Evening star., 1942-01-28
BY HAROLD b. ROGERS,
Star Staff Correspondent.


? Star Staff Correspondent.
SANTIAGO, Chile (By MaiD =
Marked improvement in the rela
: tionship between Chile and tn
United States over the last hal
century is seen by DR.. Isaac Joslil
Cox of Chicago, Ill, who is il
Santiago to give series Of lecture
in the summer session of the Uni
versity of Chile on development
Of Democracy in the United States.
Prof. Cox, who recently retired a
!. professor of Latin American histor,
e at Northwestern University, has I
xich background Of both knowledg
: and experience in Latin American
affairs. He has been studying tn
countries in Central and Soutl
America since he was a younl
teacher in the San Antonio Acad
emy at San Antonio, Tex. He ha
made four trips to South America
each time visiting Chile. He mad
his first trip south Of the American
border In 1898, and also has Travelled
extensively in Spain.
More Students from q. S.
lone of the main things tina
: mark this particular trip" he said
: is the growing number OF student!
from the United States. They seen
to be everywhere, and from my ex-
perience for the last two years, the
same thing is true Of South Ameri-
can students in North America.
This interchange is in itself one
of the best links in Pan-American-
ism, but at the same time in both
regions more care should be exer-
cized in the selection of students
who are to visit the respective
countries.
"In the first place, they should
be students who have had q sim
cere purpose, not merely a desire
to travel or to have some adventure.
They should have some knowledge
OF the language, enough at least
to bridge over the early days of in
PRODUCTION, and in a short time to
acquire reasonable facility in ex-
changing ideas.
students should likewise not lose
their good Judgment on finding that
people of other lands do things in
different ways. Doubtless they have
as good a reason for their methods
as do the people back home. And
one should give them the benefit of
good Judgment in such matters.
Should Learn Background.
Another point is that students
should, if possible, have some
familiarity with the historical back
ground Of the country visited and
of its economic and social develop
ment. They should be prepared to
give credit for the really wonderful
history that these countries present
"a history that surpasses that of
the United States in length. These
countries, it is true, borrowed much
from our political, social and
economic experience, but their bor-
rowings have been adapted to their
own needs and to the psychology
OF their people. We also have some
thing to learn from them.
In visiting these countries, one
should learn to discriminate between
life as shown in the larger cities,
and the country life. Naturally in
the later, there has been less change
than in the cities. but the rural
conditions more definitely show the
path of development than does CITY
life. During the last 20 years the
advance IN the larger cities in
respect to public buildings, municipal
improvements, methods of COM
munication, fashions and social Gus
toms In general. has brought about
considerable unity in external fea-
lures; so that as between the capital
OF one country and another one
detects fewer differences than would
have been the case 20 years ago. This
change has tended to bring about
an external unity that after all is
only surface manifestation. During
the same period there has been an
intens1f1cation Of national life in
each OF the Latin American countries
tnat must be taken into considera-
tlon: One must grant a great deal
to this national self-love, if ne ex-
poets to appreciate the people he is
visiting, their intimate problems and
the general trend in their develop
ment.
Advance in Education.
'1n Chile I find there has been
what would call really wonderful
advance in education during the
last 20 years, despite the lack of
means since the depression began.
There has also been an important
advance in means of communica-
ton throughout the nation. The
Iransandino has been put out of
commission by landslide. Never
theless I find more Argentine Wis
1tors in Chile. and doubtless one
would find more Chileans in Argen-
tina than was the case earlier. One
can now cross the Andes by autobus
as well as traverse the country from
north to south, and the highways are
being steadily improved.
THE scenery Of the country is
very much more available than be-
fore. OF course, personally have en-
1oyed the weeks visit in the lake
region in the summertime, because
all my other three visits here have
been in the Chilean winter. 1t was a
delightful experience to wish our
Chilean friends happy new year. at
Puerto Varas.
Half a century ago during my
boyhood days, an unfortunate in
cident turned the attention of the
American people toward Chile. AS a
schoolboy I took part in debate on
the attitude our country then as
sumed and without forgetting my
own devotion to my own country,
then expressed some criticism of the
attitude of the United States Gov
ernment. Fortunately during the
succeeding half century those in
cidents have become fewer in num-
ber, while events that call for good
neighborliness have correspondingly
E-.s