MIAMI BECOMES INSTRUMENT OF U.S. POLICY
IN PLAYING HOST TO 150,000 CUBAN EXILES
By William L. Ryan
AP Special Correspondent
MIAMI, Fla. — There is a
vague feeling of uneasiness around
here.
At the moment, Miamians pro
fess to see nothing to be alarmed
about in their city’s unique situa
tion. But its problems are grow
ing.
The well-traveled visitor sees
something akin to West Berlin
here. In a way, Miami is a sister
city to West Berlin, an outpost
of the cold war, a city which has
opened its arms to tens of thou
sands of refugees from Commu
nism.
In few U.S. cities is there such
an awareness of international
friction. Miamians more than most
others, says one of the city’s of
ficials, take a lively interest in
questions concerning civilian de
fense preparations. With a Com
munist island so near, the possi
bility of the accident which can
lead to war is something Miamians
think about frequently.
Bui unlike West Berlin, Mi
ami is hosl lo foreigners speak
ing a foreign tongue, clinging
io foreign customs. Some of the
customs, some of the habits,
some of the characteristic ways
of the Cubans can grate on the
nerves of Americans.
You hear complaints that the
Cubans drive their automobiles the
same way they drove them in
Havana — and that was wildly.
You hear complaints that Cubans
are emotional and noisy and like
to talk at the tops of their voices
at all hours of the night. You
hear that Cubans give the impres
sion that what happened to them
was the United States’ fault, and
Americans owe them a living.
But these are small matters,
which would mean little unless
complicated by much graver prob
lems.
Inside Miami today there is a
city within a city, an American
community separated by a cultural
chasm from the refugees it shelters.
Probably the present Cuban re
fugee population — despite reset
tlement of 57,000 in the past two
years—numbers well above 150,
000. It may be 200,000. No accu
rate figures are available.
Miami, already with a fragile
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economy, sees its problems multi
plying daily.
The city was elected, because
of its geography, to become an
instrument of U.S. policy, with
out having been consulted in
advance. Never in U.S. history
has any American city been re
quired to undertake such a mas
sive assimilation of foreigners
in such a short time.
Mayor Robert King High says
he is proud of the way the city
responded.
“Miamians have acted nobly and
with maturity,” the Mayor told me,
“and the thanks of the nation
should be extended to them.”
But the new crackdown by the
U.S. government on hostile Cuban
exile activity against the Castro
regime has increased Miami’s
worries. The main source of worry
is the current competition for
Miami has little in the way of
industry. Much of its economy de
pends upon tourist trade and allied
business. The lack of enough jobs
to go around causes tensions, with
Cubans often getting the blame
from those who have no jobs.
About 65,000 Cubans still re
ceive relief because they have no
other means of support. Once a
Cuban gets a job, the relief checks
stop coming. The refugee relief
bill for 2V2. years had been $80
million for the federal govern
ment. This money is spent in
Miami, goes into the city’s econ
omy. Many merchants benefit
from it. But some merchants com
plain that Cubans tend to spend
the money in Cuban neighbor
hoods and shops, going out of their
way to do so.
Relief money is not precisely a
Cuban contribution. But there are
contributions to the economy.
Cubans rent 20,000 homes which
otherwise would be unused or per
haps used only in the tourist
months. Licenses for 2,000 busi
nesses have been issued to Cubans.
Florida now has a sugar planta
tion and three sugar mills repre
senting an investment of $150 mil
lion of Cuban and private U.S.
money. A Cuban-type cigarette
factory and other enterprises are
in operation. All this may tend
to aid the economy.
But the problem of jobs remains
and grows steadily. And the fed
eral relief checks which go to un
employed Cubans also add to local
resentment.
Miamians 011I of work gat no
federal checks. They must de
pend on county aid handed out
on an emergency basis. And to
day, if the unemployed Cubans
are included. Miami's unem
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FOR DI-CHLORICIDE*
THIS MAY BE the year of the
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Mrs. America Contest
OVER $30,000 in prizes will be
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Two Alaskans are Winners
Of Merit Scholarships
EVANSTON, 111. W _ Two
students from Alaska were among
540 winners of National Merit
Scholarships announced today.
They were Gordon Krist, Sitka,
and Alan Gnad, Spenard.
Krist, from Sitka High School,
will study civil engineering at
Stanford University. Gnad, of East
Anchorage High School, will study
physics at Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.
National Merit Scholarship Corp.
of Evanston conducts a year-long
merit selection program in co
operation with high schools
throughout the country.
In addition to scholarships spon
sored directly, the corporation
helps select outstanding students
for Merit Scholarships sponsored
by business corporations.
The amount of each award is
based on individual financial need,
with stipends ranging from $400
to $6,000 for the four years of col
lege. Individual grants are not
made public.
Sgi. York Off Critical List
NASHVILLE, Tenn. UFl — Doc
tors took Sgt. Alvin York off the
critical list Tuesday as the World
War I hero continued to improve
at a Nashville hospital.
“He wants to go back home,”
said Robert Davis, public relations
director at St. Thomas Hospital,
“But it probably will be a week
or 10 days yet, if there are no
complications.”
York was brought here 10 days
ago from his Pall Mall, Tenn.,
home, suffering from an infected
urinary tract and a blood clot in
his lung.
ployment rate is. as a conserva
tive estimate, about 8 per cent.
The city’s unemployed know
that the exile jobless get federal
checks to keep them going, and it
is not easy for local officials to
explain that away. The local un
employed want to know why the
Cubans don’t stick to relief and
leave the jobs to others.
There is no minimum wage law
in Florida, and the jobs go for
bidding. The Cuban, anxious not
to be a charity case, often works
for less money. He brings certain
skills with him, including ability,
often to speak both Spanish and
English, which makes him valu
able for work in stores and certain
other enterprises.
A large amount of unskilled
workers, among them many ne
groes, are out of jobs, unable to
get work, and feeling resentful
about it. Undoubtedly the unem
ployment problem will worsen as
the slack summer season ap
proaches.
Mayor High has been pressing
for congressional action to include
Miami in the federal Area Rede
velopment Program.
“The need exists now,” the
mayor said. “Miami’s geography
made it an instrument of U.S. pol
icy, and I think that therefore
Miami warrants priority recogni
tion.”
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Committee Investigates
Steel Price Increases
WASHINGTON 14*) — The labor
cost of steel keeps going up—but
in recent years not nearly at the
pace recorded during and just after
World War II, the Labor Depart
ment has reported.
The Senate - House Economic
Committee, opening a low-key in
vestigation of steel prices, was
given this finding, backed by a
mass of technical, chart-illustrated
testimony.
The hearings began amid bi
partisan declarations that they
should be kept factual and im
partial. They follow closely on the
rollback by several steel compan
ies of some of the price increases
of the past two weeks.
The role of wages in nudging up
steel prices is a particularly sen
sitive issue now, with steel work
ers’ union wage negotiations pos
sible next month.
Leon Greenberg, a Labor Dept,
specialist in productivity and tech
nological developments, testified
that from 1940 through 1962 the
employment cost per unit of steel
output increased an average of
4.9 per cent a year. But for the
years 1958 - 1962 alone, he said,
the increase was only six-tenths
of 1 per cent per year.
When the calculation is made
for wage employes only, excluding
executives, clerical and other sal
aried personnel, he said, the cost
per unit has been almost level
since 1958.
Eisenhowers Head Home
PALM BEACH, Calif. UP> — For
i mer President and Mrs. Eisen
sower will head back to their
Gettysburg, Va., farm Sunday
after a four-month stay in this
desert resort.
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Four Cubans Deported
To Their Native Land
NEW YORK — Three alleged
Cuban saboteurs and a pro-Castro
Cuban who was convicted of mur
der were sent back to their native
land yesterday in a swap for 21
Americans who were released
from Cuban prisons.
The four Cubans left Boca
Chica Naval Air Station at Key
West, Fla., aboard a Cubana Air
Lines plane that was escorted over
American water by four US. jet
fighters.
The plane carrying the Cubans
from New York had landed at Boca
Chica. They transferred to the
Cubana airliner and left some 30
minutes later.
Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy said
Wednesday night the four were
being sent back to Cuba in the
The key figure behind the ex
change probably was New York
attorney James Donovan, who also
engineered the Abel-Powers spy
swap and the ranson of 1,113 Bay
of Pigs invasion prisoners.
Shortly after Donovan secured
the release of 21 Americans from
Cuban prisons Monday and flew
with them to Florida, the follow
ing occurred:
The Justice Department an
nounced in Washington its was
dropping charges against two Cu
ban nationals and one Cuban
American under indictment in
New York for an alleged sabotage
conspiracy.
Gov. Nelson Rockefeller freed
from a New York state prison a
pro-Castro Cuban sentenced to
20-years-to-life for the 1960 acci
dental slaying of a 9-year-old
Venezuenlan girl during a political
brawl in a New York restaurant.
Shortly before 10 o’clock Wed
nesday night, the four Cubans
were placed on a plane at Idlewild
Airport.
Kennedy told newsmen at a New
York reception by the Cuban Pri
soners Committee the decision to
free the alleged Cuban saboteurs
was part of a trade for the Ameri
can prisoners in Cuba.
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