The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1941-06-12
ZZ.ZZZ.Z.ZZZ..ZZ
u. ). Acts 10 Encourage
South American Market
Endeavor to Prevent Nazi Trade FoothoId;
Famous Men MingIe in Washington;
RairoaderS Neglect Annuitios.
By BAUKHAGE
National Farm and Home Hour Commentator

WNU Service, l343 H Street, NV.
Washington, D. C.
WASHINGTON.-T other day
rumors began to spread around the
capital that the United States had
declared a war that nobody knew
anything about-a val marked "pri-
vate and confidential" the kind that
nobody must talk about.
So everybody talked about il. AT
cocktail parties. in the Press club,
in the corridors Of the solemn build.
ings with the "ciosed doors" You
have heard of them-the closed
doors behind which all the real
things happen that are not supposed
to.
Finally, since this was a highly
private and confidential matter it
oon got into the papers. labeled
economic war" Immediately the
idea was roundly denied. dispar-
aged. and generally abused.
So l started out to try to locate
it There was smoke. Where was
the fire?
Since economic warfare is dollar
warfare. I went to see the man who
has a whole arsenal full Of dollars
which could be used as ammunition
in such a battle. namely. Jesse
Jones. federal loan administrator
and secretary Of commerce.
I found him in his office. The
tall, good-natured, Woodworking
Texas multi-millionaire was friend.
ly. helpful. sympathetic. as he al
ways is. But what he did not say
about economic warfare would have
filed a volume.
Visits Leading Economist.
So I went to another man. who II
such a war Is going on right now Is
sitting on the board Of strategy. /
must not mention his name. but he
knows the terrain perfectly. He has
been all over the ground which. I
might mention here Is South Amer
lea. He has served as a govern
ment representative and as a bust
lei representative. and in other
capacities which I cannot catalogue
without Identifying him.
Economic warfare he said. lis
impossible, without war"
What he did not say was that I'M
declared economic warfare is i'm
possible without wartime conditions.
and right now we seem to have
enough Of those to make possible
some early skirmishes. This Is the
situation as it was "un-revealed' to
me tofficially) by a certain official.
In the first place. experts here
are convinced that even ii he takes
Africa, Hitler cannot feed and clothe
Germany and its acquired domain
without a strong trade toothold In
South America.
AS one German economist recent
ly put it to a former American rep
re%sentative in Berlin:
South America is a natural COM
plement for the expansion Of indus
trialized Germany in the field Of for
eign trade"
Africa has raw materials but 1t
will take a long time to exploit them.
The Nazis cannot wait. Hence. South
America becomes the goal Of their
triple threat: economic. political and
military.
Now what are we going to do
about it?
Three Methods Open.
There are three methods which the
United States a use to keep the
t%otalitarian businessmen, the total.
tartan trade methods. the totalitari-
an politics out of the Western world.
We can deal with South America
by mean Of:
/. Voluntary cooperation.
2. Enticement.
3. Pressure.
Number l is not warfare. Nor is
it the old.fashioned dollar diploma
cy'' which exploited South and Gen.
trail American countries for the good
of the few and made US hated as
the Colossus of the North. 1t is.
however. dollars PLUS diploma
cy
This method is already at work.
It consists Of loans to South Ameri-
ca: cultural activities and good will
propaganda. genuine cooperation
in finding complementary outlets
which will encourage a ~north-and'
south flow Of goods.
When we come to number 2. we
must be very careful. This method
will never be mentioned in any
Official statement. We have to hgh,
fire with fire. or to be nor literal,
hght marks with dollars.
In plain u~nvarnished language. a
large part Of method 2 is graft
You slip a few well-chosen gifts
irto the right palms. 1t is not nice
bni after all we arc talking about
wartime conditions and it is far mic