The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1941-12-16

TO what 1t is now.
The western hemispherical align
ment started in 1890. under the
auspices Of James C. Blaine. then
secretary OF state. as the Interna-
tional Bureau of American Repub-
lies. Blaine was an apostle Of good
neighborliness himself but when he
passed from the picture soon after
ward. the bureau he'd formed i'm
mediately began to peter out. and.
by 1907. was almost at the point
of disintegration.
At that juncture John Barrett.
who'd had considerable diplomatic
experience south Of the Rio Grande.
took the expiring agency in hand.
got its name changed into the Pan
American Union, slid in as its di-
rector general. and rushed. with
perfect fury of energy into the job
of making it a Union that WAS
Union.
II was a hard job too. for Latin
America was virtually an unknown
quantity to the United States in
that era, and John Barrett didn't
get much help from home. Indeed.
he got some of the other thing.
since Washington still maintained
an occasionally bullying. marine
landing attitude toward the Latin
countries. throughout the whole
period Of Johns director general
ship, and their governments gener-
ally regarded ours. to say the least.
suspiciously.
Latins Trusted Barrett
They all liked and trusted John
Barrett. personally. though, and.
by the time a diet of good neigh
borliness was ready for them. il
looked more or less tasty to the
entire 20 Of them.
President Roosevelt, State Sec
rotary Cordell Hull and Undersec-
rotary Sumner Welles prepared
the menu but John had provided
receptive appetites for it.
Il rs Drobahlv won't give
much aid in man power. sea
strength or aviation to Uncle Sam
uel. though Brazil. to be sure. ac-
tually IS assigning troops to CO.
operate with his forces in Dutch
Guiana. However. they have bases
TO offer. for the convenience of
Yankee surface and flying craft.
Argentina has been the most re-
iuctant Of the outfit TO abandon
neutrality. as it was during the
last war. but there's a marked
contrast between then and now.
Upon Uncle Sans entrance into
World War I. President Wilson
wanted TO give an appearance Of
Pan American solidarity against
Germany. and therefore dispatched
a four-ship cruiser feet under Ad-
niral Caperton TO visit new world
Latin ports. but the Argentinos re-
fused to invite the squadron into
Buenos Aires.
The boats put in. nevertheless.
tn violation Of the republics neu-
trality policy. and the Argentinos
couldn't do anything about II. but
II was an unpleasant incident, all
the same. which knocked the SOL
idarity pretense into a cooked hat.
Argentina Friendlier
This time. with the United
States formally at war. the Ar
gentinos refuse to consider US
belligerents. in order not to ham
per our use Of their waters. It's
rather humorous, inasmuch as we
both know we ARE at war. but it's
friendly. nevertheless.
There also is a morale value in
the evidence that our continents
are jointly anti-Axis, all the way
from a certain amount Of cooper
alton TO out-and-out war declara-
( tons.
And. finally. we don't have to
worry much as to Axis inhltration
Quslingism and propagandizing
since the southern republics are
putting extinguishers upon such
manifestations themselves, without
bothering US to keep an eye on 'em
from here.
The postwar effect will be good.
too.
Today's friendship win make for
much improved inter American
trade. We need to be as liberal as
we can with our southerly priority
allowances. TO get the neiRhbors