BOOKS OF THE DAY
The Other America
" HERE, then, is Latin America. Here is an area more than twice the size of the United States, here are 125,000,000 people in the brisk daylight of the Western Hemisphere. Here are broad reservoirs of wealth virtually untapped, here are unexampled opportunities for economic and political evolution. Here is a North American stake of almost $4,5co,0o0,0oo. Here is our vulnerable continental frontier."
Thus Mr. Gunther begins his summing-up, pointing out several conclusions or " all embracing trends," as he calls them, and then indicating " What to do about it," which is the heading of his final chapter. Though these suggestions are from the North American point of view, that chapter, as well as the first two chapters, entitled " Inside Latin America " and " Fifth Column and Hemisphere Defense," which together contain a vivid general preliminary survey of Latin America as a whole, should be read by all persons in the British Commonwealth interested in studying the world situation, since the twenty Latin American republics are today the last reserves of democracy. They should do so with even more reason than when Mr. Gunther wrote these chapters, since the American edition of this book was published about October of last year ; but one of its many merits is that it contains " hot " information available right up to the moment of its going to press, and practically all his judge- ments are applicable a fortiori since the United States entry into the war.
If by his own showing Mr. Gunther has only stayed a brief time in each country, he crammed into that time many inter- views with men representing the " live forces " of the country. Further, he has corroborated his impressions by extensive reading of newspaper reports, articles in periodicals and other works of reference, and he has the very great advantage of such a reporter that practically in every case he has had a clear view of the wood which has not been impeded by his subsequently having a close look at its tallest trees. In certain chapters, too, much space is devoted to the antecedents and personal characteristics of leading politicians, and to the intricacies of internal politics. His long and wivid pictures, while entertaining and interesting to either the leisurely or specialised. reader, are perhaps out of proportion to a general rapid survey which the book aims at ; and its matter is of such value on a subject on which information is not easily, attractively or above all cheaply available to the general reader that it is to be sincerely hoped that a cheap edition condensed in this respect will be issued in due course.
Mr. Gunther provides two charts which are quite invaluable as short cuts to knowledge, viz., the folder at the beginning which on either side of a clear ;ketch map gives the outstanding char- acteristics of each country in a small paragraph of anything from three to nine lines : and the second is the chart or statistical table in the centre of the book, where is given the following informa- tion in regard to each country in the clearest comparative manner : area, population, name of capital and president, racial basis, per- centage of illiteracy, character of government, chief problems, attitude to United States, degree of Fifth Columnism, budget, chief exports, best customer, exports to the United States in 1938, and what percentage of the country's total exports these repre- sent ; and lastly, imports from the United States in the same year, together with the percentage of the total imports of the country in question that those imports from the United States represent. A glance at this chart will bear out Mr. Gunther's initial statement that " the twenty independent republics are highly individual countries, which differ from one another strikingly." They range from a big country such as Argentina, with its Euro- pean population, maximum of material progress, and ever de- veloping education and culture proportional in all classes—and with many claims to be a first-class Power—to the small island republic of Haiti, with its almost exclusively negro population. As to the question how accurate are Mr. Gunther's pictures, they are so in the main, and to all intents and purposes for the general reader, for whom the tangled skein of Uruguayan party politics is described as well as it is possible, and if it is an error to state that the former President Gabriel Terra is dead, k is, at any rate, not a misleading one, as he is dead to politics.
Mr. Gunther is fair and even generous in his recognition Canning's part in the liberation of Latin America from Europe Further, Europe appears in the second chart as the best customer of Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bolivia and the Dominican Republic. If, apart from this, little or no mention is made al
British economic interests in Latin America, this is understand.
• able in a book written mainly for the American public, and at t time when those interests are of necessity suffering partial eclipse, But that that eclipse should continue rather than be reduced after the war would appear contrary to the best interests of the Unite; States themselves, not to mention the Latin American republic; for reasons not only of a psychological but also of a practical order, In regard to general economic conditions, Mr. Gurgitter rightly says : " Here the chief problem is that of mounting surplu as we well know. Latin America is, as has been nicely put, ' commodity rich and consumption poor,' its economy depending on the export of raw materials. . . . For the United States to put. chase all Latin America's raw materials would of course be ruin. ously expensive." But he adds, "The United States might extend its hemisphere purchases to commodities that we must in any case buy somewhere but which at the moment we obtain largely from other sources. We should promote Latin American production of quinine, rubber and manganese."
One is, however, confident that the United States as a champion for many decades of the open door, as advocated by John Hay, who was also one of the fathers of Pan-Americanism, will not seek to deny a fair field after the war to European trade, or at least the trade of those who have consistently adhered to the principles of fair trade without political arriere pensee.
As regards cultural relations, Mr. Gunther says: " The field for cultural development is obviously enormous, but...it must be fertilised with great tact as well as energy." Also, after having stated previously that " first and foremost the good neighbour policy is working well," he insists that it should work both ways He is perhaps a bit hard on the far-seeing and all-embracing efforts of the United States authorities, assisted by the Rockefeller Co-ordination Committee, to develop these relations. It is not surprising that in putting into operation with all commendable promptness a plan so magnificently conceived and so generously operated with every intention of strict reciprocity, there should occur one or two cases when delegates have been a little over• enthusiastic or have lost sight of the reciprocity which must be the basis of all cultural relations. The United States have shown their understanding of this fact by the attention devoted to making Latin American culture better known in the United States, whether by popular methods or by such admirable work as that of the Carnegie Foundation in making photostatic editions of ancient or rare books bearing on Latin American history from the National Libraries of the Latin American capitals. That British cultural relations with Latin America needs to be further developed for the same reasons (though on a scale is nowise comparable with that of the United States) has been made abundantly clear by the new chairman of the British Council In such an enormous field there is every advantage in British activities proceeding on parallel lines and in friendly under- standing with those of the United States whenever there is occasion for it. Those who know the position are agreed that this is in the best interests of all concerned.
E. MILLINGTON DRAKE.
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