EM EM : monthly magazine - 01.07.1941, Blaðsíða 5

Em Em
5
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'Stewart Says— ^
Latin America yffc
OfFers Wallace í
Tough Problem
Þ~---------------------<!
By CHARLES P. STEWART
Central Press Columnist
BESIDES attending to the vice
presidency, it’s proclaimed from
the White House that Henry A.
Wallace is to be the administra-
tion’s chief
k e e p e r-u p of
lovely relations
among all the
Pan - American
republics.
Primarily we
want our Latin
neighbors to go
on liking us.
here in the
United States.
as they’re be-
ginning to do
unde-r-fche
R o o s evelt re-
gime. after con-
siderable preceding bad manage-
ment on our part, and some on
theirs, too, perhaps.
There’s ^another thing we also
want, though. It’s important. from
the standpoint of the whole Pan-
American outfit, to have the vari-
ous southern governments on good
terms with one another. Independ-
ently. of us, they quarrel among
themselves occasionally. It will be
principally up to Henry to smooth
out any such unpleasantnesses as
may develop.
Óur v. p. is delegated to look
after this particular job be-
cause he’s quite a Latin Amer-
ican specialist. He got interested in
our neighbors somehow. studied
them intensively, learned to speak
Spanish (he’ll need to acquire Por-
tuguese likewise) and understands
the new worldly Latin tempera-
ment much better than the average
YanquL That’s their word for Yan-
kee.
Between spells of vice presiden-
Ual duty in the senate chamber it’s
expected that Henry will pay vis-
its to the southern continent. He
paid one to Mexico not long ago
and it wasn’t much of a success. A
Mexican political faction stoned
our embassy while he was there.
That wasn’t his fault, however. It
was due to a row between Mexi-
cans themselves, and we happened
fo get ajþit o£ the overflow. ,-
y T ' He Láughed It Ofl
. It simply was one of those rum-
pusea íhentioned above as alwáys
liable to break out to the south of
us, which it will be Henry’s mission
to try to pacify. Indeed, maybe he
helped to pacify that one. It sub-
sided, anyway. Henry behaved ad-
mirably. He just laughed off the
embassadorial stoning instead of
niáking a diplomatic incident out
of it. That’s precisely the right
way to get on with those mercu-
rial neighbors of ours.
At this very juncture a situa-
tion’s starting to present itself that
may call for plenty of Henry’s
best guessing.
It appears that the Axis powers
are getting from Latin America
large quantities of supplies they
greatly need ta go on with their
war against Britain. Britain’s At-
lantic blockade shuts off the Axis’
Latin American source across that
ocean, though it’s said a little eas-
ily portable stuff is transplanted by
plane. Bulkier shipments, how-
ever, are ferried from the west
coast over the Pacific to Japan,
thence to Vladivostok, thence
through Siberia and European Rus-
sia to Germany.
Britain’s navy is too busy on the
Atlantic and in the Mediterranean
to patrot the Pacific and, since
we’re supposed not to be in the
vvar, our Pacific fleet can’t do it.
To be sure, it’s no secret that
we’re opposed to the supplying of
the Axis via the Pacific and Jap-
Russian route And, so far as the
United States is concerned, we can
prevent it by a policy of export em-
bargoes. In fact, to a certain ex-
tent, though not wholly, we’ve done
it. But we can’t dictate embargoes
to the Latin Americas—not with-
out making them perfectly furious
and knocking our entire Pan-
American good neighborly pro-
gram into a cocked hat instanter
And the Latin Americas show no
signs of an inclination to slap on
any embargoes. It’s natural that
they shouldn’t; they want that out-
let for their surpluses.
Weli, an alternative’s suggested.
It’s this.
Let U. S. Buy It?
Let the United States buy up all
of those Latin American surpluses,
leaving notliing to be sold to the
Axis aggreaation. „ „
ivow L,aun ainerica does produce
a few commodities that we require,
in almost unlimited quantities—
such as tin, coffee and some mis*
cellaneous tropical stuff. In the
main, though, they produce about;
the same thines that we do. So
Joins U. S. Fleet ~1
Sliding down the ways at tlie
Charleston (S. C.) Navy Yard is the
destroyer Ingraham, latest addition
to America’s rapidly growing three-
ocean navy. Mrs. George Ingraham
Hutchinson, granddaughter of Cap-
tain Ingrahani, for whom the war-
ship is named, officiated at the
christening.
nuvv actt vve gtjmg tu uuy uicm vuu
100 per cent, dumping our pur-l
chases onto our domestic market!
in competition with Yankee proJ
duction ?
One answer is that we mightj
hand the whole collection over td
Britain. Yet if we did we know we}
never would be paid for it. And thd
cost of buying out Latin Americd
bodily, on top of defensive prepar-t
edness and weapons, munitionsí
maritime and aviation aid to Johií
Bull, would be terrific. Are we dud
to feed as well as arm him?
Isn’t that a problem for Henry
Wallace to chew on ?