BOLIVIA-PARAGUAY: So Cheap

Swarthy soldiers wearing U. S. uniforms, complete with U. S. eagle buttons, advanced from Bolivia last week to do further battle with Paraguayans in the long disputed, excessively swampy Gran Chaco (TIME, Aug. 15, et seq.).

“The United States is evidently aiding Bolivia!” stormed excited Paraguayans. Soon, however, in La Paz an unofficial Bolivian spokesman made the real facts known.

“The uniforms were bought second hand from the U. S. Government,” said he. “They were bought so cheap that the U. S. Government could not afford to cut off the buttons. “It was agreed that the Bolivian Government should cut them off. Someone may have forgotten.”