CECLASSINEU Authority State better 12 8: MLAs Cate 24111 AIR MAIL claimed that the group which accomplished the destruction was an organized band of shock troops of the Vanguardia Popular, acting under orders. This Manuel Bora was quick to deny, but several of the group were in any case placea in jail, where, according to the Vinister of Public Security, they will stay until sentence has been passed.
As reported in the Embassy telegram No. 504 of September 18, President Picado departed on Monday morning for the Panamanian border to attend the ceremonies on the conclusion of the boundary agreement with Panama. During the President absence his brother is acting as President, and the latter told a member of the Embassy staff today that lora had approached him on the subject of the arrest of the persons alleged to have taken part in the window smashing, and informed him that he resented the jailing of these persons. Sr. Picado stated that Nora was in a highly upset state and that he had threatened to have fifty thousand men march on San José in protest. The former is said to have expressed his indifference to this threat, and it is probable that Mora received little satisfaction from Picado, for it is no secret that the two men feel little affection for each other.
Since Mora return from Mexico City the Vanguardia has also increased its propaganda campaign against various industrial concerns, particularly the United Fruit Company and the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz. So many charges that the United Fruit Company was trying to sabotage social legislation were made (whether founded on fact or not the Embassy is not in a position to say) that the manager of the local office of the company wrote an open letter to the Minister of Labor denying any abuses on the part of the company. This, in turn, was refuted by an article in the Vanguardia weekly organ, Trabajo.
The power company has also been the target of Vanguardia attacks on the grounds that the former was engaged in plans to construct a power plant at Heredia which would be less favorable to the community than would be a municipality sponsored project backed by the Vanguardia.
While the September 16 issue of Trabajo stated specifically that foreign companies were not being criticized merely because they were foreign, it cannot be denied that the attacks upon them are more severe than they have been in the past year. further labor problem tending to embarrass the Government has arisen in the construction industry, wherein a group of contractors has presented a protest over the wage rates set for workers in that industry. According to one of these contractors the rates fixed for their workers are both too high and take insufficient account of the varying skills required to be practicable. They have therefore proposed a modification of these rates to the Mixed Salary Commission, which has reportedly approved the proposal; the approval of the Executive will, however, be necessary before the changes can be made effective, and the CTCR has been exerting pressure to see that approval is denied. group of workers paraded through the streets. last week and proceeded to the Presidential Palace to manifest their displeasure at the proposed modifications, but it is almost certain that President Picado, upon his return, will give the matter thorough study before acting