Evening star., 1943-11-27
across the South Atlantic. coult
be called victory corner

across the South Atlantic, coult
be called victory corner
without hesitation, Ecuador, oc.
cupying strategic position in re.
lation to the Panama Canal, has
given us the right to use the Ga
lapagos Islands for an outpost OF
defense, the port of Salinas, the
most important naval harbor on
the West Coast. Cuban planes and
subchasers are hunting down u
boats. Mexican merchant sailors
have lost their lives at sea by enemy
action. Brazilian airmen are blast
ing German submarines to the bot
tom, and Brazil is preparing troops
for overseas service. The other
Americas have smashed centers of
espionage and sabotage on two con-
tinents.
Louis johnson Quoted.
"In the words of that distin-
guished legionnaire, Louis Johnson,
we can say: Those who laughed
at the pioneers of the good neigh
Dor policy have lived to see the
day when South American mate
rials saved the day for the arsenal
Of democracy
Mr.. Rockefeller called on the au-
dience to remember, at Rio de
Janeiro. in 1912, the representatives
OF the other American republics,
only six weeks after the Pearl Har-
bor attack, pledged their aid to us
at a time when our record showed
nothing but defeats on land and
sea-" Continuing, he said:
$50 we see the results and we
recall the conditions under which
they were obtained. We may right
fully ask how does this policy of
inter-American cooperation work?
How is 1t administered? What is
the specific share of the United
States?
Obtained Strategic Items.
I'VE have purchased materials
from the other Americas and have
made expenditures to develop their
production. In this way, we have
gotten rubber for airplane tires
mica for radio equipment, quartz
crystals for radio communications
diamonds for machine tools, fbers
for ropes on battleships, copper for
munitions, nitrates for explosives,
tungsten for hardening steel and so
forth.
"We have built naval and military
installations at strategic points and
we have provided lease-lend mill
tary equipment for the defense of
the hemisphere. We have engaged
in training programs to increase the
skill of soldiers, farmers, factory
workers and technicians. We have
undertaken to accelerate the output
of key foods.
The story Of the war might have
been different. Instead of fighting
on the islands of the Pacific, hun
dreds Of thousands of our men might
have been fighting side by side with
the soldiers Of our neighbors in the
lungles of Brazil in the east and
Ecuador in the west We anticipated
the possibility of this situation and
undertook cooperative program of
health and sanitation to combat ma
lara and other tropical diseases
We have helped to build hospitals
and clinics which. if fighting had
come to this hemisphere, would have
made the difference between life and
death OF your sons or my brothers.
Many Lives Saved.
This work in health and SANTA
ton has saved the lives OF thousands
iof workers producing raw materials
so essential to our war program
Those of you who know the tropics
also know that the Panama Canal
itself Is less an engineering triumph
than victory over disease.
There has been considerable talk
and speculation about the cost to
the United States of this program
OF cooperation. UNIFORMED esti-
mates have ranged all the way to
S6 900 900 000-a figure I read in a
magazine article just the other day,
That figure was said to represent a
three-year outlay. not including,
mind you, the sums spent for goods,
food and raw materials. That guess
OF $4,000 100000 is misrepresenta-
ton of the facts.
The truth is that all expendi-
lures and commitments to spend
made during the past three years by
all Government agencies, including