Last week Portugal produced no
big spot news ; it hadn't for 20 years ; it might not for 20 years more
if the God he strove so hard to serve spared Antonio de Oliveira
Salazar. For Salazar distrusted news. He suppressed and distorted it
for the good of the Portuguese who, he believed, were unfit for facts.
After 20 years of Salazar, the dean of Europe's dictators, Portugal was
a melancholy land of impoverished, confused and frightened people. Even
Salazar, that model of rectitude, showed signs of succumbing to a law
of politics discovered by Lord Acton: “Power tends to corrupt;
absolute power corrupts ab solutely.” The real news from Portugal was that another European dictatorship had
failed, though it might hang on for years. In the way of dictatorships,
it had stunned and shackled the wholesome forces that might have
replaced it. Not only was Portugal at a new low point, it showed every
sign of changing for the worse, perhaps slowly, perhaps by violent
upheaval. Success Story. Portuguese, however, looked happy enough last week as
Lisbon turned out for the annual People's Fair . They rented boats on Palhava Park lake. They smeared
their swarthy faces with spun sugar candy. They took pleasure in their
jados , although these ditties are not
always gay. Sample: Barbarous and murderous mother, Pitiless, heartless, she Threw her
daughters down a well Where they died in misery. They bought from fisherwomen in Bedouin-like headdresses the Portuguese
equivalent of hot dogs — grilled sardines.
But the biggest crowds milled, with wistful eyes, around the U.S.
pavilion, where wooden doll exhibits depicted typical scenes of life in
the fabled, incredibly distant land of freedom. If Portuguese had felt boastful instead of wistful, there was material
for self-congratulation about their Government and their way of life.
Britain, their old ally, banker and protector, now owed them
80,000.000. Spain, their old rival, was in the United Nations'
doghouse, while Salazar, in spite of his anti-democratic sympathies,
had pursued throughout World War II a serpentine policy whose final
tack was enough in the Allies' direction to earn their tolerance, if
not their approval. The Portuguese national budget, thanks to Salazar,
was always balanced these days. Portugal's exports were much higher than before the
war; her merchant marine was about to double its tonnage and her
fishing fleet was expanding. Portugal's shop windows were full of
luxury goods unobtainable in most of Europe. Her currency unit, the
escudo, was steady at four U.S. cents. Unhappy Ending. Behind this glossy exterior of success, decay eats away
at Portugal. Financial Wizard Salazar has not balanced the budgets of
Portuguese families. Food prices have nearly doubled since 1939. One
typical family with a monthly income of 1,200 escudos in May paid out
1,663 escudos for rent, food, clothing, water and light. Strictly
controlled wages lag far behind. Government workers, especially
important to a dictatorship, got a 25% increase in 1944 to meet a 112%
rise in the retail price index.
