The Washington herald., 1920-04-05

Ccmpaay.)
BY JAMES II. COLLINS.
Valparaiso. Chile, April 4.-Some
time ago q poet In one OF the Latin
American countries wrote a Hymn
of Hate" against the United States.
II was not very we'll balanced
hymn-maybe he was an unbalanced
poet. But 1t called upon all Latin
America to rise and resist the Bar
barian Of the North, and rumor said
it circulated widely all over the
southern continent, and was part Of
a campaign against the Yankees un-
dertaken by literary men.
1t Is disquieting to think about
such distorted stuff circulating
among our friends to the south.
Don't think about 1t, however. for
1t doesn't circulate to any extent.
As Sidney Smith once asked. con-
temptuously, "who reads an Amer
ican bookT So the phrase might
be applied to Latin-AmerIca's lit
erature. The southern continent to-
day is in much the same situation
as ourselves seventy-nve years ago
In this respect. and 1t suffers under
certain handicsps that go with lack
of interchange OF reading matter.
The Latin-American republics are
still surrounded by Chinese walls,
in the view of Senior Carlos Silva
Cruz. director of the Chilean Ma
tionsl Library, the largest on the
southern continent. For some years
Senor Cruz has deplored this state
Of affairs and endeavored to cor
rect il. 1t Is not so much a matter
of circulating the fiction and poetry
of the different countries among
themselves as of circulating the
scientific, technical and economic
literature so necessary to their ma
terial development. likewise of set
ting up circulation OF books be-
tween South and North America,
for a better understanding all
around.
The Chilean National Library has
a large American department de-
voted to the books of both 'contin-
ents. Fully two-fifths of the vol
umes are North American books,
and a recent gift of 5000 volumes
by the Carnegie Institute will bring
the percentage up to half. The
Carnegie gift was carefully selected
with a view to making available in
Chile a wide range of information
upon our national life and activities.
Foreign Books Most Popular.
Figures compiled during one year
at this library show that of $4,000
volumes asked for in the reading
room $4,000 were Chilean and $4,000
foreign. OF the latter, French led
with $1,000 volumes. Spanish came
next with $4,000, and only $500 were
American. That 6 per cent repre-
sented works from the nineteen
other Latin-American countries and
also the United States. Through a
local campaign to arouse interest I'M
neighboring countries, Senor Cruz
succeeded in bringing the proper
tion up to 10 per cent the following
year.
The Chinese wall even runs
around Spain. though not quite so
high. 1t might be thought that the
Spanish American countries would
read Spanish literature, but the
great bulk of their foreign reading
is French. This is due not only
to their admiration for French
thought and achievement, but also
to the activities of French pub
fishers in sending announcements
Of new books. Spanish publishers
lack this enterprise, often fail TO
answer letters> of inquiry about
books and supply them only after
tedious delays, IL at all.
II Chilean writes a useful book
II Is read in Chile. but not in Ar
gentina or Peru. much less distant
Central American countries. AS the
reading public in no Latin-Ameri-
can country exceeds a million peo-
pie, and in the small countries
maybe q few thousands, the sale
Of any book IL small. and publica-
tion unprofitable, whereas IL books
could be circulated on the con-
tinental plan, as with us.i large
editions could be published.
The Latin American who. through
reading. knows anything at all of
the United States---its people. char
acter. work and ideals-knows US
only Through European books. In