davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The New York herald., 1921-04-24

tale which is excellently illustrated In
color. This magazine combines the
excellent qualities of the better Amer
lean magazines with the tawdriness OF
Sunday supplements.
An entire school of magazines have
followed In the wake of this lively
periodical. Chucdrds QHnitdes OF
Sac Paulo has practically aped its
name. An Argentine company which
changed the form somewhat but re-
tanned the general features now OPP
crates successful magazines in every
capital In South America. These con-
tain news photographs. poetry, society
events. and the hodge-podge of the
Sunday magazine. and are known as
World OF Brasil. World Of Argentine
&C.
In passing a word should be said
for Ceramics. a magazine published
In Madrid and devoted entirely to
Spanish American letters. Each issue
Is survey Of the current literature
of the Spanish speaking countries OF
America. It's contributors write from
every nation of the New World. A
discussion of some phase of the liter
ature OF a Latin-American country is
published each month. together with
articles on the literary life and tech
nical problems peculiar to this large
group OF writer's.
Nowhere else In the world is peri
odical literature so intimate and so
alive as IL is in Latin America. IT
Ia land where people hurl themselves
t..4 a. - - An.
nearness of the baclwoods. the green
hell OF the uncleared jungle which Is
virtually at the doorstep OF every
Latin American nation. The pro-
claimed intent of scores Of these mag
azines is to draw the attention OF
writer's from the glitter OF the con-
tinent to the deeper, if duller. life OF
their own countries.
II Is a land where everybody writes
poetry, the bustling housewife and the
sleepy office boy Don Quixote has
ascended there from a classic to the
rank of folk tale and Sancho Panza q
chestnuts crack the sides Of the
swarthy bootblacks in Valparaiso
streets to-day. In land like this,
where the poems OF Amado Nervo
most subtle, restrained. and profound
Of poets. has great sale. great lit
erature Is TO be expected. II is decreed
by an economic law for there is a
great demand for the artistically beau-
tlful in South America, and the writ
ers .of South America will sooner or
later happen upon the vein Of inspira-
tiop that will enable them to mine
poems and romances OF genuine value
TO keep this vast, attentive audience
engrossed until industrialism has
grown strong enough to do battle
with art.
The New York herald., 1921-04-24
Spain utilized the Indian

Americans responded to this appeal by
giving their children such aboriginal
names as Caupolican. This tendency
to respect the old culture of the Arau-
canians and the Incas gave pictur-
esque coloring to the revolt of SPANS
colonies. and ever since that period has
modified the intellectual and cultural
life of South America. Mr.. Moses has
handled his subject so carefully that
his readers will hope that he continues
10 write on the later phases OF Spanish
America.
The New York herald., 1921-04-24
A melodrama a
Of the South Seas

HELLS MATCHES. BY Lewis r. Free
man. Dodd Mead & Co.
Since Melville's ''Typee" the South
Sea Islands have been the darlings of
the writer's of adventure stories. While
they are the nearest approach to
dream backgrounds or settings for
Pandoralike existences they contain
at the same time unsurpassed settings
for adventure stories. Between Mel
Vile. who merely embroidered an ac-
tual happening, and Lewis Freeman's
lurid "Hell's Hatches" there is more
than the hiatus of time. One relied
for his interest on the islands topog-
raphy and the curious habits OF its
inhabitants: the other merely used
the islands as painted scene before
which his puppets play out conven-
tional melodrama.
The man who tells the story is a
painter and is introduced to us while
he is waiting in his hotel room for an
opportunity to shoot to kill an enemy
whom he has invited to CALL His hands
are thrust deep in the pockets of his
hunting jacket. and as he PAGES the
floor impatiently he soliloquizes on
how long he can abstain from his
absinthe and about his ability TO shoot
pistols with unerring aim from his
coat pockets.
The tale twists and knots about
three characters, a South Sea beauty
and two men who love her--an Amer
lean naval officer who drank himself
out of glorious career into the OBJ
security of South Sea beach. where
he somehow still maintains the tradi-
tons of a gentleman and remark
ably able cutthroat. The woman
prefers the American, and when he
perishes as result of the others con-
triving she avenges him. That Is all
confused melange of something
which resembles life az much as a
toot on q mouth organ resembles the
playing of a symphony orchestra
The New York herald., 1921-04-24

TAI Dies. while the newspapers print
serial stories from time to time. La
Ndci0n of Buenos Aires publishes each
Sunday an illustrated supplement
which is literary i'm tone, containing
articles on new literary developments.
and a page devoted to reviews OF new
books and comment on events in the
book world Plus Ultra of the same
city is the most ornate periodical
under the Southern Cross being mod
elled after La Esferd of Spain. For
its cover each month this magazine
has reproduction I'm color of a paint
ing Of one OF the masters and con-
tains within its covers many similar
reproductions, also in color. Its
poetry, fiction. and articles are al
ways illustrated. Sometimes the IL
lustrations attain a high degree Of
excellence and very rarely do they
sink to the stupid literalness of Amer
lean illustration. A similar magazine
exists in Rio dc Janeiro, but the
printing and style Of it are not nearly
so good, and it's contents are mostly
pirated.
For examples of Spanish American
periodicals we are forced to turn again
and again to Buenos Aires, which APP
proaches closer than any other city
Of Latin America TO being it's literary
capital. Cdrds " Cdretds Is the only
periodical in South America which
has a continent wide circulation OF
any Importance. 1t earns more money
for its owners than any other and is
best liked by the populace. Moth
withstanding its popularity 1t prints
excellent poetry and fiction. II would
be hard to say whether Its popularity
Is due to the excellence OF it's contents
or to the fact that il has reached a
point where IL can print what IL
chooses and retain its readers and
advertisers nevertheless. IT Is packed
with advertisements and hits off the
Argentine spirit. and therefore the
spirit Of South America. better than
any OF its contemporaries.
Cards u Cdrctds. which translated
means "Plain Faces and Funny
Faces" is an illustrated weekly, about
half the size Of Hdrper's. It's cover is
invariably an excellent political car
toon. often the work of Alvarez, a
superb caricaturist who draws exclu-
sively for this weekly II presents
summary Of the events OF each week
by means OF photographs which per-
form the function Of our rotagravure
sections. us treatment OF politics is
spirited and satilfcal. and always brief
1t publishes a page Of picture comics
adapted to the country. Sometimes
these appear in color. The characters
IN them are bywords and as well
known in the streets of Buenos Aires
as Mutt and jeff and silk Hat Harry
to Americans. Each issue contains d
The New York herald., 1921-04-24
BY GEORGE KENT.

The temperament of literary South
literature, which is chameleon. Maga-
zines come and go. The residents of
the different capitals take for granted
new periodicals, and sometimes remark
cynically that first issues are best
issues Very few OF these periodicals
last long They exist for a few
months. perhaps for year, and then
they pass. and their editors for the
remainder OF their days mention the
fact OF their editorship with great
eclat.
Many are mere ventures into the
popular field, attempts to combine the
virtues Of Police Gazette. Vic Paris
icnne and the American. Others are
roughly printed radical organs which
veritably crackle in the newsdealers'
liosks Then there are the organs
OF bands of fervent Htterdteurs who
viii not brook compromise with their
artistic principles. even IL 1t mean
motor cars These are thin leaflets
containing much pretty verse and now
and again a gem of pure lustrc. They
are effusions OF youth. terribly sim
core expressions Of an age which has
not yet learned TO shrug as life goes
hy. Latin America is young just az
Paris Is young, and will always be.
But they pass, these enchanting mag
azines. though from the readers view
point they remain because there is
always the same number Of them on
sale at the stands.
Some. however, have carried on.
Such Is Nosotros. or OurselUcs. of
Buenos Aires, solid literary monthly
Of the Merc,rc de France type which
attempts to be univfrsal in scope In
ono issue not long Ago II contained a
chapter Of history OF San Domingo.
an article dated Havana dealing with
the younger poets Of Cuba. a sketch
OF the life and works OF Prosper Meri-
NEE, n translation OF one OF Verhaer-
ems longer poems, and multitude
of poems, among which was one adj
dressed TO "Kewpicr
A marked characteristic OF these
southern periodicals is their daring.
I0elr tuitOi@ ptlHt Wndt tHey piedfe
ana do not hesitate 20 tumble an old
policy into the discard II new policy
seems 20 be an Improvement. When
Amado Nervo. the Justly famous Mex
lean poet. died, Nosotros devoted an
entire issue to selected poems OF the
poet and 10 articles discussing the
different aspects OF his work cuba
Contenipordned in one issue printed
Tfty-three sonnets OF obscure Spanish
poets OF the sixteenth century. and
continued to do so tgr several sue
The New York herald., 1921-04-24

difficulties OF export trade during this
period of price changes and depreciat-
ed exchange and which propose to re-
main for the fair weather expected
when business again improves. 1t is
the latter class Of business houses
both those already i'm South American
trade and those which intend getting
in later. that the Collins book should
interest.
There is a widespread inclination to
regard South America as unit. with
the same general characteristics in all
its parts. The truth Is, of course.
that there is practically as much diff
ference in language, customs. climate,
products and import requirements
among the ten gepublics OF South
America as there Is among the coun-
tries OF Europe. And the distances
and transportation difficulties are in
comparably greater.
A careful reading of Straight Busi-
ness in South America" ought to be
extremely helpful at this time to all
Americans interested in doing business
with that continent because Mr.. Col
Inns visited II just at the period when
the war boom was coming to close
raw material prices were giving evil
dence of the tremendous tumble they
shortly afterward took and when selling
methods were at the point OF radical
revision III business was TO be con-
tinued. His book appears just as 9
new deal becomes necessary in export
trade. The question is a bigger one
than any scheme for providing export
credits and the failure of the allevia-
tive measures so far undertaken to
bring any relief shows the magnitude
of the entire matter.
South Americas present plight Is a
natural and inevitable reflection of
world depression. With the credit cre-
ated by the advance OF ten billion
dollars to Europe during the war
period. American exporters were able
to take over practically the entire vol
ume Of raw materials formerly sold by
South America to Europe. But with
the end OF those credits has come re-
duced buying power and with reduced
buying power raw materials, always
the first to respond to economic fac
tors. have declined to q point where
their sale usually means a loss to the
South American producer. This back
ing-up process has extended until the
exchanges are entirely abnormal and
the purchase OF a dollar draft in any
South American country can now only
be effected by the payment Of a high
premium. This kills the opportunity to
make profit in the sale OF goods. and
when profits stop. business stops
American exporters are thus at the
mercy OF world situation which only
world Improvement can remedy.
The business houses which realize
that sellers markets are gone for
many years and that q buyers mar
kct in South America means the hard
est kind of European competition will
enter the coming period with rea-
sonable chance for profit. Such houses
will find in Mr.. Collins's carefully
written book a host Of common sense
observations more likely 10 prove oi
dollars and cents value than anything
that has appeared in this field in .
long time.
The New York herald., 1921-04-24

Ceeding issues. The editors explained
that these poems represented an an
thology of neglected poets OF the
Spanish classical period whose better
work had been painstakingly collected
and annotated by a certain Havana
belles-lettrist. The issue that con-
tained the first instalment OF the an
thology included carefully written
article on the Monroe Doctrine and
the League OF Nations, forty pages
in length. Ldttle wonder some OF
these magazines are short liyed--they
pay no attention to the publicl Only
the Little RevfctO has been bold
enough to devote an entire issue to
one subject.
The literary periodicals are in the
main Of one type, appearing once a
month. and resembling In appearance
the Atlantic Monthly or the Dial.
The tone OF these magazines is severe /;
they are devoted to literature. philoso-
ply and international affairs. They
are far more international in scope
and matter than any American maga-
zine is to-day. with the possible ex-
ception OF the Dial. which has re-
Gently inaugurated policy Of intro
ducing foreign writer's 70 It's readers
Once n a great while a tale will be
printed, but they are always hospi-
table TO poetry and print in each
such a quantity OF poems as only a
purely poetry magazine would have
the temerity to print in this country
A few are conservative and frown
/ ~ Isfx "a, t,f. r11 htff
the great ma ajority are liberal, and
welcome the discussion and display
Of experiments n new mediums
Jurcntnd OF San Luis Potosi. Mexico
prints q long poem on the aeroplane
written. in the following form
And so through
The sky
In flight
Triumphal
The rumbling aeroplanes drum
With their potent. rhythmic motors,
Which in the imperial blue sounds--hum,
Hum.
! Hum.
| Hum.
| Every large city ia South America
has nj least one magazine which has
| withstood all vicissitudes. There are
too many Of them to be discussed here
The Mercurio PcrunHo Of Lima, Peru
not long ago continued Don Quixote
by bringing that gallant knight q
"Yanqui-land" The new adventures
Of the sire OF La Mancha continued
for almost year Caltura VeneSo-
tdno. Of Caracas. Pc0dso of Monte
video. Reristd Americana OF Rio de
Janeiro deserve mention for the uni
form excellence Of their content.
No purely fiction magazines exist
In South America. but most OF the
popular magazines print stories and
The New York herald., 1921-04-24
Reviewed by FRANK PLACHY, Jr.

James II. Collins has done American
foreign trade a distinct service in his
book Straight Business In South
America" There is no subject on
which so much half-baked thought
has been put out as the subject of the
trade and other relations between the
United States and the twenty repub-
lies of South and Central America. A
ridiculously large percentage of the
printed matter circulated in this coun-
try since 1914 concerning South
America has been written by men who
not only had never been to that con-
tinent, but whose connections precluded
them from obtaining first hand infor-
nation regarding the obstacles to
smooth trading that have so persist
emily clogged the wheels of commerce
up TO the present time.
The present situation presents an
ideal opportunity for Mr.. Collins's
book. because trade between this coun-
try and South America Is slowing
down to a point where 1t must soon
come to a standstill unless effective
measures for purchasing South Amer
ica's raw materials can be rapidly
worked out. II Is clear to all having
any connection with export trade that
different methods must be used in the
future from those that have been in
effect since the war cut off European
markets TO South American buyers
and closed to South American sellers
the markets ian which they formerly
sold more than so per cent of their
raw materials. Mr.. Collins aptly de-
scribes the buying and selling situa-
ton. so far as Americans are con-
cerned, when he says that "the Ameri-
can business man who looks to Latin
America for a market is different from
the American business man who buys
Latin Americas products. The first
Is a romanticist and the second a
hard headed realist.'
But the European sellers, particu-
larly the Germans, were not roman
ticists when they practically controlled
South American trade before the war.
There was just as much hard-headed-
ness in their selling as In their buy
ing. The romanticist period in South
America Ii at an end; hereafter price,
terms, quality and promptness OF de-
livery will determine whether Ameri-
can goods retain the markets they
have had during the past six years or
whether the trade will go back to
Europe. It is going to be fight un-
der any circumstances. and Observers
like Mr. Collins who keep their feet on
the ground and think in straight lines
are rendering service to this coun-
try's foreign trade that deserves ade-
quate recognition.
The last six months have been a
period of such extraordinary disloca-
ton of the South American exchanges
and adverse conditions have in gen
eral been SO marked that there has
been shaking-out process going on
among firms seeking TO export goods
to South America. The result has
been that most of the fly-by-nights
have quit. leaving the field TO those
| houses which frankly recognize the
The New York herald., 1921-04-24
South America, buyer S market

STRAIGHT BUSINESS IN SOUTH
AMERICA BY James H. Collins. ID.
Appleton e. Co.
The New York herald., 1921-04-24

SPANS DECLINING POWER IN
SOUTH AMERICA: l730-1S00 BY
Bernard Moses. California: Univer-
sity Of California Press
The history OF South America IS
very interesting at the point where
Prescott left off Bernard Moses has
written a book which supplements
"The Conquest of Peru" He is inter-
ested In showing us what makes the
wheels go round. Hence his material
Is mostly expository. However. his
narrative does not lag on this account
and floats the more steadily In the
rapids and eddies of history because it
has so much ballast.
AS Spain was the first colonial
Power she had no precedents to guide
her. The other nations of the world
have profited by her experience. Spain
had two points in her favor at the out
set. Mr.. Moses stresses the fact that
the social organization OF the Spaniard
permitted the Incorporation of the In
dians as a working class. He con-
TRACTS this with the conditions in the
English colonies. There the native
had to disappear because there was no
place for him.
Mr.. Moses does not refer TO another
advantage which the Spaniard had
his religion--in any expository way.
He seems to neglect this. However.
4, ,se- 20 aoto arn 81 n
olic faith had many qualities which
held the attention of the Indians. Her
missionaries We're more jealous than
the Protestants of that generation.
Throuehout the continent the Jesuit
fathers made converts and taught
them the arts Of civilization. They
formed a State within a State. Their
power frequently contlicted with that
OF the royal governors. but Il pro-
tected the Indians from >the greed of
the grasping descendants of the Con-
quistadores. The Jesuits contributed
stone to the edifce which did not
match the rest Of the building. but
when 1t was taken out a gap was left
which made II totter.
During the latter part of the eigh-
teenth century revolt was in the air.
and Mr.. Moses has shown how the
Spanish colonies were affected by new
ideas. The American Revolution had
comparatively slight effect, although
Mirandas expedition to Venezuela
started from New York. The French
Revolution had more important infiu-
ence, and Mr.. Moses does justice to
this factor. Chateaubriand's noble
savage had been anticipated by the
epic of "Ercilla" and many Latin
The New York herald., 1921-04-24

the garden by the Tigris, when the
world was young"
A great deal OF the drowsy, unreal
atmosphere of the South Seas has en-
tered into and permeated the atmos-
phere of the book, although the pro-
cession of Cunninghame Graham's
virile northern rhythms across the
page is anything but sleep inducing.
But the Old Worldliness of ! the old
city must pass: its advantages doom
1t TO prosperity: Nothing can stop
the port of Cartagena from becoming
eventually the chief emporium of
trade upon the coast Its unrivalled
karbor. sheltered from every wind;
its, healthy climate. compared with
The New York herald., 1921-04-24

fever ridden morasses and into flights
OF poisoned arrows.
One-fifth of all the treasure went
overseas to the King of Spain; the
remainder was divided among the
members of the expedition and went
toward the Improvement of the city.
The silver galleons from other parts
of Spanish America gathered in the
fine land locked harbor OF the city be-
fore setting out for Spain. The rumor
of treasure carried like the stencil of
carrion to the buccaneers of the day.
Hawkins and Frobisher must often
have seen its walls. the tops of the
white houses. and the palm trees, as
they lay outside the Boca. Grande,
waiting for chance galleons," writes
Graham. In 1854 Sir Francis Drake
reduced the town to ashes and set
sail for England after pillaging the
town. A Frenchman several years
later again burned the city to the
ground. But Cartagena. phenixlike,
always rose from the ashes, a more
beautiful and more substantial city
than before.
To defend the city against attack
and from invasion from corsairs
heavy walls were built, so wide that
four teams may drive abreast In COM
fort upon them. "Cartagena does not
found her charm on mere natural ad-
vantages although these are great"
declares the writer, "but upon history
and tradition and on the Incompatible
picturesqueness of the town and it's
monumental walls. Built Of the finest
masonry and thirty feet in height, they
ring the city round. giving it an air Of
Avila San Gemigniano. or of Aigues
Mortes gone astray in the tropics"
The cost of these walls was so tre-
mendous that tradition has it that
when the Duke of Alba once asked
King Philip II. why he gazed across
the Atlantic so steadfastly. he replied:
Il am looking for the walls of Carta-
gena. They cost so much, they must
be visible from here"
Not only is 1t the most Old World
town in the department of Bolivar
but of the whole republic and perhaps
OF the whole continent of South Amer
lea. A breeze springs up from
off the sea. Nature and man revive.
and as it rustles in the palms thin
cloud of mist or spray seems to en-
velop all the city and it's green gar
Gens, letting them just appear beneath
it with all their colors toned down and
softened just as you catch the tone of
caftan and burnoose under the fieecy
texture Of a diaphanous haik from
Fez or Mequinez, as rich Moor rides
past in Africa.
I'm the dark winding streets. where
houses, over whose iron studded doors
are cut the crests of conquerors, men
stand before grated windows, as they
do in Seville or in Cordoba, whisper
ing the tale. so wearisome to any but
the ear 1t is intended for; old as the
world, but which will yet be fresh
after a thousand years have passed
away
or the tropical aspect OF the city
there is the following as an example:
Houses Of the interior are few and
far between, except upon the bank of
the Sinu. where in some places they
form a street on both sides Of the
stream. Nothing is more interesting
than to ride through one OF these
struggling settlements; for several
miles are cottages of canes and