees have just begun to tap their communities at numerous levels for means to improve the education, health, and living standards of their Latin American partners.

Texas' partner is Peru. Utah's partner is Bolivia. Connecticut's partner is the State of Paraiba in Brazil. And Maryland's part

ner is the State of Rio.

design was then approved by the two States.

School children from Baltimore public schools held dances, parties, bake sales, and other activities to raise money to build schoolhouses in depressed areas where the illiteracy rate is staggering. Already money has been sent to the partners committee in Rio for the erection of four schools and for furnishing school supplies and equipment.

During the recent spring two Rio citizens spent 3 weeks touring schools in the Baltimore areas and speaking about their country. This resulted in an additional $1,100 donation for the construction of a school.

The University of Maryland student government responded to this visit by raising $300 for books for the University of Rio and a student exchange program

There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,

as follows:

1965]

ALLIANCE PARTNERS-MARYLAND'S "PEACE CORPS" IN SOUTH AMERICA

(By John Dorsey)

A subdivision of the

The State of Rio de Janeiro is like Marynation of Brazil, as Maryland is a subdivision land in a lot of ways. of the United States, it borders but does not include the more famous city of Rio, as Maryland borders Washington.

Its land area is half again as large as Maryland's (16,000 square miles to 10,000 square miles) but its population is almost the same (3,400,000 for Rio to 3,100,000 for Maryland). (3,400,000 for Rio to 3,100,000 for Maryland).

it has a big steel-producing plant in Volta The population of Rio is largely urban, and Redonda, one of its principal cities. Both Rio and Maryland border on the Atlantic and both have long stretches of shoreline on principal bodies of water.

There are slums in Rio cities, as there are in our cities. There they are called favelas. But slums there are much worse than any

Rio was chosen as Maryland's partner because of similarities of geography, population, and industry. The climate is somewhat warmer-more like that of Florida.

Despite conditions that are far below those in the United States, Rio is by no means

America.

DEPENDS ON CONTRIBUTIONS

Though technically a part of the Alliance for Progress, Partners of the Alliance receives no financial support from the Federal Government. The Maryland Partners program either. It depends solely on contributions receives no State or local government funds, of time, money, and knowledge from individuals, businesses, fraternal and civic organizations, women's clubs, school groupsanyone willing to lend a hand.

The Maryland Partners, headed by Albert Berney, president of Hamburgers, was organized last fall, with headquarters at 10 North Charles Street. Its first task was to send a

team to Rio to see conditions there.

Mr. Berney, Dr. Vernon Vavrina, associate superintendent of the Baltimore City Schools, and Julian Stein, secretary of the Maryland Partners, spent 10 days in Rio last November. Escorted by members of the Rio partners committee, the men visited towns.

"We were most impressed by the warmth of the people and the really fantastic reception they gave us. They are particularly devoted to the memory of President Kennedy,"

Mr. Berney says.

The Maryland team got the partners program off to an early start by suggesting satisfactory solutions to local problems on two occasions. One resulted in construction of the bridge mentioned earlier, and the other eliminated a fishing village's tidal drainage problem.

"We realized from our trip that the most critical need of the people was in the area of education," Mr. Berney recalls. "The average age of the population of Rio is 15. (That of the United States is about 30.) There is no shortage of teachers, but in many places there are no schools.

"There is supposed to be compulsory education through the fourth grade, but about half the children who are supposed to be getting an education aren't even in school. The illiteracy rate in the State is 40 percent. PLAN ONE-ROOM SCHOOLHOUSE

"As a result of our visit, plans were drawn up for a one-room schoolhouse to cost no more than $1,200. Schoolhouses constructed to these plans can be erected easily in any town. They can hold 20 to 30 children apiece. With shifts, as many as 80 might be accommodated every day."

When the Maryland team returned, the partners were increased, and special committees were set up to deal with specific areas, including education, health, and technical assistance.

The Maryland partners now include about 40 leading ciitzens, including Senator BREWSTER, William Boucher 3d, executive director of the Greater Baltimore Committee; Dr. Martin Jenkins, president of Morgan State College; and Charles Parkhurst, director of the Baltimore Museum of Art.

So far, the partners committees have been most concerned with organization. But some projects have been begun, and many others are in the planning stage.

"We are off to a good start," Mr. Berney says. "We have had a particularly good response from school students in the Baltimore area. I hope we can expand our efforts to the counties now, and get our other committees under way on their projects."

Mr. Berney, and Dr. Vavrina, chairman of the education committee, toured Baltimore schools in the spring, giving illustrated talks on Rio and the partners program.

TOURS SCHOOLS IN BALTIMORE

During the spring two members of the Rio partners committee, Durval Goncalves and Ronald Hees, spent 3 weeks touring schools in the Baltimore area, speaking on conditions in Rio.

One result was the stimulation of programs to raise money, which resulted in the $1,100 donation to build a school.

The University of Maryland student government responded to the program's call by raising $300 for purchasing books for the University of Rio. A student exchange program is being developed between the two universities.

Because Rio is on the other side of the Equator, its summer comes during our winter, and its school year extends from March to November. Under the University of Maryland exchange program, Maryland students will go to Rio during the summer months,

when their schools are in session.

In addition to studying, the Maryland students will help members of the University of Rio in their program of assistance to favelas. "In effect" says Dr. Vavrina, "we will be establishing a Maryland Peace Corps." There is also a plan for 4-H members to live and work on Rio farms.

"I hope that in the coming months we can set up a college council to interest all

colleges in the State, State-supported and private alike, to take some part in the Partners program," Dr. Vavrina says. "And I hope that the student exchange plan can be extended to public and private high schools as well as colleges. There might even be an exchange of faculty members."

In addition to schoolchildren themselves Dr. Vavrina's committee will attempt to interest labor groups and women's committees in joining the education activities of the

Partners.

"I think education is one area in which the program can work to benefit both States," he says. "We hope to include in our school

curricula here as much information about Rio as possible. Geography classes are probably the best places to fit the material in.

"Brazilians speak Portuguese. So far there is no Portuguese program in our public schools. But we have always been flexible on this point. Any time there is a sufficient demand for a certain language, we try to put it into the curriculum. We could easily begin a Portuguese program if the students are interested in it."

The health committee of the Partners, headed by Dr. Matthew Tayback, deputy commissioner of health for Baltimore City, has also initiated a number of programs. The committee is trying to raise $1,000 to provide a water supply for a clinic in the fishing village of Saquarema.

Funds are also required for equipment for several hospitals the Maryland team visited last November. Most needed is equipment for obstetrical and pediatric services.

Dr. Tayback hopes to raise money from individual contributions and from church groups among other sources. "It should be pointed out," he notes, "that we know the money will be spent wisely, as the recipient projects are investigated and we work with the highly capable Rio Partners Committee." The chairman of the Rio Partners is Dr. Hugolino de Mendonca, special assistant to Gov. Paulo Torres of the State of Rio.

PROFESSIONAL MANPOWER SOUGHT

Dr. Tayback feels the health committee "can be most effective in the exchange of people. I hope professional manpower-doctors, engineers and technicians will be made available by hospitals, teaching institutions and businesses for short visits to Rio. That

way the people there could get advanced knowledge not only about patient care but about building and equipping hospitals and

clinics."

Dr. Tayback plans to be among those planning a trip to Rio this fall to evaluate the partners program and give technical assistance. "I want to talk to people concerned with the planning of health facilities and hygiene programs, and help them map out their strategy for improvement of the general

SEEKING PIPES AND FITTINGS

"We are also working to supply material to extend the water distribution system in 'State Hill' a Niterio favela. We're trying to get water departments and contractors and engineers in Maryland to supply us with pipes and fittings. One or two experts will go on the fall trip to give technical assistance."

Other projects are under a miscellaneous projects committee, which has been instrumental in establishing a "twin city" relationship between Westminster and Macae in Rio. Under the arrangement, if Macae wants to start a project, it can appeal to Westminster rather than to the Maryland Partners as a whole. Eugene Moore, of the chamber of commerce of metropolitan Baltimore and head of the miscellaneous committee, is trying to promote the twin city idea in other Maryland towns.

The committee is also trying to raise $175 for lights for a school althletic field and $700 to equip a school cafeteria in Niteroi. "We are also trying to get local Kiwanis Rotary, and other clubs interested in sponsoring activities in Rio," Mr. Moore says.

"The Lions are already active in this field. So far, we haven't had much response from the other clubs, but that may not be their fault. Many of their activities have to be authorized through national headquarters."

There are other aspects of the Partners program. Dr. Vavrina is also chairman of a cultural exchange committee, which is making plans for a Brazilian trade fair to be held in Baltimore.

It is hoped that among the team going to Rio this fall will be someone from the State Planning Department, to assist with State planning in Rio. The group will also include experts in labor, business, and educational fields.

The first inter-American conference of the Partners was held in Washington earlier this month. Representatives of the 50 Partners committees in this country and Latin America met to discuss progress and mutual problems.

Dr. Evaldo Saramago Pinhiero, head of Rio's agricultural extension service and vice chairman of the Rio Partners committee, came to Washington for the conference and spent a week in Maryland. He talked to officials of Maryland's Economic Development Commission and of the University of Maryland's agricultural extension service.

While here he expressed his satisfaction with the progress of the Partners program so far. He talked, too, about the pleasant surprise of meeting Marylanders.

"The impression of American life that our people get is a Hollywood impression," he commented. "But when we come here, we find that you don't all lead lives filled with scandal. In fact, you're like us."

ductive and the most compassionate in the history of our Nation. Important and far-reaching legislation in the fields of education, conservation, civil rights, health, housing, the eradication of poverty, taxation, and economic development will profoundly influence and improve the living conditions of millions of American citizens. Generations of Americans to come will one day look back with pride on the brilliant domestic legislative program which President Johnson has brought to fruition.

In countless newspapers nationally respected columnists have extolled the superlative legislative achievements of the President. James Reston of the New York Times recently observed:

In his state of the Union message, President Johnson said the time had come to

give more attention to the home front. He promised to try to keep the economy grow ing, to extend the prosperity to more people, and to try to improve the quality of life for all. And even his critics here concede he has kept his promise.

Or, as Max Lerner recently said: Nothing like his magnitude and effectiveness as a lawmaker has been seen since Hammurabi, and sometimes I wonder whether even the man from Babylon could have kept up the pace of the man from Texas.

The record which President Johnson has achieved is admirable not only for its quantity, but also for its quality. Gifted with a unique kind of political genius, the President has succeeded in creating a national consensus in order to secure the enactment of several essential pieces of legislation which, although very much in the national interest, had been delayed and defeated in years past.

I am referring particularly to the medicare bill, designed to provide hospital and medical care to millions of our Nation's senior citizens living on low incomes and burdened by mounting

medical bills.

I refer also to the elementary and secondary education act of 1965 to provide much-needed financial assistance to our

His program has also included, among other things, extension of the Manpower Development Training Act, better control of drugs, expanded research to lessen air and water pollution, aid to higher education to assure a college education to all who desire it, attacks on crime and juvenile delinquency, and legislation to ameliorate depressed farm income.

The breadth and imaginative approach of President Johnson's domestic legislative program merits the thanks of Americans in all walks of life. In 2 short years Lyndon B. Johnson has earned himself a high place in American history. It a high place in American history. It will take many years to achieve the Great Society, but President Johnson has moved our Nation much closer to that ultimate goal.

Mr. President, in the foreign affairs field, the problems have been more complex and, of course, are less responsive to the leadership of any single national leader than are domestic concerns. Understandably it has been more difficult for the President to achieve his objectives in international affairs. But we all know that the President is working tirelessly to find a satisfactory solution tirelessly to find a satisfactory solution to the tragic war in Vietnam and to end other threats to world peace. I have not agreed with all aspects of our Vietnam policy, but I have never doubted the President's commitment to peace, and I believe that when the full record of his administration is in, it will be a record on the side of peace including an end to the war in Vietnam and a stronger United Nations.

MONETARY REFORM

Mr. HARTKE. Mr. President, the growing concern for our prosperity as it relates to the international monetary system is evidenced by a thought-provoking analysis by the distinguished

journalist Max Freedman in the Washington Evening Star of September 2, 1965.

an adequate education to all American youth.

President Johnson has acted successfully to secure the voting rights of all American citizens, regardless of race or color-an accomplishment the Nation has been unable to achieve during a century since Abraham Lincoln's day.

His program has included legislation enacted to counteract the destruction of body and spirit caused by poverty. He has made Americans more aware of the existence of poverty in the midst of plenty.

He has proposed and secured the enactment of legislation designed to stimulate economic development in those regions of our country suffering from economic depression and low income.

A number of far-reaching water and conservation measures enacted under the President's leadership has led a number of observers to refer to this Congress as the "Conservation Congress."

Wartime excise taxes, which had long outlived their original purpose and usefulness, were repealed and reduced.

this point.

There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

MONETARY REFORM STUDIES URGED

(By Max Freedman)

The 1965 report of the International Monetary Fund concludes that "the international monetary system as it exists today is sufficiently strong to allow of a calm and dispassionate consideration of the possibilities of amending and improving it." There is, in short, no reason for thinking that an immediate financial crisis faces us. But that does not mean that the present system can be continued indefinitely without risk. The best time for wise planning is before the storm strikes us.

This general approach clearly reflects the views of the U.S. Government. Henry Fowler, Secretary of the Treasury, would like to

have the international monetary system reviewed by a world conference. He has announced that a sustained effort will be made to secure broad agreement on essential principles before the conference is convened. France has given a churlish answer to these overtures but the preliminary planning will

continue.

The fund already has made its own contribution toward the achievement of what it calls "an international consensus regarding both the major and the broad nature of the objectives of liquidity policy techniques to achieve these objectives." There is no agreement as yet on a common policy but the fund intends to study this problem very actively in the coming year.

In essence, it is necessary to protect the world monetary system from sudden and excessive strain produced by the swings and changes of world trade. A related but distinct problem is created by the needs of the emergent nations, dependent on the export of a few primary commodities subject to large fluctuations in price, and dependent

also on external sources for their investment capital. The Fund must now, against the background of its acknowledged success, deal with the new problems of world trade and with the difficulties they have caused for the monetary system.

The evidence produced in this report justified the conclusion that the American Government has acted with prudence and success in protecting the dollar against further strain. U.S. balance of payments, though improved, is still not without its anxieties. The United States is seeking to find a long-term solution by improvements in the world monetary system rather than by selfish national gains imposed by America's position of economic dominance. This desire to be fair and cooperative, and to work for an international solution, places the United States in a strong position in the coming negotiations.

By contrast the report confirms the sad estate of Britain and the growing strains on the pound sterling as an international currency. Figures cited by the Fund show that Britain has failed to obtain her fair share of the expansion in world trade. Fortunately, British economic experts are fully aware of these problems and out of their own rich experience can be expected to make useful contributions to the ultimate international solution.

Writing earlier this year for the Institute

of Economic Affairs in London, Prof. Gottfried Haberler of Harvard said "the Inter

national Monetary Fund has worked well

and would seem to be the suitable frame

work for cautious reforms and improvements. No radical overhaul is necessary."

He was very critical of French President Charles de Gaulle's suggestion that the world should return to the pre-1914 gold standard. He estimated that it would be necessary,

if the gold standard were reintroduced, to raise the price of gold drastically-"at least 100 percent, I should think."

In addition, as Haberler pointed out, nobody can be sure whether the doubling or tripling of the price of gold would produce world deflation or inflation, or by chance would be just right. There can be, therefore, no mechanical or automatic operation of the restored gold standard. National and international management would still be necessary. Haberler thinks it would be much easier to make the present system work by retaining sterling and dollars in their present role or by widening the range of reserve currencies.

All these problems will be intensively reviewed at the forthcoming annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund. It is a reasonable forecast that the final decision some months from now will be much closer to Haberler's proposed plan than to De Gaulle's recommendations.

TRIALS OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC

Mr. FONG. Mr. President, the tempo of change is quickening in the South Pacific, where far-flung groups of islanders live in a vast ocean area. For several

small

reasons-their geographic isolation, their populations, among others these island groups have remained in the shadows of a fast-changing world around them.

No major turmoil has thrust these islands into headlines since World War II ended. No violence or crisis has upset the islanders, in happy contrast with the upheavals among once-dependent peoples in Africa and Asia.

But the fact that the South Pacific has escaped political and racial revolutions so far does not-should not-lessen our concern for the problems facing the peoples of this huge area. For the United States, together with several other nations represented on the South Pacific Commission, have distinct responsibilities to fulfill in advancing the wellbeing of non-self-governing territories.

For example, the United States administers the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands under a trusteeship agreement with the United Nations. The political future of the trust territory merits serious consideration among all parties concerned, and I have proposed-through a resolution introduced in the Senate on August 18, 1965-that preliminary investigation and study be initiated for the eventual inclusion of the Trust Territory in the State of Hawaii.

A most informative description of the South Pacific islands-their peoples, problems and challenges-has been provided in an article written for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on April 28, 1965, by

its managing editor, A. A. "Bud" Smyser, a very capable newsman with a feel for the subject.

I commend the article to all who wish to become acquainted with this largely forgotten but vastly important region in the crucial years ahead.

Bud Smyser's article underscores one fact which deserves special mention. It quotes extensively from the observations and experiences of men in Hawaii who are thoroughly knowledgeable about the South Pacific-men like Dr. Alexander Spoehr and Dr. Roland Force, former and present directors, respectively, of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu; and Dr. Y. Baron Goto, vice chancellor, Institute of Technical Interchange, at the East-West Center in Honolulu.

Their views reflect the continuing interest which Hawaii has in the entire Pacific Basin and the ever-closer ties which are destined to develop between the 50th State and the South Pacific Islands.

I ask unanimous consent to have printed at this point in the RECORD, Bud Smyser's article titled "Trials of the South Pacific," together with the accompanying description of the South Pacific islands and the article titled "South Pacific Islands Face Host of Problems." There being no objection, the articles were ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

[From the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Aug. 28,

1965]

TRIALS OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC

(By A. A. Smyser)

It could be the gentle climate.

It could be the gentle people-though there is record enough of past ferocity.

Perhaps it has been the slow tempo of change but that era has ended now.

It could be the foreign rulers-but that indeed is hard to believe.

Possibly it is the vast distance-from the rest of the world and from each other.

Whatever the reason, an ocean area comparable to the greatest of continents has so far avoided the turmoil and trouble that winds of change have stirred up in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

But the storied islands of the South Pacific may be spared no longer.

World War II started the burst of ships, men, and new ideas into once remote areas. The years since have accelerated the pace. People who know the area well are agreed the last 20 years have brought more change than the previous 100-or several hundred. They expect the next 20 to be still more dramatic.

How the drama will develop is the quesleaders of the area-local and foreign-obtion that no one can answer, but the present viously face a challenge if the change is to be channeled into positive and productive channels.

Will Fiji, the tinderbox of the area, come to a bitter showdown between its Fijian and

Indian residents?

Will New Guinea-the rich, still unex

plored second largest island in the world (after Greenland)-become a battleground between Asia and Australia?

Will the independent nations of Western Samoa and Tongo find nationhood insupportable?

Will political ambitions outrace economic potential?

Just north of the Equator, but still in the area of the South Pacific Commission, is Micronesia, most of it embraced in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, a United Nations strategic grant to the United States. ALEXANDER SPOEHR: "THE WHOLE AREA IS UNSTABLE"

This is the world that now is being stirred by the ideas of the 20th century.

A noted anthropologist, Dr. Alexander Spoehr, sees both boom and ferment following the lines of commerce-the new jet trails across the Pacific.

He sees port towns growing in lands that knew no towns before the Europeans came, and he sees the towns as the center of ferment while the outlands still hold to traditional ways.

Towns like Papeete, Pago Pago, Suva, and Agana are growing, bustling, modernizing, thinking, and questioning.

"The whole area is unstable," says Dr.

Spoehr, who has traveled over it all. "Its people are looking for new patterns."

The patterns that emerge, he is sure, will be a mixture of things borrowed and things traditional.

Of all the native-born island leaders, the strongest to emerge so far on the international scene is Fiji's imposing Ratu K. K. T. Mara.

A giant, handsome Fijian, Ratu Mara holds a masters degree from Oxford University and a diploma from the London School of Economics.

At the July conference of the South Pacific Commission in Lae, New Guinea, Mara

Quite possibly the answer to all these questions will turn out to be "Yes."

But we are still at that point in history where the achievement of "No" is also a

that finance the commission and set its programs (the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, France, and the United States).

limits.

The islands of the South Pacific-or more specifically those within the scope of the international regional body called the South Pacific Commission-stretch over 7,000 miles from east to west.

Five hundred and thirty-five years ago Magellan somehow managed to sail past them all without sighting any but Guam. But other Spanish and Portuguese explorers soon followed him to the Pacific, and so did the French.

At tiny Pitcairn, on the east, a handful of descendants of the famous mutineers from H.M.S. Bounty maintain a community noted mostly for its sale of postage stamps.

At the far west, young Palauans, workingmen, may resent but still accept a social system that demands ceremonial public cash

contributions from them whenever some relative, even distant, buys himself a house or

There is also Tahiti, where the French rule sternly but well, and have repressed opposition political parties.

And the comic but still workable condominium of New Hebrides where the British and French coadminister and give everyone a choice between British and Frenchwhether it be school, court, jail, or moneyand the most common currency in circulation is neither British nor French but Australian.

And New Guinea where the interior a few decades ago was considered unpopulated— only to be found in World War II to harbor 2 to 3 million people.

These powers provide some $2 million ancent) to promote the health, economic, and social development of the area through cooperative planning. But the commission, formed in 1947, has had a strict taboo on political discussion.

Commission members are all from the metropolitan powers plus one from newly long-independent Tonga). independent Western Samoa (but none from

The indigenous or local peoples do not sit on the Commission but meet at what is called a South Pacific Conference. There they air their concerns with the Commissioners listening in.

Ratu Maras boldness at the July conference shocked some of his fellow conferees and apparently also Australia's senior Comsuggested the proceedings might as well wind missioner, who was presiding, when Mara up on the first day if the indigenous people were to simply be handed work programs by the Commissioners and have no voice in them.

Mara demanded that the local governments be allowed to help finance the Commission budget so that they also can demand a voice in setting its programs.

The islanders led by Mara also spoke up to tell the metropolitan powers that island people should be named to the South Pa

cific Commission itself, and that the Commission's ban on political discussions should be ended.

RATU MARA: “TEACH RESPONSIBILITY BY
GIVING RESPONSIBILITY"

Mara stopped in Honolulu this week, en route home to Fiji from a meeting in London that drafted a new Fijian Constitution.

"It is not possible to teach responsibility better than by giving responsibility," he said of his bid to have the territorial areas share in running the South Pacific Commission and providing its funds.

Dr. Y. Baron Goto of the East-West Center is one of the three U.S. members of the South Pacific Commission.

He heard Mara's plea at Lae in July, talked with him about it again in Honolulu this week, and will go to an October meeting in Noumea, New Caledonia, where the metropolitan powers will decide what to do about the petitions presented to them by the island leaders in July.

Goto obviously is impressed by the argument that the Commission's present ban on political topics is unrealistic.

He seems in sympathy with Mara's view that it is impossible for health, social development and economic development not to become intertwined with politics.

"Politics is the salt of life," said one of the delegates at Lae. "Without discussion of politics you cannot fulfill the destiny of the people."

The big powers, notably Australia and New Zealand, obviously are concerned about what a little political license might lead to. Mara quite obviously sees it as possibly pointing to some kind of South Pacific Confederation.

Said Mara this week:

"In the next 20 years there are very few islands in the Pacific that could honestly become politically independent. An area is not politically independent if it is not economically independent.

"Perhaps a confederation or common market for the Pacific would make the islands more economically dependent on each other instead of on the great powers."

The South Pacific Commission and Conference are the obvious vehicles to foster such a development-but they can't if they can't talk politics.

Does Mara want the big powers to get out of the Pacific?

"The idea of getting out from somewhere

is too narrow a point of view for me," he says. "That seems like a desire to get out of the world. The idea should be to be a part

of the world.

"If you atomize yourself you go up into a cloud and disappear. Conglomerate-that's

what we want."

Mara thinks that his own ruling power, the United Kingdom, would be glad to get out of the Pacific today if it could. He doesn't want it to.

Mara's homeland is the Pacific tinderbox. Indians who were brought there as laborers have stayed as merchants and businessmen. They can't own land but they have become wealthier than the Fijians.

Between the groups there is respect but rivalry, cordiality but little social mingling or intermarriage.

Mara fears that the distinct racial differences make Fiji the one spot in the Pacific that could become another Africa.

He says the Indian people are the one people that do not assimilate.

"Unfortunately," he said, "the Indian people have no record of assimilation. Nowhere in the world have they assimilated. It is the same in British Guinea as it is with us."

For the near future he favors a preservation of the status quo in Fiji in the hope that the races can work from areas of agreement to whittle down areas of disagreement.

Though some of Mara's ideas may sound mild enough in Honolulu, he is something of a radical by South Pacific Commission

standards.

Other indigenous delegates toned down his original resolutions.

Radical or not, he is at least constructive. And so far that has been the hallmark of South Pacific development.

Whether more violent and destructive opposition leaders will appear is in the lap of the future. It is not impossible.

Mara's desire for conglomeration undoubtedly stems partly from a fear of the Indians at home in Fiji.

CROSSCURRENTS ARE RUNNING STRONG IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC

There are other political winds also blowing in the Pacific.

Working against conglomeration are hundreds of native languages, two principal modern languages (English and French), and marked differences of tradition, custom, and interest.

Even the six districts of the U.S. Trust Territory have nine languages to cope with, along with recollections of past imperialist raids on each other. There also are the aggressive Palauans who might be called the Texans of the area as opposed to the reserved, quiet Marshallese who consider it an impossible insult to raise one's voice, even in anger.

Though the British would like to liquidate their empire quickly, the French want to incorporate theirs into the internal structure of metropolitan France.

No clear U.S. policy has emerged. However, the talk of a giant Pacific state embracing the U.S. area has stirred a number of countersuggestions.

Within the U.S. area are other forces. One strong one seems to be for a political reunification of Guam with the other islands of the Marianas chain.

This is more difficult than it seems. The Guamanians are a U.S. territory and U.S. citizens by birth. The residents of their neighbor islands are part of a territory administered by the United States but a part of the United Nations mandate, and not U.S. citizens. They also are part of the larger Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and provide its capital at Saipan.

Three thousand miles away are two other groups of islands artificially separated by the great powers in the 19th century. America wanted a coaling station and took over the good harbor at Pago Pago. Germany wanted

land.

came into being. Today Western Samoa is an Thus Western Samoa and American Samoa independent nation, though one that leans heavily on New Zealand for economic aid and political representation in foreign affairs.

The two Samoas have grown apart so much that observers see no serious desire for reunification on either side.

Among many indigenous people, thought of absorption by the big powers stirs fears of being a dark-sinned minority in a country that discriminates. One delegate from the Solomons who had seen the U.S. South was extremely hostile to American positions.

"Internal self-government" is a phrase to remember. It seems to be the present goal of many of the areas as opposed to independence. It implies liaison with a big power on foreign affairs and economic matters but relative autonomy internally.

An American Samoan told the Lae meeting: "In our territory, we have been brought up with the idea that we are independent even though someone else is paying the greater part of our expenses. This system has worked very well for us."

Dr. Goto sees the internal self-government movement as reflecting the Pacific people's awareness of Africa's troubles and their search for solutions that will avoid such crises.

He and Roland Force, director of the Bishop Museum, note that most of the South Pacific areas are already more advanced than some of the African areas that have become independent.

stitution by New Zealand that will allow The Cook Islands have been granted a conthem to become independent any day they

choose.

But Ratu Mara listened in the United Nations last Monday as Albert Henry, the probable future premier of the Cook Islands, told a committee: "We are so small that we cannot stand independence."

NEW GUINEA: THE PACIFIC'S SLEEPING GIANT "The great conundrum" of the South Pacific to Dr. Spoehr is New Guinea.

New Guinea is the sleeping giant of the South Pacific-with twice the land area of Japan and one twenty-fifth the population.

In both mass and population it exceeds all the other South Pacific areas combinedeven with the removal from S.P.C. jurisdiction of the western half, now controlled by Indonesia.

Dr. Goto has flown over its fertile valleys and seen its impressive, unexploited agricultural possibilities.

For all its backwardness, he still can compare it to the Kona area of Hawaii that he knew as a boy. He thinks its potential is stupendous.

New Guinea and the Solomon Islands are particularly fascinating to Spoehr, the anthropologist, because they have no government system on which to build.

They are the world's best examples of a stateless system-areas that have gotten on with no visible government at all, no chiefs, no kings, no rulers-hereditary or otherwise. This is not all disadvantageous in Spoehr's eyes-it means they can come into the 20th century without the encumbrances of chieftainships that make adaptation hard.

Indonesia's role is a question mark.

It is a foreign power in the area, though not a participant in the international administration.

Whether it can extend its domain or even hold on to what it has is one of the question marks of the next score of years.

Australia's role is somewhat inhibited by its "white Australia" policy but Spoehr sees evidence that policy is crumbling. Japan is Australia's best trading partner. Japanese and other nonwhites abound on Australian streets.

Former Congressman Thomas P. Gill, who toured the trust territory while in Congress, went back recently to help the territory's first congress (the Congress of Micronesia) start operations.

Gill warns that all political development is closely watched in the United Nations by hostile areas such as Russia, which are simply biding their time to try to find opportunities to explode boobytraps on the administering

powers.

With a sardonic humor the natives also watch the political interplay among the big powers. The Marshallese joke that they have been under rule of Spanish, Germans and Japanese-all wartime losers. They hope now to pick a winner for the next war, they say, in a sly dig at the United States.

So far, the United States seems to have earned reasonably good marks for itself in at least one area-the development of local leaders.

Dr. Goto of the East-West Center and Manual Guerrero, governor of Guam, are the only two nonwhites on the South Pacific Commission. (The third U.S. member and delegation chairman is Carleton Skinner, former governor of Guam.)

The United States also has "island men" in increasingly important roles.

A native of the Marshalls, Dwight Heine, has just been named deputy administrator of the Trust Territory in charge of the government of the Marshalls.

Another island man, Peter Coleman, first governed his native Samoa, then shifted to a key role in the Trust Territory when a change of administrations in Washington gave the Samoa governorship to a Democrat.

Heine is succeeding Coleman in the Marshalls. Coleman will shift to take charge of the larger Marianas group.

Several Guamanians were important figures at the Lae conference.

NO. 1 PROBLEM: HOW TO BUILD A VIABLE
ECONOMIC BASE

To all the observers of the area, the political problems are matched or exceeded by the economic problems.