May 9~Special to Technology
News. Herein, Dr. Harold A. Vagt-
burg presents a vivid first-hand (10-
of the industrial exploration tour
which was undertaken by a mim-
bcr of nationally prominent in
(Mistrial and engineering men on
board a. special clipper plane.

l. Wings Over tho Caribbean.

With the ease and grace of a
bird, the South American Clipper
moves swiftly southward over bil-
lowing clouds and the sea 8,000
feet below. The Clipper has just
left. Miami with the 21 members
of the National Research Council
industrial Exploration Commis-
sion and a crew of five. Onward
to a continent which the average
American knows little about, but
one which has so suddenly sprung
to the limelight because of its; im~
parlance in the economic readjust-
ments brought about by the Euro-
pean war, the flight over the Carib-
bean gives each member of the
commission time to reflect and
consider the reasons which make
a “good neighbor” policy mutual-
ly essential to both continents.

Since the days; of colonization
in the Americas (incidentally
South America was first by over
100 years) almost all trade has
been easterly and westerly over
the Atlantic. This war; natural.
of course, because of relations;
with mother countries. Even aft-
er the breaking away from moth
or countries—4am United States in
1776 and Mexico and South Ai‘nori.
can republics around lSZS-Ahc
trade routes changed but littlc.
During the European war oi 19%
1918 the United States paid scant
attention to the problems of South
America which suffered because
of trade blockades. Now that his-
tory is repeating ltncli and Eur“
one is again at war, but with
changed economic conditions dc-
vclopcd during the lust twenty
years, lack of communion be»
tween the United States and the
Latin American countries could
have extremely serious. conno-
quenccs.

Unity Ncccsxary for liloftmuc

Strong unity in the Westcm
Hemisphere would greatly assist
the United States in its national
defense program. However, scr-
era] of the LatinvAmcl'ican count
tries are “on the fence" and have
reasons of their own for debating
on which side of the conflict they
should throw their lot. in gen.
cral it can be said that those coun-
tries which have raw materials
that the United States can use.
and has been using, looli favor-
ably toward the United States. On
the other hand there are one or
two countries, and important ones.
that have not yet concluded that
relations with the United States
hold the solution to the problem.
The South American countries are
flooded with propagandists and it
seems that day by day public opin-
ion favors the victor—whether
in a political or battlefront gain.

Secretary of State Cordell Hull
has for years seen the advantage
of developing good relations with
South America and has cham-
pioncd the cause. He and Presi~
dent Roosevelt are extremely well
liked throughout the Latin Amer-
ican countries. With the markets
of Europe shut off, both to the
United States and South Ameri»
ca, it is essential for economic
reasons (primarily of import to
South America) and for national
defense (primarily of import to
the United States that the trade
routes be changed from cast-and-
West to north-and-south. The La-
tin American countries appear to
give every opportunity to the Unit
ed States to bring about such a
change. They seek United States
capital and technological advice.

 

 

Nil“! i3, 19:34.1

 

  

 

However, there are many prob-
lems to be worked out before a
mutually satisfactory basis is
reached.

Purposes; all Council

The National Research Council
sponsored Industrial Exploration
Commission has the following pur-
poses:

First: To observe and study at
first hand the industrial progress
of South America.

Second: To exchange ideas be-
tween tour members and rcpre
sentativc industrial executives and
government olilcials in the coun-
tries visited.

Third: To give advice when rc—
oucsted by government officials,
private industry and research
workerc in matters of research,
cntzinccring and technology.

Fourth: To establish an endur-
intz mulclution through this com~
miltce. by making available to
South American governments and
industries the services of the Na-
tional Research Council on a basic.
similar to that given to our own
government.

)3 c u:

The Clipper is on its first “leg"
of the industrial exploration tour
of South America. A total of 18.-
0% miles (from Chicago) will he
covered including Colombia, Ecua~
(tor. ‘Pcru. Chile, Argentina, Uru-
guay, and Brazil.

in general. the geography ol‘
South America will surprise any
one who will take the time to
look at a globe. In the first place,
tho longitude of the east coast of
United Statcs is about the comic
as. that of the west coast of South
America. The clock in Santiago
is one hour ahead of New York
limo. If the South American conv
lincni were creased at the cqua~
to? and foldod up into this heml—
saphcrc, the hull: of it would full
into the Atlantic ocean east of the
linitct‘l Statics ecu count. The pop
Motion of South America is thrcc—
fourths; that of our country. Hall
oi these people live in Braxll, at
country slightly larger than the
l’nilcd States in area.

But back to the Clipper which
éw now two hours out of Miami.
Already it has paesed the island
oi Cuba, for below with its; many
rectangular fields of sugar cane
and other crops of varied hue dic-
cernablc through random open.
lugs: to the clouds. A stop lo
mods: at Kingston, Jamaica, only
four and onciialf hours from Mia-
mi. Here the group is in the
tropics: under the British flag, but
not for long. The gas tanks are
tilled and the ship takes off in the
direction pointed out by a Sign

avhicl’l says astonishingly, “Bar-
ranquilla, Colombia, South Ameri~
cat—l lire."

ii. Colombia

The four-hour “hop" from Ja-
maica to Colombia pasees quickly
for there is much that can be done.
in the rocminess of the Clipper
and the liberties allowed in mov~
ing around. it is like a large club
car and various groups either play
bridge, watch the scenery or dis-
cuss the coming experience on
the South American continent.
We are surprised when the co-
pilot suddenly tells us that if We
will look to the east we can make
out Mount San Maria—snow cov-
ered and one hundred miles away.
“Yes—there it is, and the group
prepares for the landing at Bar‘
ranquilla.

South America is made up of
ten republics, the three Guianas
and the Falkland Islands, and has
a total area of 7,047,000 square
miles of which one-half belongs
to Brazil. Colombia, with an area
of 440,000 square miles, is fifth in
size and has a population of about
eight and one‘half million people.

.As is the case with other Latin
American countries, a large pro-
portion of the population consists
of Indians, the true Colombian be—
ing considered a person born in

    

lllr. Harold A. Woglllorg

Colombia whose
grated from Spain.
So. Americans Vory Friendly

Barranquilla is only seven miles
from the Caribbean on the Mag}
delena River, a. very wide stream
which makes a good landing area-
lor the Clipper. In a few mo~
month we are on the dock and im.
pressed with the river’s muddi
nous, the river boats identical with
those seen on the Mississippi, and
the Spanish architecture like that
of our own southwest and Mexi-
co. in a small neat building serv-
ing as a terminal and customs
elation we are met by a large
group oi" Colombiano and Ameri-
cans representing American firms
in South America. We feel for
thc first time something which
we will find throughout the trip“

ml-

ancestors

a very warm, cordial welcome
ouch as is; exchanged between
brothers. We are convinced that

“good neighbor” relations are pos-
sible tum look forward to a better
unzigzi'nlomling of tho problems of
the country. Our five pieces of

baggage. weighing over Sixteen
hundred pounds, each carry a

magic blue label marked “N. R.
C.“——~ hence all goes through with—
out customs examination and we
are whisked off to the beautiful
llolcl Del Prado by the welcom-
ing committee.
Climate ls Varlcd

Although Colombia Is a tropi-
cal country, climate.- variations are
surprising. The north coast where
l3urrunouilla is located is tem-
pcrctl by the trade winds which
blow so consistently from the
some direction that the airports
havc only a single runway—«in the
direction of the trade winds. A
hundred miles or so inland the
benefile of these winds are lost“
the country is hot and humid. But;
as one continues south closer to
the equator, high chilly plateaus
are rcochetlwfor example at B0-
gota. the capitol, the elevation is
8,500 feet and a topcoat is need-
ed, especially in the evenings.

Colombia, like the other South
American countries, wants to de-
velop trade with the United States.
She has forgiven the injustice
done to her many years ago by the
States. "Few of us remember that
the Panama Canal Zone belonged
to Colombia years ago, that she
had given a license to the French
to build a canal which license was
later transferred to the United
States by the French without Co-
lombian authorization and that.
when a rebellion broke out in the
Panama region United States
troops would not allow the Co-
lombian army to come in and set—
tle it, thereby creating a situation
which led to the acquisition of:

Panama by the United States. ll:
was not until relatively recent
years that this black. stain on
United States history was partly
removed by a payment of $25,000,-
000 to Colombia.

lrcm, Quantum of “H‘V Materials

Colombia has few industries and
these are small. She seems to
have vast quantities of raw mate-
rials of a character which she
hopes can find j» market in the
States. She also wants to develop
home industry and believes that
this can only be done by the use
of American capitol. She is; will-
ing to give concessions to munu~
faciurers who will invest here by
tariff protectiono and other means.
I-l'cr “peso" or dollar has a value
of fifty-eight cents. it is inter»
esting to see how carefully she
maintains trade balances: and so
conducts her foreign trade as to
keep title ratio. Many hours were
to be spent in all the countries
visited on the matter of foreign
exchange and trade balance Co-
lombia, like all the other South
American republican is a land of
the. few very rich and the many,
many poor. The homes of the rich
are luxurious. The sons and
daughters go to school in Europe
or the States—«until recently pre-
ferably Europe. Art. and culture
are invariably the subjects stud-
ied. Science and engineering have
been disregarded, and thus a coun-
try with few people. per Square
mile and tremendous unused agri-
cultural arcas and mineral and. in-
dustrial ponsibilltics finds it nec-
essary to import even a large per-
centage of her food for which ,uhe
gives in payment oil and emer-
alds. There is really no middle
class, although recent and contem-
plated social reforms will bring
one about in time. So the peons,
who compose, with the Indians,
the greatestt percentage of the
population, work very hard for
very little in serving their man-
ters. One person paralleled this
Situation with our own South, the
great landowners and the slaves.
As; the South has changed and is
now feeling the impetus of engi-
neering and science, so will Co»
lomblu change. The peon will
wear shoes and get more than
thirty to fifty or sixty cents per
day. Interestingly enough, Co-
lombia wants the change for she
realizes the problems past condi-
tions; have created. She wants
technology, industry, foreign
trade, schools and a higher stand—
ard of living. She wants to bring
this about by putting her vast ma
sources to workmbut to do so she
needs help.

Orchids 50c a Down

The National Research Council
Industrial Exploration Committee
spent one week in Colombia at-
tending numerous meetings with
governmental officials and busi
ness men. Plans were made for
putting into operation feasible
working arrangements so that
both the United States and Colom~
bla would benefit.

Two days were spent in Barran-
quilla and than a three-hour plane
trip to Medellin—the industrial
center of Colombia and the beau-
ty spot where orchids grow wild
and beautiful varieties can be
bought for fifty cents per dozen.
Two local growers are shipping
orchids by plane to the States.
Medellin has a number of small
industrial plantswmore or less
efficient. They represent a be-
ginning, however. The cotton
mill, consisting completely of
United States euuipment, is out-
standing in good management and
quality but frankly needs a good
import tarifi' to be able to com-
pete.

Bogou‘i, the capital, is on a pla-
teau with mountains all around.
In the old days it took weeks of
travel up the Magdalena river and.
by muleback to reach it. Now
it is reached in a few hours- from
any place in the country by plane.
On leaving Bogota after four days
of conferences and visits to indus—
trial plants, in order to get out. of
the ”(lien pan" (the bottom of
which has an elevation of 8.500
feet) the plane had to climb to
an elevation of 16,400 feet.

Child Labor at 280 a lilay

Over the mountain to Cali, Co-
lombia, where we wait overnight
to take aplane for the 1800-mile
trip to Lima, Peru. Lasting lm.
prcsslons of Colombia—«the 9 and
11 year old boys in the pottery
shop at Barranquilla modeling
clay, who said that they earned
twentyclght cents per day (Unlt~
cd States money) and got their
education at night school; and
the beautiful new university at
Bogota which is now training peo-
ple from the provinces who will.
later goback to teach. “Before
you can teach, you must. know the
story yourself.”

ill. Ecuador.

The flight from Coll, Colombia,
to Lima, Peru, covers 1300 miles
and is made in about 7 hours. On
this “hop” the whole of Ecuador
is: covered and the equator is
crossed. Although only one stop
for about thirty minutes was made
in Ecuador it is an interacting
country and deserves some com~
merit.

Ecuador, with 175,855 square
miles, is eighth in size of the ten
South American republics and has
a population of somewhat; less
than 3,000,000 people making-it
one of the cmallcet, selfugoverned
countries in the world. Quito, the
capital, is within, a few miles of
the equator and is a regular stop
on through airplane flights from
North to South America. The
{light through Colombia and on
this flight to Lima were made in
a new Douglas D03 plane which
had the exact seating accommoda-
tions for the NRC expedition of
twenty-one members. Most of the
important air routes in South
America have been taken over
from German companies in recent
years by Americans. The pilots
are American trained and the pas—
senger sees nothing different on
South American flight operations
than he would in Chicago or New
York. If anything, the South
American companies seem to be
more strict in their operations and
this is undoubtedly the reason for
the excellent safety records.

When the world traveler crosses
the equator on shipboard, after
much ceremony he is doused in
water and becomes a member of
the “Royal Order of Neptune."
Traveling by plane this procedure
is not possible, so the car
is less formal, but the sheepskin
decree given each passenger is
just as good evidence as the other.
&%%W®%%%WM%W@A%%

A Sillilllflilli Sifliiliill.
volt Ellilllihlllifi

To Make Up Courses
To Attuin Advanced Standing
To Train For National Defense

“the iloiorodo
School oi trillion
Stimulator liocoicn
offers complete, thorough courses
including field and laboratory
courses throughout; the summer.
In America’s Vacation Land
Recreational Opportunities make
Summer Study Enjoyable
For Details Write
Director Summer Session
Colorado School of Mines
Golden, Colorado .,

immyumummmmvmv

many