Evening star., 1928-10-21
PAN.AMERICANISM HURT
BY NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Cooperative Endeavor Between United
States and Latin American Nations
Held Sure to Bring Greater Era.

| lOdIlS III new 1OTk Dy tIlSH govern
ments, and look with suspicion at the
private interests of American citizens
and corporations who 60 there seeking
fortunes.
Herein lies the erroneous conception
which has resulted from this unfound-
ed propaganda of elements who may be
identified as Communists and enemies
of the United States. Fortunately not
all of the Latin American people have
the same ideas, but nevertheless that
condition of affairs actually holds true.
Due to Lack of knowledge.
In speaking of this great impediment,
which has delayed the successful de-
velopment of pan-Americanism, we
must consider that the reason for this is
due in a great measure to the little
| knowledge and conception which they
have respecting the psychology of the
North American people. They have
heard only of their materialistic in
clinations little they know of their
humanitarian principles and generosity,
and nothing of their great ideals. Only
those Latin Americans who have lived
in the United States are in a position
| to appreciate the great ideals and noble
| principles of this country, which is
serving the world as a great example of
| good government However, it is ut
| terly impossible to wait until all the
people of Latin America have visited
| the United States in order that that
misconception which is SO greatly him
dering the pan-American relations may
be forever done away with. We must
carry the light of truth into those very
countries; we must convince them of
i what North America actually is; we
must destroy that evil propaganda and
| intrigue.
Let bis now consider, on the other
| hand, to what extent is the United
| States held to lack that conception of
| economic affairs which may be at
| tributed, in part, to the limited knowl-
edge it has of the Latin American coun-
tries. The sin has not entirely been
perpetrated by those who maliciously
interpret the intentions of the North
American capitalists The carelessness
of those who direct the foreign eco
nomic policies of the United States is
also responsible to a certain extent. A
| clear and just idea of the true economic
Importance of the Latin American coun-
| tries does not exist Although there
are many who are well acquainted with
such affairs, yet there are millions of
people who still believe that the Latin
American countries are semi-civiliZed re-
| gions, where commerce, industries and
| the like facilities are in a primitive stage.
| Others continue to believe in the fable
of political instability and fear the in
vestment of their capital in countries
where revolutions and massacres are
being carried on without any apparent
reason. In general, there is a lot to be
desired respecting their knowledge of
Latin American affairs.
Dislike Tariff Policy.
To this lack of conception may be at
tributed the commission of errors in the
economic affairs of the United States
with the Latin American countries. AS
economic relations of these countries
are not highly regarded, it occurs there
fore that no heed is given to their pro-
tests against the exhorbitant tariffs
which are imposed upon their principal
products by the United States authori-
ties; nor to their appeals against the
small immigration quota to which they
have been limited, and as no effort is
made to remedy this condition of affairs
| or bring about better understanding,
| these problems still remain unsolved.
Perhaps the most serious of them is
| the one dealing with tariffs. The high
tariffs imposed upon certain class
of commodities of Latin American
origin has greatly delayed the proper
development of the economic affairs of
| those countries. Because the great ma
jority of their products is subjected to
| heavy tariffs by the United States,
which is their principal buyer, their
commercial interests are naturally af-
| fected.
Argentine meats, Peruvian cotton,
Chilean inter, Bolivian metals, Cuban
| sugar, are shipped in great quantities
to the United States and yet they
must suffer the effects of those
high tariffs. And as those countries are
not in position to adopt the same
measures, because they are forced to
import great quantities of articles of
first necessity from the United States,
as well as to encourage the arrival on
their shores of North American capital
and to contract loans which day by day
become greater, they find themselves
| at disadvantage.
The tariffs imposed by them on
United States products are therefore
| moderate, but yet they find no reciproc-
ity in Uncle Sam. In the last Pan
American conference, held in Havana
| several months ago, the question of
tariffs was the subject of great debate
and study, and the Argentine delegate
availed himself of the opportunity Of
fered to delve further into the subject.
DIR. Pueyrredon, the Argentine Ambassa-
| dor to the United States, after attack
| ing the United States tariff policy. re-
signed as representative of his country
to the conference and to the White
| House. Some several months ago. be-
| cause of the recent prohibition of the
| importation of Cuban tobacco by parcel
| post into the United States and of the
| high tariffs imposed on the sugar of
that same country, reactionary move
ment has taken place in Cuba protest.
| ing against the barriers placed by the
| United States on its expectation, and
| this feeling of unrest has been ex-
pressed through the Havana daily press,
which supports and encourages the
establishment of protectionistic policy
in Cuba that would impose the same
restrictions especially on United States
! commodities.
| On the other hand, the Argentine Re-
| public has instructed its Ambassador in
| washington. Senor Malbran, to appear
| before the State Department and dis
! cuSS at length the recent increase in
tariff which has been imposed upon
Argentine linen. Whenever the subject
| of pan-Americanism is brought up. the
discussion of the customs tariffs is
| inevitable.
immigration Problem.
Another great problem which de-
serves serious consideration is that of
immigration. The Latin American
quota is very inadequate, thereby
severely restraining the immigration
Of Latin Americans into the United
States. This materially inpairs the
mutual understanding between the
people of the South and the North
and has tendency to influence the
economic relations of our countries
To these principal problems we may
) add few factors of secondary i'm
portance, such as the inadequate
) maritime service maintained by the
. United States with South America,
, which is much inferior to that in
J | Onprofi0n w +Ln ~