Evening star., 1942-01-11
Clashing Personalities at Rio
Possible Pro.Axs Elements Face Weles Diplomacy
By MWqAis II. Ckid

unknown quantity Is Chtle's new Foreign
Minister, Juan Rossett. a newspaper
publisher Of moderately leftish tenden.
cies. Comparatively young, in the neigh.
borhood Of 40, Rossetti Is said to have
high political ambitions
An important American representative
will be Carl B. Spaeth, who Is going to
Rio for the Board Of Economic Warfare
and Nelson Rockefellers onice While it is
not being announced, Spaeth, working
with Welles, hopes to lay the groundwork
for complete economic cooperation In the
Western Hemisphere. The plan that is
contemplated. calls for virtually an eco
nomic union Of the nations in this part
Of the world to prosecute the war effort
with the greatest effectiveness.
In Latin America this would be corol-
larry OF the agreement recently signed
with Canada. That agreement, which
has received very little notice considering
its significance. ties together the entire
economy OF North America so that there
will be no duplication of effort or waste
motion. 1t abolishes customs barriers and
puts aside all other obstacles to a united
effort.
Economic Cooperation.
While this may be more far-reaching
than anything that can be looked for
from South America, it is hoped the way
can be prepared at the conference for
some such basic understanding. The Brit
ish would be a party to it, too. If it was
found that we could better supply the
South Americans with something they
were now receiving from the British, we
would take over, and vice versa. The
South American republics are completely
dependent on the democracies for most
Of their manufactured goods and this will
be a powerful lever in bringing agree
ment on q move to set up convoy sys-
tenn in cooperation with the fleets OF
Chile, Brazil and the Argentine. With
the suspension Of the Italian air line to
Brazil. the Axis powers were cut of from
their last outlet to the New World.
As a background the Rio conference
will have the long, assiduous cultivation
Of Latin American goodwill that began
with President Roosevelt's enunciation of
the good-neighbor policy in 1888. The
seventh Pan-American Conference in
series that began before the first World
War-the first to meet under the expan-
sive good-neighbor philosophy-was held
in Montivideo in 1888. Three years
later President Roosevelt took the initi-
ative in calling an extraordinary con-
ference to repair defects in the existing
peace machinery Of the Western Hemis-
phere and in December of 1886 he went
in person to Buenos Aires to receive
wide acclaim there.
To Lima in 1898 the President sent q
delegation that included his Republican
opponent in SO, former Gov. ALI NJ.
Landon. At this conference there was
adopted the Declaration of Lima which
reafirmed the continental solidarity"
Of the American republics and their de-
termination Ito collaborate in the MAIN
tenance of the principles upon which the
said solidarity is based" and Ito defend
them against all foreign Intervention or
activity that may threaten them"
Consultative Parleys.
Since the start OF the war in Europe in
1899, two consultative conferences have
been held. At the meeting in Panama
in September of that year representatives
of the American republics agreed to
establish a safety belt" 300 miles from
the coastline of the Western Hemis-
phere. This extraordinary move was in
tended to keep the war from the
Americas.
A second consultative conference was
occaSioned by the fall of France and the
Low Countries, which raised the fear
that French or Dutch colonies in this
part of the world might be transferred
to Germany. The delegates met at
Havana on July 81, 1910, and gave
unanimous support to American pro-
posals to set up "a regime of provisional
administration" over any European ter
ritory threatened with transfer from one
European power to another European
power
Perhaps the major objective of the
Roosevelt-Hull diplomacy has been con-
tinental solidarity. Secretary of State
there succeeded with remarkable diplo-
matte skill and patience In overcoming
the opposition that had been engendered
by Axis interference. Several of the
more able permanent officers of the State
Department are In the American Repub-
lies Division. Laurence Duggan, political
adviser for Latin America, is perhaps the
most capable of the young officers of the
department. Duggan will remain in
Washington while Welles is in Rio.
In one respect the coming conference
will differ from most of those that have
preceded it. Little time will be devoted
to tea parties and banquets. Welles, with
his astute private secretary, Miss Anna
L. Clarkson, close at hand, will be de-
voting practically "a hours a day to the
difficult task of bringing the 81 Ameri-
can republics the Argentine
into line behind unified war program.
Eoypt's Alexandria