TROUBLE IN PANAMA.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 78, 3 April 1926, Page 19

TROUBLE IN PANAMA.

BREAD AND RENT RIOTS. \\ j: UNITED STATES WORRIED."""" j (From Our Own Correspondent.) ,j SAX FRANCISCO, February 23. j; With mingled feelings the Republic I of Panama awaits the arrival of the ; United States fleets. Though the mer ,; cantile elements are cordial enough, the ! population in general evinces an interj est almost casual, and in some respects,: I actually hostile, according tp an Ameri- | can correspondent stationed in Panama- j nian territory. Military police from the armed forces of occupation, comprising a regiment of the regular army, with the assistance of the Metropolitan Police of Panama under Major A. R. Lamb, an American soldier of fortune, will be thrown over the native and American quarters when j the first liberty parties from the fleet j are landed. The men of the High Seas I forces are being instructed on ship- j board as to the state of affairs, and ' also how to care for their health while j ashore. Members of the Panama Government \ are still hostile over the alleged rebuffs j given by the Washington Government ] in settling the renewal of the Panama- ! American treaty in 1924, when the j Panama Foreign Minister threatened to I attempt te take the canal from the United States by force. ! Mr. G. K. Spencer, a well-known! American journalist, in a dispatch to San Francisco, says: '"This writer, to whom the threat was first publicly expressed by the Foreign Minister, at that I time expressed the opinion that the I I state of Panama feeling would have re- j, percussions not soon or easily stilled, i The effect is now being felt. Conditions . were net calmed by the action of the United States authorities, last October, " in acceding to an importunity from the Native Government to use American troops against natives who were engaged in bread and rent riots. Populace in Riot. "The populace, desperately poor, overtaxed and ridden down by a native aristocracy which holds its power only in the shadow of the United States presence, rioted in October in a disorganised manner, driven to frenzy by hunger and high rentals. The brutality of the situation was augmented by official torpor and callousness of the condition. A native journalist declares that several dead bodies were, being picked up each morning, and, without attempts at discovering their identity, buried in a plot close to the native city without j ceremony of any kind. j "A naval lieutenant of the medical I corps in the zone gives the following' first-hand description of the condition: j 'The situation was caused by rent and foot riots and the futile President of Panama called for American troops to uphold the profiteers, From the porch I of the Century Club, whose back door, I fortunately for us, was in Ancon I saw ' four brigades of American infantry marshalled load bail cartridges, fix bayonets and march down among the harmless blacks. A Flutter. "'As the troops were lined up all dres-ed in Flanders t;n ha'.s. nnd with G.M.C. (General Motor Company) trucks, motor cycle?, ptaff cars, etc., i and the order to "load" given one of j the men discharged his rifle acciden- ; tally causing a scare and commotion—j but nobody had been hurt. I expected to see fightin°r, but our men only succeeded in killing an unarmed 18-year-old boy and two blacks, who were innocent bystanders. , The authorities quarantined all ships in the z-me against sending liberty parties ashore.' "While the recreation of the ships' crews will be cared for, every precaution will be observed for avoiding friction with the natives—people or Government. "The fighting is now approaching the 'Nation's Neck'—the Panama Canal— for the third testing of the canal defences since 1921. It is significant w-ithin the fleet that scarcely any of the recommendations made by either Admirals Rodr.ian or Coontz, who commanded the two previous canal zone manoeuvres, have been accorded favourable action by Congress, with the result that almost identical recommendations may be made by Admiral S. S. Robison at j the terminating of the action now about to commence." "The importance attached by Robison to what is about to happen at Panama is indicated by the fact 'that the Seattle, his flagship, has taken over control of the local radio stations and is directing their activities." " j