Diario las Américas Newspaper, March 28, 1954, Page 12

Peblished by THE G. A. SAN ROMAN President FRANCISCO AGUIRRE Wace President and Publisher Carlos E. Simons Managing Editor —— AMERICAS PUBLISHING COMPANY S. SMITH Vice President HORACIO AGUIRRE Editor William H. Scharrer Head of Circulation Dept. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS IN WASHINGTON eed OFFICE. Phone RE-7-7415 Suite 910, 1001 Connecticut & Dd. United Press and Editor Press services. DC. CALL THE AMERICAS Ave. Washington Advertising Department for the Unkted States and foreign countries c/o Joshua B. Powers Inc. SUBSCRIPTIONS, by ordinary mail $12.00 per y taree months $3.90. By air mail in the United additional $3.60 a month. Regular issue 5 cents. 4349-36th St. Miami Springs, Fla. r. For six months $6.00; States, Mexico and Canada, Sunday issue 10 cents. Phone 88-7521 MIAML FLA. SUNDAY, MARCH 28, 1954. THE CARACAS MEETING SHOULD BE ANALYZED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AS TO ITS RESULTS Both OAS officials and observers of inter- American affairs should take it upon themselves to survey the positive results of the Tenth Inter- American Conference as soon as it has finished its work. People in the Western Hemisphere must be informed of the meeting’s failures as well as of its successful accomplishments, and the account of the above happenings should be drawn up not in the cold style of reports such as those on debates in legislat- ive assemblies, but rather in such.a way that the reasons for the Tenth Conference’s failures, suc- cesses and important achievements would be made erysta]l clear in simple langua It is up to universities, cultural associations and all other organizations which are concerned about inter-American matters to follow the course of recent developments, for it is only by pointing out present defects that these may be avoided in the future. At the same time, however, factors which have contributed to the conference’s success should be brought out so that the same sort of success may be a feature of coming inter-American parlies. Perhaps it would be well if the individual for- eign ministries of the Americas could find it suitable to draw up documents containing their impressions and opinions, although without resort to use of diplomatic double talk and within the bounds impo- sed by discretion, in regard to the operation and outcome of the conference. Even though such re- ports would represent only the thinking of people presently in power around the Americas, the ac- counts would constitute a valuable aid in the conduct of future inter-American assemblies and in the dev- elopment of the inter-American system. In view of the distinctive nature of the inter- ‘American system, it would be unfortunate if any official accounts resulting from earnest surveys on current situations in the Americas were draw up in conformity with the criterion that state secrets must be preserved at any cost, for both the spirit of Pan Americanism and the community of interests which link the nations of the Americas to one another make it binding on hemispheric leaders to observe an open attitude in the conduct of their mutual affairs. Truth must be paramount in our periodic “assemblies and in the accounts rendéred by indiv- idual governments if we wish to find a formula whereby Pan Americanism will remain effective as a dynamic doctrine in both theory and in practice. COBRA VENOM MAY BE GERMAN CARS TO BE USED TO CURB POLIO MADE IN BRAZIL “. HAVANA —(UP)— Four me- _ WOLFSBURG, Germany — The ‘ical researchers —an American German auto factory which and three Cubans— have reported makes Volkswagen cars will begin hope that cobra venom can be the construction of a new plant wsed to curb infantile paralysis. Dr. Murray Sanders, of Miami, and his Cuban collea- _Mues say five years of tests with meuro-toxids extracted from the snake poison have shown “highly satisfactory” results in control of the disedse. in Brazil next June or July, accord- ing to the director general of the company, Heinz Nordhoff. Volkswagen will also open as- sembly plants in Australia and New Zealand. The company al- ready has shops in Brazil, Belgium Ireland and South Africa. SUBSCRIBE TO | THE AMERICAS DAILY | SCIENCE | By DELOS SMITH NEW YORK —(UP)— In some adolescent children emotional ex- citement will interfere with the body’s ability to extract calcium from milk and retain it for us as a body-building material. That probably goes for phos- phorous, iron, and fat-carried vi- tamins, too, said Dr. Genevieve Stearns, research professor in bio- chemistry at the State University of Iowa, at a regional meeting of the American Chemical Sociaty. Whether the emotional excite- ment was toward happiness or to- ward sadness, didn’t matter. It was the excitement which did it, and you’d gather that the way to an ideally nourished body was the avoidance of emotional excite- ment. But Dr. Benzion Liber, New York City physician, writing in the New York State Journal of Medicine, advanced the view that the healthy human often needed “some adventure” as much as such food as milk in order to remain healthy. “No matter how many inven- tions and discoveries are made, no matter how we facilitate our way of living, the human body re- mains the same ‘old-fashioned’ or- ganism, and the mind cannot be divorced from it, canot free itself from it”, he said. MIND HAS HARD TIME At best, the body has a rough time of it even when “healthy”. It is subject to colds, to head- aches, to recurring backache and other aches due to fatigue, to toothache, to corns and calluses, to eye-glasses and hearing aids, to tight shoes and tight collars. “But compared to the body, the mind has even a harder time”, he continued. “To keep alive, to ad- apt itself to the body, to lead it or at least to steer that part of ot which functions less automati- cally and to be influnced by its internal and vegetative life, to na- vigate our tiny being in the midst of society’s incessantly raging storms and rough rocks, is no mean thing. “Fickle, fragile, and changeable as the bodily functions are, the mind is and, in order constantly to adjust itself, must be much more unstable and extremely rest- less. Just as the sea, when the weather is balmy and_ serene, shows no high billows but never rests completely, so do the ordi- nary psychic wavelets move in- cessantly.” He spoke of years-long accumu- lations of sameness which can end in mental fatigue from which there is no recovery in rest. In such cases, “some change, any change” can avoid “a real break- down.” ADVENTURE vs. SAFETY “Most of us want”, he said, “both immobility and motion, no- vel experiences and the old and old-fashioned, to accomplish vivid and interesting feats and yet be lazy and inactive, to experience perilous adventure while simulta- neously enjoying paralyzing safety. But we usually postpone our ten- dencies toward heroism or repress and bury them in both day and night dreams while we let our lives remain unchanged. “Of course, for the purpose of advancement in civilization and for the sake of general progress- siveness, it might perhaps be more advantageous for all of us if we were mentally more unsettled. Most of us, however, after adoles- cence have Silenced or suppress- ed the rash and dashing advent- ures within ourselves and have settled for peace with life and over-adaptation to circumstances. “There is no denying that adap- tation may signify adjustment to an inferior environment, But the superior and mentally normal per- son knows how to keep independ- ent even in the midst of an un- desirable milieu. “Contrary to those ‘teachers’ who are making fortunes by im- parting the so-called skill of ‘making friends’, one often fells like being educated in a success- ful, although perhaps tactful, way of telling truths even at the peril of making enemies!”. Diplomatic News New Argentine military attachés have been appointed to Washing- ton. The Argentine Department of the Army announced that General Jorge Bibiano Alvarez Spencer and Captain Luis Augusto Mina have been named as Military attaché and assistant military attaché respec- tively for the Argentine Embassy in Washington, * % The new Panamanian Ambas- sador to Buenos Aires, Dr. Sergio Gonzalez Ruiz, presented his cre- dentials to General Perén in a formal ceremony held at the Go- vernment Palace. Other Argentine officials present at the occasion included Foreign Minister Dr. Je- rénimo ‘Remorino and the minis- ters on technical matters and political affairs. * * President Juan D. Perén receiv- ed Colombian ambassador Domingo Esguerra at a special audience. The Colombian diplomat paid a last visit to the Argentine chief executive before returning to Bo- gota after resigning his post in Buenos Aires. The Brazilian government. has appointed new ambassadors to Me- xico and Bolivia. Carlos Martins Thompson Flores will head the diplomatic mission in Mexico and Alvaro Texeira Soares will be Bra- zil’s diplomatic representative in Bolivia, THE AMERICAS DAILY SERVING A CAUSE A Half Century of Pan Americanism Dr. Ricardo J. Alfaro is the name of an out- standing Panamanian citizen being mentioned in Washington circles as a potenctial candidate to suc- ceed Dr. Alberto Lleras Camargo as Secretary General of the Organization of American States. Dr. Alfaro has dedicated many years of his life to service in the cause of Pan Americanism and has intimate knowledge of the problems that have af- fected the Americas through the years. Convinced as he is of the importance of dev- eloping a sound policy of mutual understanding and respect, he expressed himself as follows in 1940 on the occasion of the first half century of Pan Americanism: “On October 2, 1889, am event took place in the city of Washington that awakened unusual interest in political and diplomatic circles. In this northern capital, statesmen recently arrived from the Latin American republics joined represent- atives of the United States in an itnernational conference. Eminent personages, whose names are writ large in the history of their countries, had been selected to attend the meeting. .. What were the antecedents, what the prospects for the future, when for the first time in history the Latins and the Anglo-Saxons of this continent gathered around a conference table? That meeting represented many decades of more or less well-defined aspirations in favor of American unity; it represented the resurrection of the grandiose project that Bolivar had tried to realize by means of the Congress of Panama; it represented the comprehensive action of United States diplomacy in contrast to the restricted action of Latin diplomacy in the congresses of 1847, 1856, and 1864, which reflected a period of estrangement and suspicion; and finally, it repres- ented a nine-year struggle in the United States by enlightened men who understood the moral and economic unity of the western hemisphere and fought the passive but potent forces of ignorance, inestia, and prejudice. Blaine’s Pan American caused had triumphed, and fate willed that he should taste the fruits of his victory. In the presidential election of 1888 the Republican candidate, General Benjamin Har- rison, was victorious, and on assuming office the following year appointed Blaine Secretary of State for the second time. Thus it was that on October 2, 1889, when the First International Conference of American States opened, James Gillespie Blaine MEN OF PROGRESS Miami, Fla. Sunday, March 28, 1954. crowned with splendid success his political labors of almost a decade, and marked the advent. of an era of understanding, cooperation, and solidarity in the international life of the New World. On December 20, 1889, during a visit made to New York City by the delegates to the First Pan American Conference, they were guests at a ban- quet at which one of the speakers, the great Elihu Root, uttered the following words: «“_..We hail you, Gentlemen, not only for the immediate results which we expect from this in- ternational conference, but for the bright promises of the future..The vision of one generation is the project of the next; the project of this generation is the accomplished fact of the next; the fact of this generation passes into history with the next, and all the world wonders that men have so long been blind... You gentlemen who participate in this conference between all the peoples of the free Western Hemispheer are the advance guard in the greatest movement since civilization began towards the brotherhood of man and the federa- tion of the world”. It is impossible to consider the development and influence of this and subsequent continental assemblies without recalling those words, so full of wisdom and prophecy. The vision of the pre- cursors of American unity, Miranda, Maia, Egafia, Thornton, Rozas, del Valle; the accurate under- standing of Jefferson and Monroe; the consuming zeal of Bolivar and Clay; the constant aspiration of great minds throughout the continent during the sixty-three years that had elapsed since the Congress of Panama, in spite of failures and er- rors,—all these have been translated into tangible reality for the whole world to see during the half- century of constructive and fruitful Pan American- ism that has just been completed. Of course much still remains to be done. There are still problems awaiting solution, barriers to be torn down, causes of friction to be removed. But the work already accomplished is a cause for legitimate satisfaction now, as well as a hopeful promise for the future. As we pause on the high- way of history to estimate the distance covered in a half-century of continent rapprochement, we see the majestic figure of free and united America clearly outlined on the crest of constructive achievements, radiating confidence in her destiny and inspiring respect in all nations of the globe... HENRY MEIGGS By Mary G. Reynolds “Anywhere the llama goes,” Henry Meiggs once boasted, “Il can take a train”, And anyone who has ridden his famous Central Railway from Callao, the port of Lima on the Peruvian coast, up through the Andes to Oroya can testify that this was no empty boast. This is the highest standard-gauge railway in the world, for it reaches an altitude of three miles, more than 1,000 feet higher than the top of Mt. Whitney. Henry Meiggs was a strange, unfathomable man, and the story of his life reads like a far- fetched novel. He had grandiose ideas and the energy and daring to throw all his resources into trying to carry them out. Born in Catskill, New York, in 1811, Meiggs left school while still very young and went into business, He reached California with the Gold Rush of 1849 and worked his way up rapidly in the business circles of San Francisco. However, he took too many risks, especially in the purchasing of real estate, and the first thing he knew he was caught in a mesh of heavy debts and accused of forgery. To get out of the desperate situation, he decided to fleet the country and try to earn enough in a new theater of operations to repay what he owed. One night in 1854 he and his family set sail in a packet headed for Chile. When he arrived there in March 1855, Meiggs had to begin life all over again. Entering the field of railroad contracting, he worked first on com- pleting a line from Santiago south to the Maule River, and then, in 1821, signed a contract for completing the all-important line between the port of Valparaiso and Santiago, the capital of the country and the center of a rich agricultural area. A long succession of engineers had spent nine years on the first half of this road, but Meiggs with his unlimited energy and resourcefulness completed the last half in two years. The line was opened in 1863 with the dramatic ceremonies for which Meiggs was to become famous. It was the efficiency he showed in fulfilling this contract that won for him a leading role in the railway drama of South America. In 1868 Meiggs brought to a close 13 success- ful years in Chile, during which he had been able to repay some of his California creditors, and transferred his center of activities to Peru. His first project in Peru was the railway from the seaport of Mollendo up to Arequipa. In spite of the obstacles presented by the desert terrain through which the tracks had to run and by an acute labor shortage (which he solved by import- ing thousands of workers from Chile), the line was ready in January 1871 for the initial run, made by the President of Peru and. 800 invited guests. In commemoration of his work on this road, a group of Meiggs’ friends presented him with a silver memorial, which is now at the Pan American Union in Washington. In the nine years between his arrival in Peru and his death in 1877, Meiggs built some 700 miles of railroads, but we shall have space to consider in detail only his masterpiece, mentioned at the beginning of this article—the Central Railway. After a trip on this railroad Christopher Mor- ley exclaimed: “Up the hill they call it —one of the most effective understatements I know.” He was so impressed that he called Meiggs “one of the world’s great poets” who had “built a rhyme loftier than Lycidas.” As it was planned, this line was to extend 138 miles from Callao on the coast through Lima, the capital, and over a pass at 15,673 feet to Oroya, slightly lower. It would thus open com- munications between the coastal cities and the mining and agricultural regions of the Andean highlands. Under Meiggs the grade was prepared for practically the entire distance and tracks were laid as far as Chicla, within ten miles of the pass. The distance was multiplied by the difficulties of the terrain, for few, if any, railroads have been built through more rugged country. The canyons through which it passes are so steep in some places that platforms for the surveyors had to be cut right out of the solid-rock walls. In all, 61 bridges and 65 tunnels had to be built. Lock of room for curves made necessary 21 V’s or. simple switchbacks, so that during much of the run the passenger scarcely knows whether he is going forward or backward. Some of the stories told of incidents that oc- curred during the construction of this line serve to give an idea of its builder. According to one of these, a young engineer working a particularly difficult section complained to Meiggs, “We can’t run a railroad along there in that sliding shale!” Don Enrique (as he was called by his Latin Amer- ican friends) answered “Can’t, eh? Well, young man, that’s just where she’s got to go, and if. you can’t find room for her on the ground, we'll hang her from balloons.” To appreciate fully what Meiggs and his men achieved, one must realize that the entire region was barren and treeless, and all provisions, iron, coal, timber, tools, grain, and fodder had to be brought over the mountain trails on mules or Mamas. And what was worse, many of these sup- plies had to be imported from foreign countries. Accidents and disease killed many of the workers. As on the Arequipa-Mollendo road, large numbers of Chilean workers were used, and, in addition, Meiggs imported thousands of Chinese. However, at the higher altitudes Peruvian Indians were employed almost exclusively. Work on this and all the other unfinished projects Meiggs had on hand were paralyzed in August 1875 by his own and the Government’s financial difficulties. During the remaining two years of his life Meiggs worked feverishly to save himself from bankruptcy and was barely able to do so. He never got his projects going again. Broken in body and spirit, he died in Lima on September 30, 1877. No public monument has been erected to honor Henry Meiggs, but he needs none besides the great railroads he built. Whatever may have been his shortcomings, there is no denying that he Possessed a measure of greatness and that he left his mark on South America, SPANISH LESSONS FOR BEGINNERS BY G. B. Palacin Professor of the University of Miami, Fla. LESSON 51 (4) j (el) carnaval carnival (Ja) cocina cuisine, kitchen criollo, -a Creole a la carta a la carte seleccionaron, of seleccionar to select, choose juntos together fueron a pie, of ir a pie to walk de este modo in this way dolor de cabeza headache; dolo: Pain, anche.. b, (el) rato while (el) regalo gift (el) pariente relative Los simpaticos chilenos sintieron haber llegado a Nueva Orleans unos dias después de la semana de carnaval, pues les habria gustado mucho ver las famosas fiestas de la Ciudad. Pero Nueva Orleans tiene otras muchas cosas interesantes y pudieron verlas. Apenas un par de horas después de haber entrado en el hotel, y después de descansar, padre e hijo fueron a visitar el Cabildo, la Catedral y los lugares préximos, pasando alli toda la mafiana. En el Cabildo pudieron ver muchos documentos y objetos de la época colonial. El Vieux Carré, con sus calles estrechas y pintorescas, gusté mucho a nuestros amigos, Estos, por supuesto, aprovecharon la ocasion para comer en el restaurant de Antoine. que tiene fama mundial, como otros restaurants del mismo barrio, por su cocina francesa y criolla. El restaurant de Antoine sélo sirve comidas a la carta y el doctor Fernandez y Carlos seleccionaron platos exquisitos. Padre e hijo recorrieron juntos, después de comer, el Vieux Carré y buena parte de las secciones nuevas. Casi todo el tiempo fuerén a pie, pues de este modo podian ver mejor los lugares por donde pasaban, Pero cuando regresaron al hotel, ya hacia las seis, Carlos estaba cansado y tenia dolor de cabeza. Después de descansar un rato se sintid bien, y como tanto él como su padre tenian apetito, salieron Para cenar y para ir después ai cine. El segundo dia lo dedicaron nuestros amigos a ver la Casa Inter- nacional, la Universidad de Tulane, el puerto y otros lugares. Llegaron en automévil hasta el lago Pontchartrain, y luego Pasearon, también eh automévil, por las principales avenidas, viendo magnificos edificios modernos y algunos de valor histérico, como la llamada casa de Napoleén. Carlos sacé algunas fotografias del lago, del puerto, en donde estuvieron, y de otros lugares, pues aunque compré varias colecciones de tarjetas con vistas de la Ciudad queria llevar fotogra- fias hechas por él. Hacia las cinco de la tarde, estando en la calle Canals, el doctor Fernandez recordé a su hijo que al dia siguiente saldrian temprano para San Francisco y que atin no habian comprado regalos para llevar a sus familiares y amigos. Carlos dijo que no podrian presentarse en Santiago sin algunos regalos y que ya que no los habjan comprado en las ciudades que habian visitado debian comprarlos en Nueva Orleans, aunque también podrian comprar otros en San Francisco. Las tiendas de la gran calle en que estaban en aquel momento les ofrecia buena ocasion para comprar algo, y la aprovecharon, FINANCIAL NOTES OF THE WEEK * * YUGOSLAV TRADERS TOURING AMERICA * Dispatches from London report that a Yugoslavian commercial de legation has left Belgrade to visit Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Para- guay,.Chile and probably Bolivia, Peru. and. Venezuela;--to- increase commercial trade with these coun- tries and. negotiate new trade pacts. The delegation, whose trip will last three to four months, is head- ed by Jakov Blazevi, president of the Croatian Executive Council. According to a report by the Tan- jug Agency received in London, the group will also include com- merical officials and representati- ves of economic. organizations who will contact firms in the countries they visit, and “if possi- ble, agree to trade operations.” The Tanjug Agency said that Yugoslavia already has commerc- ial relations with the majority of South American countries, and financial agreements with many of them, and added: “A pact was recently signed with Uruguay for the trade of goods worth two million dollars. “The second monetary agree- ment between Yugoslavia and Brazil will expire with this coun- try. “Yugoslavia signed trade agree- ments with Argentina for goods valued at four million dollars, and hopes to sign a similar pact for nine million dollars within a short time. “Yugoslavian economic circles are confident that favorable con- ditions exist to expand trade re- lations with South’ America. Yu- goslavia is in a position to ex- port metal, chemical and elec- tronic equipment, machine tools, agricultural and construction ma- chinery, etc. and is interested in importing hides, wool, ‘cotton, cof- fee, oil, fats, drugs nd _ other basic products available in South American countries. * U. S. EXPERTS TO FOSTER COMMERCIAL RELATIONS * * The U. S. Agriculture Depart- ment has named a group of 34 experts in the commercial field who will leave next month for La- tin America, Europe and Asia to explore means of opening new markets for United States agri- cultural products. Assistant Secretary of Agricul- ture John H. Davis said in a press conference that he was sure the commercial missions will place the United States in a position for aggressive promotion of sales. He added that these sales were dis- continued during the years when demand was at its highest point during World War II. Davis insisted that the prime objective of the missions will be to attract sales on the free market, not to seek ways of providing out- lets for surpluses now in govern- ment hands. He added that the missions will contact U. S, embassy officials, re- presentatives of foreign govern- ments and private commercial i terests in the countries they visit. Davis also said that these are not “sales missions” and that the envoys are not going to take or- ders of any kind. ¢ The assistant secretary remind- ed President Eisenhower’s mes- sage of January 11, in which he proposed a series of commercial missions “to explore the possibi- lities of expanding international commerce in foods and fibers.” *k * BRAZIL FEARS WHEAT SHORTAGE * % The commercial publication, “Re- vista Del Rio de La Plata,” states that “in spite of official statements, Brazil continues as a major point of concern for the wheat market.” It adds that since the first of the year no shipments of wheat went out to Brazilian ports, and that Brazil is using other sources of supply. “The sale of about 80,000 tons of wheat to Peru and Japan —the exact amount to each country has not been disclosed— produced 3) needed stimulus to Argentine ex- port operations”, said the weekly. Further on the publication said that additional 16,000 tons of Ar- gentine wheat were sent to Euro- pean ports before the carnival season. * % COPPER RESERVES REACH NEW HIGH * % The Copper Institute anounced that refined copper reserves in the hands of producers had reach- ed the highest level since Novem- ber, 1949, at the end of February. Nevertheless, the increase in deliveries to factories, and the steady. decrease of national produc- tion have given some incentive to tha indvetme: % -- svo.sves in the hands of producers at the end of February rose to 118,417 tons, while at the end of January there was only 108,121 tons. Deliveries to factories rose to 87,384 tons, compared to 177,091 tons delivered in January. Never- theless, copper sales were still below the level reached in 1953, said the institute. - National mining production of this metal dropped in February to 69,370 tons from 76,912 tons ex- tracted the previous month. Daily production in February was 2,477 tons against 2,481 tons in January. Total production of refined cop- per in the country during Feb-" ruary was 103,496 tons, against 111,553 tons produced in January. The production of reclaimed cop- per dropped to 6,286 tons against 7,304 tons produced the previous month. hs Refined copper reserves in the hands of foreign producers drop- pe dto 275,372 tons compared to 280,510 tons in existence in Jan- uary. Delivery to factories fell to 15,940 tons from 76,001 tons the previous month.