The Washington herald., 1908-07-12
The south Americans.

The popular conception Of Castro in
this country. as reflected by the press.
seems to be that of an opera-bouffe ruler
or an irrepressible disturber Of the po-
liucal peace, but listen 10 this:
Ciprio Castro is an Andno. that is. a native of
the Andine sicrras He is Of good family. un-
cultured. as Venezuelan education goes a self-made
man. but by no means ignorant or to1rish.
Castro has made use of the nationalsm nourished
b} Cpspo and by several lucky strokes has turned
the c1unrys internal dissatisfaction into resentment
against exploitation from abroad. After all
ne Is modern man, not a reactionau: his patriot
Ism may be gTutcsque but IL is not insncere. his
economic policy may be ridiculous but il is not uu-
fTtoe1cnted Through his ministers De watches close
u the rest o. the world and he thinks he merely
follows g0od example. When he hears of tariffs
trusts and high finance he decides that what
methods are good Tor big countries are good Tor lit
tc ones. n he looks after bis friends he knows
Of others who doing likevise but he is learning
Castro IS eager for work and for knowledge If De
allowed 10 govern the country. The land cannot fan
to become prosperous. Peace is all they need: any
peaceful government. however bad is better than
revolution frank hcrcsyI Castro may not ba tie
most enlightened statesman Europe or the United
States might select. and. from our point II view he
may not be the best President: but he is the only
KIND ~ President capable n leading Ncnezcla into
the place she Is worthy Of occupying among South
American nations. Castro. when he recovers from
the ntUICatiOn n power will grow more liberal and
the country win learn meanwhile the peaceful art
of indUstrialm lut II he Is cast ont either by dis
content at home or Vaccinations abroad and il an
other revolution comes 20 destroy the little faith
and peace stiI left. God help Venezuela
The above extract IS from "The South
Americans" by Albert Hale. A. B.. NJ. D..
and member Of the Geographical Society
Of Rio de Janeiro. Mr.. Hale, In his book,
gives an extended and interesting account
of the condition Of affairs IN the South
American countries. taking a rather opu-
mistic view Of their future. Extensive
travel and observation I'm the Latin
American republics has enabled him 10
give q clear insight into the political.
economic. and social conditions which
prevail, and although his story may seem
at times TO be rather rOseate. Il bears
the complexion OF truth upon its face
Besides general exposition Of what he
claims 10 be the facts, he takes UP the
republics. one by one. from Brazil to
Venezuela, and endeavors to give North
Americans opportunity to form a reason
able conception of affairs as they really
exist, including the inhabitants. their
characteristics. progress. tendencies. and
especially their commercial relations with
the United States.
Under the latter head we find intensely
interesting and opportune reading, for he
details cOmprehensively the methods OF
European merchants especially the Ger
mans, and study of the weaknesses of
our own commercial methods in this part
Of the world He makes il evident that II
we wish TO prevail commercially In South
America. We must in the future give a
more intelligent study OF the needs and
characteristics Of the market. as well as
the methods Of our competitors. than We
have in the past. In fact. his writing as
sumes the character Of a note OF warning
lest we lose by inactivity and lack of
study this tremendously growing field for
the placing Of our export trade, differing
materially from the familiar politically
tinted consular report edited at home.
The whole thing as dilated upon by
Mr.. Hale. constitutes n subject full Of
interest. even ignoring the political quail
ity, for we know full well that the politi-
cal ways Of these denizens Of the Andean
slopes are not our ways, but Il is per
fectly evident that economic conditions at
homo demand that we should exhaust
every resource in capturing this great
market for our products and the political
aspect Of the Monroe doctrine, which the
author explains fully should also have
parallel bearing on the commercial out
look (The Bobbs-Merrill Company. In
dianapolis)