THE AMERICAS: Smashing the Legend

The U.S. took a step last week that may well smash a Latin American legend, assiduously nourished by the Communists, that U.S. policy in Central America is aimed exclusively at higher dividends for Boston's $579 million United Fruit Co., biggest business in the Caribbean. Under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, the Department of Justice charged the company with operating a monopoly. In a civil suit it demanded that United Fruit 1) break up its present structure, and 2) give competitors a chance in the banana business.

Federal court dockets are crowded; that fact plus possible delaying actions by United Fruit lawyers...

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