U.S. FRIENDSHIP WITH SPAIN

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27563, 21 January 1955, Page 14

U.S. FRIENDSHIP WITH SPAIN

Relations Continue To Be Good

COLLABORATION IN NAVAL TRAINING (From a Reuter Correspondent)

MADRID. A report that Spanish naval units • may take part with American ships in joint exercises has Dieased official quarters in Spain. Public opinion in a nation with a censored press is difficult to assess, but the impression here is that such a report is on the whole also ponular among wide sections of the Spanish people. After her many years of isolation, Spanish pride is soothed by such reports and by such events as General Franco’s visit to the United States Sixth Fleet and the lavish entertainment given three Spanish Cabinet Ministers who have visited the United States this year. Observers here think that it is this soothing effect on Spain’s pride of United States collaboration which weighs with the man-in-the-street more than economic aid or the dispatch of military equipment. Certainly, relations between the United States and Spain continue tb be excellent and no-One so far has thought of writing on walls: “Americans—Go Home.” Nevertheless, there are groups of people who disapprove of the collaboration. The Duke of Maura, for instance, attacked the agreements strongly several months ago. Some Roman Catholic groups look askance at the friendship, fearing that Protestant infiltration will result. From their deep underground, the Communists too, are spreading their customary anti-American . propaganda. But the opposition does not appear to be very far-reaching. One prominent Spaniard. General Alfredo Kindelan, former chief of the Air General Staff and a leading monarchist, wrote recently in the newspaper “ABCr” “Let us keep away from both the belligerency and the pacifism which communism exploits for its tactical ends. Let us trust in God and keep our powder dry and our steel well tempered, and do not let us be deceived by talk of an early peace.” Work on Air Bases In the meantime, after 12 months of checking and cross-checking by General Kissner and his staff to avoid repetition of costly errors made in building North African bases, work has at last begun on the United States air bases in Spain. Graders and dumpwaggons are already moving earth at Torrejon, the future main base, near Madrid. Work is about to begin on the most northerly base, Sanjurjo, in the Ebro Valley at Saragossa. Spanish State Railway technicians, with United States aid in mind, are busy with plans for doubling the single-track line between Seville and Cadiz and installing electric traction. The United States wants adequate rail transport between the naval base which she is to establish at Cadiz and the two airfields to be constructed near Seville. An American school has been opened and has 240 pupils of various grades with 14 teachers. This school is for the children of servicemen only. Other American children in Madrid attend the British school. Several of Madrid’s soda-fountains, known here as “cafeterias,” although they are not “self-service,” now advertise such specialities as “fresh doughnuts.”