Evening Star Newspaper, March 16, 1930, Page 111

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. S X C.; “MA®CH: - 16, 1930; — Aviation Brings Wings of Progress to Colombia . Berrio Square, in Medellin, Colombia. A typical “town center” in the South American Republic. Overcoming Transportation Handicaps, the Advent of ‘the Airplane Has Wrought ~ a Complete Transformation of the South Amerlcan Republic, Which Was the First to Use Air Service for Mail, Passenger and Freight, and Today the ‘Country Is Soaring to New Helghts of Natlonal Prosperity. .- BY GASTON NERV AL. INGED Co.omma stands today - as the most striking example of what aviation can do for the progress and development of a country. Until some years ago the various settlements in Colombia were completely isolated from each other, while domestic and even foreign com- merce suffered the consequences of an almost total lack of means of rapid communication. For tourists the trip to the principal cities of Colombia was all of an adventure and had to be made in small, slow boats on the rivers or on muleback, taking weeks and weeks to cross the country. For the natives themselves it was a problem to get from the coast to the interior on account of the obstacles with which nature had made the construction of railways and good highways all but impossible in Co- lombia. All this was reflected, naturally, in the general economic condition of the country, hampering the advent of that prosperity which other Latin American republics, more fortunate than Colombia in regard to means of trans- portation, were beginning to enjoy. Until aviation came. "When it had been proved to the world that air transportation was a reality Colombia realized that wings would bring the remedy for her troubles. With few means of land com- munication and hampered by nature from suc- cessfully developing these, Colombia was the first South American nation to take up seri- ously the use of air transportation for mail, passengers and freight, establishing more than nine years ago a regular service between her principal Atlantic port and the capital of the republic. PFrom that time the transformation of the country began. Commerce, industry, national finances, all found themselves on the threshold of a new era, and the modernization of the country went ahead with firm strides. Th> number of air lines increased as time went on, and today Colombia, convinced that her future is in the air, presents us the picture of a rich nation, with a wealth of resources, of energy, in full swing of economic development, relegating to the past even the memory of that unknown, backward Colombia that only yes- terday was desperately combating nature in her endeavor to join together the scattered settle- ments of her extensive and unexploited patri- mony. NE of Colombia’s material advantages is in her wonderful geographical position. Placed farthest north in South America, linking the Central American states with those of the United States. R However, the first steps in the material de- velopment of Colombia u from the opening States than #ny other section of Latin America. Lacking direct land communication, from East- ern Colombia, ukhndto'odovnuo&ndme contin=nt, through the Straits of Magellan—a of Western Cojombia. With™ the canal’ , "the situation changed com- pletely, and colombh is now the nation reaping the most immediate benfits from direct con- nections with North America and. Europe. It - is very true, of course, that she had to pay a The University of Medellin, Colombia. high N_wr these benefits, since before the canal coula be built Colombia had to lose one of her best provinces, Panama, which became an independent nation with the aid of the United States. COLOMBIA has a territory of about 500,000 square miles. The exact area cannot be stated because some of her boundaries, notably that with Ecuador, have not yet been definitely fixed. This area is greater than that of all the Atlantic+ Coast States of the Union to- gether. Her population, taken in relation to her extensive territory, is sparse, although one of the largest in Latin America. She has 5,800, 000 inhabitants—that is, rather more than the total population of the States of California, Oregon, Nevada and Arizona. The majority of Colombia's inhabitants are of mixed blood, although the proportion of white people is higher than in many of the South American republics. This white population, descendants of Spanish colonists, has attained a remarkable degree of culture, and has made Bogota, the Colombian capital, one of the strongest intel- lectual centers on the Continent.. Colombia's literature is proverbially rich and fine, and works of Colombian authors are read and used as texts throughout the southern continent. To this natural inclination for the pursuit of letters 4s due, undoubtedly, the fact thit Colombia is the American country which has best preserved the purity of the Spanish language. It is generally recognized that the purest Spanish on this side of the Atlantic is spoken in Colombia. The predominance of intellectual activities in Colombia life is illustrated by the fact that today Colombia’s greatest poet, Guil- lermo Valencia, a man who has given his whole life to books and poetry, is a candidate for the presidency of the republic, and it seems very probable that next year he may take his place beside the generals and dictators who rule other Latin American States. Colombia has the unique characteristic, among Latin American countries, of possessing equally large agricultural and mineral resources. As a rule, the republics south of the Rio Grande have one or the other of these two types of resources in large scale, but not both together. Among the agricultural products of Colombia coffee is one of the most important, only one country—Brazil—surpassing it. However, Colom- bian coffee does not compete with the Brazilian product, being of superior quality, and having an enormous foreign demand, mostly for blend- ing with Brazilian coffee. Statistics show an annual production in Colombia of about 300,- 000,000 pounds of coffee. The major part of seminary building in Colombia. this is produced in the Interlor highlands, where climatic conditions are most favorable. Bananas hold Second place among Colombia’s agricultural products, but they are grown and shipped principally by large North American corporations, which have monopolized the fruit trade of the whole Caribbean region. Although a large part of this crop is consumed locally, exports of bananas during last year reached a total value of about $5,000,000.° Other im- portant products are sugar, cacao, tobacco, rice and cotton. In 1927 Colombia produced about 250,000 tons of sugar. However, the agricul- tural resources of Colombia are not alone the cultivated products of her fertile soil, but also include the raising of live stock, the values of which reach enormous totals. In general, it may be said that €olombia, with her differ- ing climatic zones, varying from the tropical regions of the interior to the cold mountain areas, possesses extraordinary advantages for the developmént of agricultural production, to which the only impediment has been, until recently, the lack of means of communication and transportation. THE obstacles which nature scattered at random throughout Colombia have stul- bornly resisted man’s efforts to conquer them. Despfite domestic prosperity, and the execllent condition of her finances for some years past, road building has been neglected in Colombia, as in many of the Latii American nations, and only recently has the nation faced the serious problems resulting from this neglect. Rallways, also, were little developed until recent years, for the greater part®*of Colombian commerce moved over the Magdalena and Cauca Rivers and their tributaries. Topography of the coun- try, for one thing, and the policy of entrusting the construction of railways to the departments (or provinces) rather than to the national gov- ernment, for another, has made railway de- velopment very slow in Colombia. There is still current in Latin America the tale, related by some tourists years ago, of a train running between two Colombian cities, consisting of a single car, but which carried 'first and second- class passengers, the difference being that the