Evening star., 1932-02-21
BY GASTON VERVAL.

4 LMOST at the same time that
~ business experts in this country
~ report the first rays of opti-
4 mlsm breaking through the
clouds of depression the cable
brings the first encouraging news of an
economic nature that has come in a
long while from the other side of the
Rio Grande.
For the last two years the list of
bank failures. stock depreciations. price
cuts, growing unemployment and gen.
eral business upheavals throughout the
country has been constantly matched
in the newspapers by reports of similar
occurrences in Latin America-plus po-
litical complications precipitated there
by economic conditions.
Now that the vigorous anti-depreSSion
campaign, started by governmental and
private forces in this country, appears
to be bringing about a return of public
supplemented by optimistic news from
the rest of the continent.
Whether the end of the depression
is really here, or whether this is only
false alarm" and greater calamities
are still due the fact that good news
from the Southern Hemisphere should
follow on the heels of good news at
home. just as bad news from that part
of the world added to the gloomy mood
OF the people in this country at the
beginning of the crisis. is coincidence
at least worth mentioning
Interdependence Shown.
One of the great lessons of this de-
preSsion-and we all know there have
been many-has been to show the uni
versatility Of economic interdependence
That conditions in the farthest civil
lied corners of the globe must finally
and necessarily. have bearing on the
economic situation at home, is today
admitted by even the most militant
"anti-internationalist in the United
States.
The depression has served to show
this country the contingencies and re-
sponsibilities of being the worlds larg-
est economic power, the worlds banker
and one of the worlds largest traders
AS a consequence, conditions abroac
are now watched more carefully, anc
! greater emphasis is laid upon the
principle of economic dependence
among nations. This will probably ado
to the significance of the encouraging
news which the cable brought last weel
from Latin America
In the order in which I saw then
in last weeks newspapers, herewith i!
brief summary of those which ven'
ture to call optimistic reports from
some of the Latin republics to the south
Before mentioning them, however, il
seems proper to warn the reader no
to overestimate their value to the ex.
tent of interpreting them as indicating
the end of hard times in that part o.
ho
Their only significance lies, precisely
| in the fact that they are the first re-
ports which depart from the gloomy
disheartening mood of the last two
wears. But as for the economic de-
preston itself it still reigns at large il
Latin America. as it does here, ant
! probably will reign for some time tt
come.
The first encouraging dispatch comes
| from BuenoS Aires and states that th'
Argentine Republic emerged from thu
critical year just ended with "one O
the most creditable financial records o
any nation" and enjoying the distinc
ton of being the only country of eco
nomic importance to show higher ex
port values in 1881 as compared will
1880.
The total value of Argentine export
amounted last year to nearly 800 mil
, lions of dollars, as against 1862 million
| in 1890 Argentina sold in 1881 on
million and a half more tons of wheat
five million tons more of corn, 800,00
| tons more of linseed and 100000 NOR
of oats than in $780, These figure
! gave the great southern nation a ia
vorable trade balance of more than II
million dollars, instead Of the advers
balance Of 73 million dollars Of 1880.