On the Move

New President Miguel Aleman packed action into his first week in office. Determined to increase Mexico's skimpy food production, he asked Congress to remove the threat of expropriation from small landholders by amending the Constitution.* Once owners were sure of their farms, Aleman hoped that they would improve them, raise more crops.

Women also got a break. The new President asked Congress to give them the right to vote and hold office in municipalities. (Feminist leaders immediately met to form a Women's Party, broke up in invective and fisticuffs.)

Last week the President also: P: Followed the progress of new Treasury Minister Ramon Beteta's talks with U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snyder. Mexico reportedly wants $400 million for more industrialization.

P: Received some 2,000 guests in the gold and damask halls of the National Palace. P:Got a ten-gallon Stetson and a cowboy shirt from a Texas delegation headed by Governor-elect Beauford Jester. P:Received calls from leftist ex-President Cardenas, rightist ex-President Abelardo Rodriguez and middle-of-the-road ex-President Camacho. P:Made a big hit with newsmen by holding Mexico's first give& amp; -take presidential press conference, broke another Mexican precedent by starting it at the scheduled time. But he neatly parried all attempts to define his new regime as right or left. Said Aleman, "My Government will be in ac cord with the wishes of the people."

* Article 27, the famed land-for-the-Indians proviso, legalizes breakup of big estates and prohibits division of "small properties." The new amendment, by finally denning small properties, would do away with the confusion that often led gun-toting squatters to move in on peaceful neighbors.

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