CARTERET COUNTY NEWS-TIMES Carteret Comity's 1 EDITORIALS TUCSOAY. JAN. 25, 1955 Central America Rumbles Things are popping in Central Amer ica. And during the past few months t "little wars" in that area have frequent ly been in the headlines. The question always arises, what does this mean? Late last year the Hondurans got fed up, they said, with the' United Fruit Company's operations in their country. That crisis passed. Then on Jan. 2 the president of Panama was assassinated and all the Americas were jolted last week by the "rebel" force which in vaded Costa Rica. The piece of land which connects Mexico to South America and is severed by the Panama Canal can be pictured as a turkey drumstick with the meaty part of the bone to the north. At the top is Honduras, just south of that, Nicaragua, then down the drumstick where the meat grows thin is Costa Rica, which adjoins the Canal Zone. It is in this area that trouble has been brewing. And while the United States hopes things stay peaceful throughout all the western hemisphere, the state department gets obviously jumpy when uprisings occur in the vicinity of the Canal Zone. The Organization of American States, composed of the United States and 20 other western hemisphere na tions, quickly sent a five-nation investi gating commission to Costa Rica and the United States sent Navy planes from Panama to fly reconnaissance. The background of the outbreak is a long-standing feud between President Figueres of Costa Rica and President Somoza of Nicaragua. Figueres threw out Costa Rica's Communist-infiltrated government in 1948. After a new con stitution was drafted, he bowed out. In 1953 he was overwhelmingly elected president. But his election threw a monkey wrench into President Somoza's smug gling of cattle into Costa Riea. 8omoza is a wealthy cattle grower. Last April Somoza claimed that an attempt on his life was engineered by Figueres. So the two presidents are obviously not the best of friends. Somoza, a crack, shot with the pistol, even suggested that the current trouble (the "rebels" obviously were launched from Somoza'a "Nicaragua) be settled by a duel be tween himself and Figueres. Sensible as that may sound to some, it would be be bound to start a blood feud between the two nations. As for the situation in Panama, it seems, on the surface, to be a struggle of two different factions for power. But United States is ever aware that even though the troubles may or may not have been incited directly by Com munists, the Moscow-led boys are al ways ready to jump in and lend a hand to any group which is willing to rise up against a government friendly to the United States. Touchy affairs such as this in Central America demand intelligent handling by all western hemisphere countries. If United States acts alone, the Commun ists will be quick to rally to the long standing South American cry of Yan kee interference, adding to it, of course, the epithet of "grasping American cap italists." Just Seven Days . . . Seven days remain. Boat owners and operators of motor vehicles have just seven days to get their 195^ tags. All this month, folks have been warned about getting these licenses early so they wouldn't have to stand in line Jan. 31. After midnight that night, fishermen without licensed gear or boats and mo torists without licensed cars, trucks, trailers or motorcycles will be liable to arrest. And there are always some who try to get- away without obeying the law. Will you be among those few next month ? Tags for motor vehicles can be ob tained at the loan department of the First-Citizens Bank and Trust Co., Morehead City. Fishermen can get their licenses from the fisheries inspector in their area or at the commercial fish eriea office, Morehead City. The deadline is just seven days away! What Lies Ahead When we look back over the recent news about polio,, it is hard to believe that just a few short years ago practi cally all of the polio headlines were those that struck fear into our hearts. Epidemics. Deaths. The crippling of youngsters before they had a chance at life. This was then the major story of polio. Today, we find the situation happily reversed. Everybody's imagination has been captured by the development of the Salk polio vaccine. The world has watched with intense interest the mam moth, history-making vaccine trials in which almost two million school chil dren participated. Those who have worked for and given to the March of Dimes must be deeply gratified by the selection of four scientists as 1954 Nobel Prize winners for their work which was made possi ble through March of Dimes grants. The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis has now purchased enough vaccine for 9,000,000 people. This has served to keep the vaccine production lines going, on the chance that by next spring there will be scientific proof of the effectiveness of the Salk vaccine and it will be licensed for use. These are the heartwarming head lines which we now take for granted, headlines which represent great tri umphs not only in the field of science, but in the social development of our nation. The big new push, of course, is in the field of polio prevention. This has been the primary aim of March of Dimes research for 17 years. The historic vaccine trials, which be gan in 1954 and involved l,830,000.chil dren in 44 states, cost $7,500,000 in March of Dimes funds ? in just this one attempt to determine whether this particular vaccine is effective. The fight against polio has expanded to include not only the thousands stricken, but also millions of healthy children and adults who can be pro tected from polio's ravages. But while this exciting work progresses by leaps and bounds, polio continues to strike dangerously among us. For tens of thou sands of Americans, a polio vaccine al ready is too late. Their struggle is against disability, against crippling, against uselessness. They can be help ed ? they are being helped, with your contributions to the March of Dimes. In January, 1956 there will be 70,000 patients on National Foundation chap ter rolls. Whether the new vaccine is effective or not, they'll still be with us. They will be joined by thousands more who must be expected to get polio in the months before vaccine can be given to anybody or is available to everybody. While others are fighting to prevent polio, the stricken will be learning to live with the disease, not just next year, but for the rest of their lives. This then, is the bigger job that lies before us ? help for the stricken and protection for the healthy. The fight against polio touches all of us now ? and each of us has a bigger stake in the result The final result will depend heavily upon your contribution to the 1955 March of Dimes. Carter** County N?ws-Tim?s WINNER OF NATIONAL EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION AND NORTH CAROLINA PRE8S ASSOCIATION AWARDS A Mercer of The Beaufort New. (Eat 1111) ud The Twin City TIbm* (Cat IBM) Pabtlahed Tueadayi and Friday. by the Carteret Publlabinf Company. toe. 804 Arendall St. More bead City. N. C. i/immmi pittt.i.ipb _ Wm remii ELEANORE DEAR PHILLIPS ? ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER RUTH L, PEELING ? EDITOR HaURataa: to Carteret County and adjolntof countiea, (R00 ana year, $M0 ail mootha. i >7.00 aaa year.