Capitalist "Reds"

On Mas-a-tierra Island, 400 miles off the coast of Chile, one Alexander Selkirk was abandoned by his shipmates of the sailing ship Cinque Ports after quarreling with the captain, Thomas Stradling. Four years and four months later he was rescued, told his tale in London, and was fictionized for posterity as "Robinson Crusoe"* by Daniel Defoe. Last week Dictator Premier Carlos Ibanez of Chile announced that the Chilean "Reds" recently arrested by his agents (TIME, March 7) would be exiled on Mas-a-fuera Island, 100 miles west of "Robinson Crusoe's Island," supplied with tools and implements, with livestock and building material, guarded by Chilean soldiers and given an opportunity to test out their "Red" theories in a colony built by themselves.

Significance. Dictator Carlos Ibanez shrewdly reckoned that the Great Powers would see "poetic justice" in his exile of Chilean "Reds" to an isle which they can make as "Red" as they please. An admirable scheme! But who are these Chilean "Reds" that Dictator Ibanez strove to conceal? . . .

One is Dr. Felipe Urzua, onetime President of the Chilean Supreme Court. Another is Senor Rafael Luis Gumucio, Vice President of the Chilean Conservative party, and onetime President of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies. Still another is Senor Enrique Caballero, so "Red" that Chilean Capitalists have elected him President of the Association of Employers of Chile.

It is indisputable that these men are "Conservatives" and "Capitalists"--not "Reds." Their arrest was as scandalous as though President Coolidge should send soldiers to seize Chief Justice Taft and deport him as a Communist. The explanation, as usual, is that Dictator Carlos Ibanez is again finding his despotism over Chile threatened and is getting rid of his enemies under a plausible excuse. Among those arrested who might by a wild stretch of the imagination he called "Red" was Senor Luis Humberto Matis, "The Chilean Gompers," Secretary of the Chilean Federation of Labor.

* Selkirk lived 1676-1721, was marooned 1704-1709.