Evening star., 1938-11-20
4. Common Front at Lima?


next Saturday for the Pan-American
Conference at Lima, Peru, hopeful of
lining up 20 neighbors to the south in
common front against possible aggres-
sion from abroad.
White-haired Secretary Of State Hull
and an imposing American delegation
will have in the backs of their minds
the growing threat in South America
from black-haired Adolf Hitler.
The Eighth Pan-American Conference
meets December 9 for probably the most
important session since Secretary of
State James G.. Blaine called the first
conference, so years ago. With totali-
tartan states winning victories, bloody
or bloodless, in Asia and Europe and vis-
IDLY stretching out their hands for the
raw materials of South America, the 81
republics of the Western Hemisphere will
foregather to consider their defense
military. economic and political.
Peace Hope Seen in West.
And they hope that peace, like young
Lochinvar, will come riding out of the
West.
PanAmerican Conference with one
happy settlement behind him. This is
the agreement with Mexico on American
claims for agrarian properties expropri-
ated there
Many events have occurred since the
last Pan-American Conference, at Monte
vldeo in 1888 which will make this gath
ering one that may be written large In
future history books
Then Hitler, though already in power,
had not yet built up Germanys armed
strength; had not entered the Rhineland;
had not absorbed Austria and a portion
of Czechoslovakia. Italy had not marched
into Ethiopia, Japan into South China.
The totalitarian states were not nearly
SO strong in their threat to South Amer
lea then Their propaganda had not
begun to assert itself so powerfully, their
attempts to win over the Latin American
states politically and economically had
not become so manifest,
Germany Growing Now.
Apprehension in this country over
Germanys economic advance in South
America might seem a bugaboo on the
basis OF Department of Commerce figures
that the United States share in Latin
American trade in 1887 was two and a
half times that of Germany. The United
States was also far and away the best
customer Of Latin America, taking 3l1
per cent of the exports of the 20 Southern
republics.
Nevertheless, since 1887 Germany has
added new territory and 10000, 900 per-
sons to her population. The Sudetenland
segment she received accounted for the
major portion of Czechoslovakias export
industries.
Germany thus has appreciably greater
export facilities than she had in 1897
and also has larger population to con-
sumo South American exports Con-
ican market is expected to jump con-
siderably. And this will be at some ones
expense. The question is-whose?
Already 1888 has shown some effects
Of Germanys economic expansion toward
South America. United States imports
to Uruguay have suffered severely by the
bilateral-balancing policy in force there.
Official figures in Brazil for the first six
months of 1888 gave the United States
slight margin over Germany. Mexico.
deprived of foreign currency from oil
sales abroad, has resorted to barter ar
rangements with Germany and Italy,
taking their manufactured products for
her oil.
Big Drop in Mexican Figures.
American exports to Mexico dropped
58.2 per cent in the five months from
April to August of this year, compared
with decline of 10.7 per cent in our