The New York herald., 1922-06-18
By PETER J. HAMILTON.

boutneru NeW 1Orks Was BuenOS
Aires. with its over two millions of
people. and that the region of the
La Plata River was the richest of
the southern continent Anu Ibanez
should know, for he has LIVED. there,
as Madariaga # ''ThL Four Horse
men of the Apocalypse" shows.
There winter comes in July and
summer in January, and pei haps it
is not strange the point of view is
different in North and South Amer
lea New York is cosmopolitan. but
its melting pot IS largely a theory.
for it has compartments which do
not communicate. Along tbs PlaIe,
however. the immigration tas been
more largely from the south of Eu-
rope and under a Spanish surface
there a real Latin spirit and result.
But not only is Buenos Aires in
many respects different from the in
terror OF vast pampas. where the old
Indians have become the Gauchos
world. but the La Plata estuary ami
the other rivers which supply it have
cities only less famous than Buenos
Aires. High up is the port of Ro-
sario: higher still on another stream
is the uneasy State o. Paraguay. ia
nous for the Jesuit attempt at Com
munism: and on the sea is Monte
video. the capital of a more unified
country-Uruguay. Uruguay was
settled by the oldest race of Spain
perhaps the oldest race of Europe
the BasqueS. Navarro in FraI ce and
Spain-or we should invert the
phrase. for the Basques were before
there was a France or Spair'-is of
this race and it has known great
men besides Henry w. Loyola and
Joffre. Montevideo admit: that
Buenos Aires is larger but thinks
there are other tokens of greatness
than size. Possibly the same obses-
sion obtains in the northern conti-
nent. At all events in Mortevideo
was born. lived and near the out
break of the great war died Use En-
rique Rodo. whom the Lati., Ameri-
can. if not the Ibero American. world
reverences as its foremost modern
writer.
Rodo was born in 1872. and from
his twenty-sixth year was professor
of literature at his alma mater. the
University Of Montevideo. Eut coll
lese professors may guide tha d.
and from his humble chair RndO was
to do so for all who could speak his
language. Whether he is t-anslat-
able is a question which viii deserve
consideration.
There is an old saying. Beware Cf
the man of one book; and Il is ap-
pIIcable to Rodo. for although he has
written two bo0ks-"Ariel' and
"Motivus de Proteo"-they are but
variations. charming variations one
must grant. of one theme. In both
he is a teacher and in the earlier,
which brought him fame. he actually
talks ex cathedra- And yet there is
a message TO others than his pupils.
and to Americans OF the NORTH there
Is a challenge. more refir.ed but
not less distinct than the Hcch der
Kaiser of later days to the would-be
MASTER of Europe. But it is a spir
itual challenge by one who cCnfesses
be admires the United States. al
though he did not love them.
rielr is a household word in Spain
a. Spanish America and still goes
thr ugh edition after edition. In an
Introduction by the great civil law
yev and historian. Rafael Atamira.
after Rodo's premature death in his
thirties. the little essay of hardly a
hundred pages is ranked with the
best of Valera Leopoldo A'as and
Menendez Pelayo; and they are the
best Spanish writer's of the nine
teenth century. It's effect has been
much like that Of the "IdeariL m" in
which just before the American war
Ganivet acutely analyzed tn defect
OF the Spanish character to be that
of the VIII. But Garivet died by his
own hand and his message was one
OF despair. Rodo perhaps. according
10 American standards. sounds a