HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1950-03-09, Page 7Eat 6 Pounds of
Beef Every Day
Forced by their brutal 9teards to
drag themselves on and on .
Driven from their country by the
merciless decree of a pian revelling
in his newly -found power. Remorse-
lessly and. savagely hounded for in-
terminable rnontlis through danger-
ous and infested jungle, over treaeh-
orons nioutitain patlxs, Barefooted
and barebacked, !ticked as they
stumbled: exhaustedly along by well..
booted gauards-="heroes" of a new
regime.
For hundreds of exiles these piti-
ful, straggling, destitute exiles were
driven to the border. Unable to use
their hands to fend off the whipping
brush of the jungle which flayed.
and tore their. flesh to ribbons, or
to push away the swarming clouds
o£ fierce insects viciously biting
them. Goaded on and on by the
malicious guardsmen, the victims'
faces and bare trunks—when fin-
ally they had been driven across
the frontier looked more like raw
(beef than anything human Their
sufferings leave little to the inxag-
ivakion.
For every mile of the long, tor-
tuous, ag•oniing journey, every pian
had been compelled to use his hands
to bold up his trousers.
Their banishment had been the
order of one of Latin America's
most picturesque dictators; , Ana-
stasio Sonia.a—such a gentleman in
his own palace, who scorned to
treat his opponents as such. It was
his National Guard, responsible for
conducting the exiles to the frontier
who had conceived the finishing
touch—that of removing the pris-
oners' belts.
This is but one of the many
ripping stories related by Willard
rice in his book, "Tropic Adven-
ture". His journey from Rio
Grande to Patagonia, described in
fascinating detail, is one that should
delight every "armchair" voyager.
Hitting the Panama Canal .Zone,
the author met an extraordinary
colour liar. In the early days of
canal digging Americans were paid
in American gold, the rest in the
silver currency of Panama—an ad-
roit way of drawing the colour line.
All are now paid in the same cur-
rency, but the distinction. is con—
tinned. Zone stores and, restaurants
are marked either "Silver" or
"Gold", and woe betide the wearer
of a dusky skin who ventures to
enter a house of "Gold."
Similarly, in a hotel there are two.
ladies' rooms—"Gold Ladies" and
"Silver L- adi es." Comfort stations
must be eyed with care, for there
are "Gold Men," "Gold Women,"
"Silver Men" "Silver Women."
Under the words "Gold Only" on
a drinking fountain, far from any
other drinking place, a wag, either
in anguish or aniuseme•nt, has pear
Billed„the ironic legend: "Silvers get
-thirsty, too.” -
More than likely .the reader
would regard the offer of unlimited,
free; fertile land as either bristling
with hidden snags or a colossal
leg-pull. Yet the offer is genuine
enough. Two-thirds' of Colombia, a
republic occupying the north-west
eorner of the South American con-
tinent, is. empty,. Land is given to
anyone who wants it—fertile land
on the Pacific coast—the only pro-
viso being that the beneficiary must
occupy and cultivate the`land and
give the government seven per cent
of its production.
Tragic Slavery
fn the upland city of Arequipa
we are confronted with the stark
realism and tragedy of slavery. That
is the tot of ;lie. Indiag, in Peru—
men, women and children. The
tragedy of a stave -girl in a house-
hold is a sad, reflection iri an age
when "human rights" in the charter
of so many responsible organiza-
tions. Should the girl be unfortunate
enough to bear a child—the respon-
sibility- for which invariably lies at
the door of a member of the house-
hold—it will not be allowed in the
house, icor will the mother be re-
leased from servitude to rear it
Infanticide or adoption by an orph-
anage is the heartless decision.
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