PERON'S FIVE-YEAR PLAN

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5312, 27 January 1947, Page 3

PERON'S FIVE-YEAR PLAN

ARGENHNA'S PROGRESS WILL COST (NATION MILLIONS. buenos aires. Five pounds of maps, graphs and diagrams, with some 4.00 pages of draft laws, impressively arrayed, were placed on my desk the other day, It was President Peron's Five-Year Plan. The Vcaps" are the President's, and every Argentine editor has taken the hint, writes a correspondent in the Christian Science Monitor. The President is very proud of his plan. He has enthused.his ministers and departmental officers, many of whom now have to rise before hi'eakfast to keep up with the President, who usually is in his ofiice by 8 a.in. Only those accustomed to the leisurely hours of ;Latin governments can appreciate the extent of this .revolution in routine. The plan, of course, is the "talk of the town." I v/as travelling in a trolley car the other day, 10 days after General Peron had exponnded his programme before Congress. The passengers, a fair mixture of middle -and woBking-class society, were all debating "el plan quinquenal." There was hardly a word about the Boca or any other of their favourite f ootball teams, the customary topic of weeker.d conversation. Well Received. The President put in six hours in Congress explaining the plan and discoursing generally on his schemes. Not only were Federal legislators 1 present, but authorities were called ■ from every national area, from the sub-tropical Chaco in the north to cold bleak Patagonia in the soutli, to listen to him. Since that memorable occasion the country has been discussing the plan. Newspapers have not yet exahusted its presentation on the instalment plan illustratecl in graphic and tabnlar form. There is no escape from the Five Year Plan — neither for Argentina r.or for the foreigners wbo wish to do future business in or with the republie. The figures (few as they are) finally have put in an appearance. A total investment of 1,500,' 000, 000 dollars is to be spread over the five-year pei'iod. This means worlc for an extra 85, 000 State officers, plus eniployment for 250,00'D immigrants, to be admitted at the rate of 50,000 a year. The most important point to keep in mind about these expenditures is that they do not include the Army, Navy and Air Force. National defence ranks high in the plan, President Peron says, but the question of costs is reserved. It is not merely economic — it is also political. Twenty-seven laws are being submitted to reform the governing structure, extencl the suffrage, plan immigration ar.d colonisation, regulate tariffs, change the judiciary and public education, and invest wholesale in industry and commerce. Where Will Money Come From? Where will the money come from? The question has been asked and little has been said, but there is no mystery. The Government controls the Central Bank and all credit. It is also making huge prctits out of monoplies in food and other exportable produce. Orthodox financiers do not like the Peron seheme, but they admit there are sufficient resources available. Aecording to the President's views, the country will he running into defiationary crisis within two years, and it will be saved by governmental spending on a colossal scale. But the author and inspirer of the plan is not primarily concerned with the economic aspects of his plan as such. He is out to make Argentina a great and powerful country and, he says, to make Argentina richer and happier. He is proud of his plan and probably will p/ove jjnjoierant regarding criticism. How have the common people received the plan? On the whole, the reception has been most favourable. The press, too, many sections of which are ■ distrustful of all presidential schemes, has nice words to say about it, though not overlooking the fact that the State will 'become even more powerful than it is to-day. If there is little quarrelling with the general principles, there is a ready recognition that, as he told Congress, "a scheme is singularly easy to enunciate but extraordinarily difficult to execute." There is one point which arouses general concern. It is the fear that expert advice may be ignored and the plan rushed through Congress. President Peron has emphasised that he wishes full analysis, and also indicated that application will he gradual. Many Argentines hope that this will be the rule. However, any error per.petrated, unless candidly recognised and speedily corrected, might have a profound and retarding influence.