One revolutionary aspect of the news TIME has to cover is the way in which Central Americans have long been used to changing their governments. During the last year, the job of reporting this news has fallen mainly to John Stanton, chief of TIME Inc.'s Mexico City bureau. Learning that he had just returned from an extensive trip through Central America, I asked him to amplify his experiences with the postwar revolutionists. This is his reply:

"Since last January I have rushed southward three times into Central America in answer to five-alarm calls. I have stood stock still in Managua's central plaza howling Periodista! Periodista! (Journalist! Journalist!) at a platoon of General Somoza's guardia who were charging across with bayonets fixed. I have smudged my nose on San Jose's cold pavements when police fired in the general direction of a mob of which I, unhappily, was one. All in vain. Somehow or other the revolutions don't seem to carry through down here any more.

"Central Americans I have met feel a little sad about the lack of sizzle in their current revolutions. I found a doctor in Costa Rica, a newspaperman in Nicaragua and a customs official in Honduras this last trip who were all writing nostalgic biographies of William Walker, the Southern gentleman who used to make himself President of Nicaragua periodically and war upon everybody in sight. All three asked whether I knew of a good, reliable literary agent in New York.

"Here in Mexico City, occupying 45 chairs in as many different cafes on any given day, are the 45 generals who used to command Ubico's army in Guatemala. They have an odd habit of snorting through their noses as they tell you what they will do to the current Guatemalan Government once they get arms.

"Some of the old boys are still in office. Over in Honduras' capital, Tegucigalpa, sits General Carias, whose jails are still full of political prisoners. He glares at you out of a heavy, wooden face and asks: 'Why do you write such terrible things about me? Why do you do it?' Up on the hill in Managua is General Somoza, who kicks presidents in & out of office, at will. He greets you with a big smile and an abrazo and asks: 'Stanton, what can I do for you?' You talk about the political situation and he laughs at you and says: 'You know I have been good to my foes.' His eyes are dancing. You go away with an invitation to have dinner with him in Philadelphia as soon as his enemies manage to kick him out of the country.

"Things are changing in Central America. The millions of little fellows who for centuries had to be content with thatched huts, mud floors, beans, tortillas and abject poverty have been stirred by Mexico's example and are beginning to ask for more. You find such old line Central American generals as General Castenada talking worriedly of the need for social security laws and labor codes.

"These issues produce revolutionary types that must have the old bearded filibusteros spinning in their graves. Their headquarters are not in tents in the bush but in smart city clubs and luxurious suburban homes. A good example is General Rene Picado, defender of the Costa Rican government, a fat, jolly, ex-traveling salesman (Bauer & Black, surgical drugs) who for years told his stories up and down Central America. General Rene was so worried that a lot of the products of his ex-employer would have to be used in San Jose that he kept three holy candles (especially blessed at the Shrine of the Virgin of Suyate, patroness of Central American generals) in his headquarters. Whenever bad news came, he lit one; when good news came, he blew it out. Once he caught me staring at him and snapped: 'Only got three. Can't afford to waste wax.'

"But it's all good fun and the hotels are wonderful -- especially the Gran in Managua, where everybody sits around the great open lobby with the swimming pool in the middle, spying on one another. Some day I will discover why all the spies in Central America insist that they are in the lumber business.

When I do, I will write a story about it."

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