Imperial Valley press., 1941-06-27

good many unorthodoX things may
have to be done before this war is
over in welding the Americas,
North. Central and South, into an
economic unit But one of the more
orthodox step taken in furthering
commercial relations between the
United States and the q southern
republics is the formation of n
chain of Inter-American Develop
ment commissions. one for each
country to study foreign trade
needs and the problems of internal
economy so that all the countries
can help themselves and help each
other overcome the nandicaps Of
having the pre-war trade channels
broken by the messing up of Eu-
rope.
Ten of these Inter- American
Development commissions have al
ready been set up and are func-
tioning. and the othei IL will get
going just as fast as they can be
organized. Impetus for their crea-
ton comes through the Rockefel-
Ter Office for Coordination of
Commercial and Cultural Relations
Between the American Republics,
and young Nelson A Rockefeller
is co-ordinator OF the whole move
ment, with State Department bless
ing.
A hypothetical case will show
how these development commits
sions will work. Brazil has been ex-
porting increasingly large amounts
OF raw cotton to Europe. That
trade cut off, Brazil decides she
needs mills of her own to manufac-
ture cotton goods for local con-
sumption.
The Brazilian Development Com
mission, made up of Brazilian bus
iness men and government officials.
look over the project. They de-
terinine how much Brazilian capi-
tai they can get together, what
capacity the mills must have, how
much machinery they'll need and
where they can get it. If they
can't swing the whole proposition
themselves, they determine how
much foreign capital they'll need.
If it can't be obtained privately,
maybe some Santa Claus money
would help, so the proposition is
put up to the U. s. Export Import
bank. which was organized with
SIS million capital for just such
foreign trade developers as this.
SOUTH AMERICA
DISCOVERS ITSELF
Another way the development
commissions have been working is
in promoting more trade between
the South American republics
themselves. Surprisingly enough,
these countries are just finding out
they can trade with each other.
Chilean nitrate can be sWapped
for Argentine meat. Brazilian cof-
Zee and fruits can be bartered for
Argentine grains. Venezuelan oil.
its European market cut off, is
finding an increasing place in the
markets of Brazil and Uruguay,
which have 10 oil, and in Argen-
tina, which produces only 40 per
cent OF her consumption. That in
ter-American trade was up 9 per
cent last year over the year be-
fore, and it will be up still higher
in l94l.
This trade development work is
aimed at the United States, too.
Some of The wars most horrible
effects have been felt by ye olde
gifte shoppes, which used to import
whole shiploads Of Czechoslovak-
ian glass, carved wood, Bavarian
cuckoo clocks, Austrian cracked
crockery and Polish peasant prints.
Some of the Rockefeller boys got
the idea that South America might
nave a lot Of native arts and crafts
which would fit the vacant shelves
on American What-nots. They COL
lected samples and brought them
up for U. S. wholesalers to look
ever.
When the Yankish buyers found
some numbers they liked, Ecuado-
rpan bpadc for ipctanpo tt,o,, ca ia