Evening star., 1941-09-01
By FRANCES r. GRANT.

By FRANCES r. GRANT.
SANTIAGO. Chile. Aug. 25 (By
Airmail to n. A. N. AIN discuss
Ing the most important human
forces of Chile's future, three names
are most often mentioned-Oscar
Schnake, Socialist. deep foe of to-
talitarianism in all its forms; Edu-
erdo Cruz Cooke, Conservative, but
regarded as an idealist beyond
party limitations, and Benjamin
Claro, Radical party member OF
Parliament, who is one OF the most
brilliant young eXponents OF the
new order in Chile. Mr.. Claro re-
Gently was appointed Director OF In
formation. a position which promises
to be an important factor in the ed
ucation Of Chile.
AS one who has represented his
country at the Lima and other con-
ferenCes and knows the United
States well, Benjamin Claro is per-
haps the best equipped man IN
Chile to talk on the attitude of his
country to the United States. 1t
is his belief that Americans them
selves are doing great dlsservlce
to inter-American understanding by
holding a false concept of pan
Americanism."
Il want to speak to you" he said,
mot in my role as an official but
ss a friend of your country. we
r who are really sympathetic TO the
United States are willing to speak
very frankly to YOU AS to why we
5 look rather aSkanCe at the present
efforts of your country to court our
affections. In the first place, we find
your procedures extremely lngenu-
Gus.
Record Errors.
I'VE are particularly annoyed by
the plethora of writers who nave
come here recently-mlnd you, 1t IS
not writer's per sc that We object to;
It is the absolute lack Of intellec-
tual integrity of the great number
who have come. They remain here
q few DAYS, ignorant of our language.
They see a few of our officials, seize
a few fragmentary impressions, then
return to write articles or books
filled with errors and the evidence
of a profound ignorance of our sit
uation.
"Or else they may be as silly and
superficial as young woman l met
who was writing about our skiing
and whose only reaction was a
criticism of the skiing costumes OF
the women. No less ignorant was an
article in one of your leading mag
azines studying a typical Chilean
family and taking for this typical
citizen one of our greatest million
aires who has spent practically his
entire life abroad.
II find Just as serious the in
vasion of your official messengers OF
good will who leave the same i'm
preston of superfciality. lack of
seriousness and frequently of i'm
pudence. Personally pleasant as
some of them may be. We cannot
take very seriously the cinema actor
who is sent to solve our problems
of international understanding, or
the numerous travellers sent here
by the Committee on National De-
fense, without preparation either
of language or Latin American back
grounds, with the intention Of swal-
lowing enough in five days to be-
come experts in Latin America.
United States Continues Mistakes.
Some of my American friends
have said to me that the United
States is no longer making mistakes
in its dealings with Latin America
perhaps not as great mistakes as
you once made, but still many,
many small ones. The attitude of
the great number of North American
businesses IN Chile still remains the
same as before-that of men tempo
rarlly installed, whose concern is to
get as much as possible without
regard for the good of the country
Itself. This is evident in the atti-
tude of your business organizations
towards local employees; invariably
there is an attitude of superiors
. towards natives Almost never Is
equal opportunity of advancement
given to Chilean as to a North
American. 1t is one of the real
factors of discomfort that two men
3 In one of your firms here may be
doing the same work side by side.
yet the American will receive a
salary of 5000 pesos while the
Chilean receives 1000.
s moreover, your firms will seldom
give positions of responsibility to
Chlleans even after they have
proved themselves absolutely ef-
f1cient and reliable. Only recently
case arose which caused much
Ill feeling. A large American COM
pany here has had an American
manager, but much of the RESPONSE
blllty of the firm has fallen on the
aasSlstant manager, a Chilean who
has worked for 25 years with the
company. The American manager
resigned and went back to the
States. The company, instead of
promoting the sub-director, brought
down another American to super
sede him.
I I'VE here need your capital and
your business investments, but we
feel also that this is a new era, no
longer the era of exploiters who
leave little money and many prob
lens in our country. The Latin
American nations, however they may
need the assistance of the United
States, cannot again subject them
selves to the old type of CONNER
cIal humiliation.
> Was to Decide,
q THE future of Chile, as the fu-
.ture Of all nations in Latin Amer
lea, will depend on the turn of the
war. Despite our great economic
independence on Germany and Eu-
rope, there is a feeling of friend
ship to the United States, if you
yourselves do not jeopardize it by
this cumulative series of irritations.
Naturally we do have many pro-
Germans in Chile, due to the large
part of German blood, especially in
the south, around Valdivia. But most
sof these have been here not only
for vearc hut for pnnprotione Thev