The Daily Alaska empire., 1944-04-27
BRAZIL MERCHANT AND WIFE ARRIVE
 FOR ALASKA TRIP

MT. and Mrs. LaurO GulmaraeS from Rio de Janiero. have just ar rived in Juneau. He came to the United States to purchase a cargo ship from the government for the Sociedade Naceional De Transporte e Comercio Its. of Brazil.
 The ship has been purchased and authorization of the Maritime Con- mission secured to make transfer of the flag from American to Bra gillian. The Ship has great deal of refrigeration space and it will be used to deliver goods from the southern to the northern part of Brazil, those points where the Am- erican and Brazilian Armies are working together in common inter- est. There are no roads or routes to supply them overland because of the mountainous terrain, and they must rely solely on ships for their supplies. Should the submarine menace again become great, even this means may be cut off.
 Ships First Job
 The first job the ship will do,' says Mir Guimaraes, will be to carry lumber (now considered by the U. S. Government as the higher commodity, even higher thna steeD to an Allied port, the name of which cannot mention"
 MT. Guimares recently spent an entire year in the United States trying to obtain material to trans port oil from a Peruvian section on the east coast of the Andes, called Montana. The only possible way that this oil may be taken is through the Amazon River anG nine -tenths of the river runs through Brazil A pipeline will be needed and the oil must be taken in barges three thousand miles from the source of the oil to the port of Belem at the mouth of the Amazon. The company has con- sessions of oil and the authoriza- tion of the Peruvian Government Big Undertaking
 For this great undertaking it is necessary to obtain a great deal ol pipe, steel plates, barges, tugboats, tanks for storage, pumps and all other equipment necessary to handle such business. Unfortunately, the shortage of steel and engines, due to the war effort in America, made it impossible for Mir Guimaraes to obtain more than small portion of what is needed. He believes that he may now have better chance of securing the rest of it. since the Government has the war program practically completed, so that more material is available.
 He is also working hard to obtain material for cracking factory. (There are two types of factories used in handling oil: cracking factory for heavy oil and topping factory for lighter oil) The gaso- line, kerosene, deisel oil and fuel oil produced would be very helpful, not only for development of Bra gillian rubber. which is still the best in the world, but to help develop ment of the tremendous opportuni- ties of the Amazon Basin.
 Part of the program for this de- velopment will be the purchase of a cement factory that takes a lot of oil to operate. and is going to be put in the central part of Brazil as great step for it's future. as all the construction work there is of brick and mortar. Tn spite of the fantastic quantities of hard wood available, they do not use it in buildings. This may be due to the presence of termites; or pos sibly tradition. In the coloniza- ltion time the houses and churches were built of large stones and (caD burned calcarirm. Many of then are still standing.
 MT. and Mrs. Guimaraes have made the trip to Alaska for the purpose of seeing this country oi which they have heard so much. Ii possible, they will go on to Fair banks before returning to the Ctafac