Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-17
DIPLOMACY IN FIGURES.

ana economic tactS. never
before has the human race
~ been so profoundly influenced
by economic principles.
At FIRST when the necessities of man
and the products of mans labor were
almost primitive, nations were solely
engaged in a warlike competition Of
conquest and destruction, in which the
strongest one came out paramount and
unexcelled in power. Later this mill
tary competition was gradually trans
formed into an intellectual one and the
most cultured nation held supreme.
Today, when finance and the laws OF
commerce govern the affairs of men,
that competition is Of an economic ma
ture, and the most reSourceful, indus
trial and commercial peoples hold in
their hands the destinies of mankind.
Yesteryear each separate community
subsisted almost entirely on its own
resources and passed through life with
out even knowing what was in the SOIL
of other regions or what was being
produced by men of other countries
Today economic interdependence among
nations is so strong and absolute that
not only commercial but political and
cultural relations as well seem deter
mined by economic factors. Figures
numbers and statistics are writing MS
tory in our days.
Hence the Inauguration of a Pan
American trade conference next week
in Sacramento, Calf, has aroused ire
mendous interest in economic and po-
litical circles throughout the continent
The pan-American movement though
based on moral and political ideals OF
human understanding, is an eminently
economic one. 1t was really Initiated
by the necessity for an interchange OF
he nd hpfuTpnTl
two Americas And it has always had
its strongest support in the increase OF
financial and commercial links between
this country and the republics south OF
the Rio Grande.
Possibly this is why it has succeeded
Other purely political movements-the
pan-German scheme, the pan-RuSSlan
idea, the pan-European formula-have
collapsed with little struggle. But eco
nomic considerations and economic
necessities ere more capable of over
coming political differences and mis-
Understandings than is the most skill
full diplomacy. AS long as pan Ameri-
canism remains an essentially economic
movement there need be no fear OF
political or psychological obstacles.
With the object of promoting free
intercourse and exchange OF views and
suggestions looking to better under
standing and mutual benefits" Pan
American Reciprocal Conference will be
held at Sacramento, Calf, beginning
August rs, under aupices of the Sacra-
mento Region Citizens Council. Rep
resentativeS from all over the continent,
merchants, business men and producers
from all the Latin republics, will par
ticipate in the conference and exhibit
there the various products that enter
into export trade.
The topics for discussion will include
transportation, communications, credits
banking, arbitration of commercial dis
puteS, existing barriers to reciprocal
trade and similar matters.
The promoters of this conference
have stressed its unofficial character
This is to be but friendly meeting OF
producers, fruit growers, representa-
tiveS of trade bodies and commercial
associations and all others interested
in the development of markets for the
products of the American countries,
with no official character whatsoever
1t is a gathering of business men who
are not interested in finding out who
started the Mexican American War,
sent the Marines to Nicaragua, or who
suggested the policy of the big stick
in the Caribbean zone.
The real purpose of the Sacramento
conference may be summarized in the
five words In which one of its promoters
put it-"Come, let us reason together"
WINNING THE LATIN NJ RKET.
The Sacramento Pan-American Re
ciprocal Trade Conference was organ
lied by a group of far-sighted United
States business men who realized the
importance of the Latin American mar
ket for the future OF American export
trade and regard it as an element of
American prosperity.
The Latin American market unqueS-
tionably will play most important part
in the future commercial relations 4
the world. 1t includes 20 countries of
vast natural resources, of ineXhauStible
wealth. And practically all of them are
Just beginning to develop their own in
dustrieS. They are countries which on
the one hand have been until now
hardly exploited, and on the other have
not as yet industries sufficiently devel-
oped to satisfy their ever growing needs.
They constitute then, an excellent field
for both the investment of capital and
the consumption of foreign manufac-
tured goods. They possess everything
that could be desired in an ideal mar
| ket. They have money. raw material
| and the means with which to guarantee
all investments and Welcome capital and
| imported products. And yet, strange as
| it seems, it was not until recently that
| American exporters realized the fact
| that a privileged market, open for
American goods, lay down on the other
side of the Rio Grande.
| Before the World War 1t was ar