Selling Job

After a breakfast stopover at Tacoma's McChord Field, the travelers climbed back into their four-motored C-54. Twinkly, brown-skinned Manuel Roxas, President-elect of the Philippines, paused to raise an arm in farewell for the cameramen.

"I hope this doesn't look like a fascist salute," he said, then ducked into the cabin.

At Washington's Boiling Field, late that night, Manuel Roxas wearily ended a 45-hour trip, ducked interviewers, planted a kiss on the cheek of his Vassar-student daughter, Maria Rosario, and scooted off to bed. Next day, he began to scurry about the capital with the dynamic energy of a supersalesman. He relaxed, like a salesman, in smart Washington dining spots, with imperious gallantry kissed the hand of a singer while flashbulbs exploded with good will (see cut).

Roxas had come seeking quick food and quick money for his war-ravaged islands. The islands' basic crop, rice, would not be harvested until next December, might not be harvested at all without equipment. The country's collapsed economy promised a $100 million government deficit during the next year.

He had come, too, to sell Manuel Roxas, and unsell the notion, widely propagated by U.S. Communists and proCommunists, that he carried a collaborationist taint from serving in a Jap puppet government. With him he brought the testimonial of General Douglas MacArthur, who said "consistently anti-Japanese . . . during . . . Bataan and Corregidor. . . . One of my most trusted and devoted officers." Then U.S. Navy Commander Charles ("Chick") Parsons gave conclusive evidence of Roxas' loyalty. He told of submarine trips he had made to contact Roxas during the Japanese occupation and to appoint him ringleader of U.S. espionage in 1943.

After calls on President Truman, acting Secretary of State Acheson, and UNRRA Director LaGuardia, nattily dressed Roxas held a press conference at Blair-Lee House. Said he, vigorously exhaling cigaret smoke through his nostrils: "Collaboration is no longer a political issue in the Philippines."

Concerning post-election outbreaks in Central Luzon between Filipino police and the Communist Hukbalahaps, who supported his recent opponent, Sergio Osmena, Salesman Roxas offered a cautious explanation:

"The present unrest is not the result of a feeling contrary to the government. It arises partly from social reasons, from economic conditions. My purpose is ... to relieve these conditions and ... to deal firmly for the maintenance of law."

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