At Lima

Representatives of the 21 independent States on the American continent met at Lima last week for their eighth Pan American Conference. Advertised purpose was to discuss common political, military and economic policies by which the "American Democracies" could oppose "European Dictatorships."

Some idea of how realistic might be the results of the democracy v. dictatorship discussions could be got from the character of the building in which the delegates sat down to business. It was the hall of the Peruvian Congress, Hispanic, charming, but a little small for the 136 delegates. The Congress has not met for more than two years, having been sent home in 1936 by General Oscar R. Benavides, who has run Peru singlehanded ever since.

This situation, however, was no embarrassment to Dictator Benavides. for of the 21 "democracies" represented at the Conference, only nine--U. S., Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Uruguay-- could be defined as States under popular rule. Said Strong Man Benavides, with more subtlety than he perhaps intended: "We cannot offer you, on as grand a scale as some of the other American nations, the harmonious spectacle of a great city that could shelter you as could other capitals. But we do claim your attention to the evolutionary processes of our nationality."

Reservations. The other twelve "democracies" represented at Lima are governments of as many different shades of oligarchy and totalitarianism as there are colors in their flags. Their economies are also heterogeneous, ranging from that of Bolivia, which exports almost nothing but minerals, to Argentina, which exports almost nothing but agricultural products.

The U. S. differs from all of them in that it is the only country of the lot in a position to lend money heavily and sell industrial products. About the only things which the 21 nations have in common are their location in the same hemisphere and their anxiety to protect themselves against the growing disturbances on the other side of the world.

This lack of basic harmony among the conferees was nowhere better reflected than in the Conference's opening. Most of the delegates had come with resolutions to propose, and most of the others were willing to accept them--with reservations. They were willing to endorse hemispheric defensive military cooperation from the U. S.--but no military alliances. They were willing to damn totalitarianism in general--but no specific totalitarian state in particular. ("The position of America is one of collaboration, not rebuke," said General Benavides.) They were willing to accept the principle of Argentina's strictures against disruptive foreign political movements--but those who still clung to the principle of civil liberties could not accept it in detail. The South and Central American States were ready to trade their coffee, rubber, ores for U. S. money and machinery--but the U. S. could not take any of their cotton or much of their beef. That left the unrebuked dictatorships like Germany to continue bartering in South and Central America with aski marks.

Hull Technique. In this bumpy atmosphere the man who was running the show if anyone was--the gentle Tennessee judge, Secretary of State Cordell Hull-- moved with the care and caution of a captain trying to land a dirigible in a high wind. Hope, confidence and cooperation were the keynotes of his nonspecific and resoundingly applauded opening address, saying: "The world's greatest need today is that there be created and maintained conditions which will give to nations and to individuals peace of mind and of spirit. Toward producing those conditions, we must strive with all our strength in every field--political, social, economic and moral. . . .

"We of the Americas are fortunate beyond words in being so situated that we can make our example and our influence a potent factor in promotion of conditions in which there may be peace with justice and with security. Nor do we stand alone. There are in other parts of the world powerful forces, actual or latent, working toward the same end. . . ."

As indicated at the Conference's opening, the Hull technique will be to remain as inconspicuous as possible, announce no U. S. proposal until sure it has unanimous support, lend a willing ear to all other delegates. In his corner, Secretary Hull had the benefit of a great deal of emotional good will from many of the delegations, largely as a result of the good impression he, Franklin Roosevelt and the reassuring Good Neighbor policy made at the Buenos Aires conference in 1936.

Strictly emotional, for instance, was the response Good Neighborism got from Dr. Carlos Concha, Peru's Foreign Minister. "President Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy," cried that eloquent Latin, "which is now exercising such a healthy and promising influence on international relations on this continent, is the best expression of the new routes that Pan-Americanism is taking in these times. Therefore, free of suspicions and misgivings, which I am sure, will not arise anew in the future, we meet here today under the best possible auspices, animated by the intention of perfecting the juridical measures that govern our American way of living together."

On the more practical side were the instructions which some delegations--largely Central American--had brought from home: vote solidly with the U. S. With this support, Secretary Hull was able to push three modest objectives, to obtain which he was ready to pass up Christmas at home: 1) secure peace within the Americas. 2) further economic cooperation between the 21 nations, 3) harmonize international law in the hemisphere.

Dictator Dollar. "Observers" in the Conference galleries included watchful eyes from Italy and the Reich. Something less than sympathetic to the goings-on, they were inclined, with their home papers, to characterize the meeting as "laughable," Mr. Hull's speech as "professional," an "attempt to excuse Washington's brutal hegemonic wishes before the South Americans."

"The latter," scoffed the Berliner Lokalanzeiger, "will on their part supposedly be thankful for this, for they have experienced in their own lives the fact that His Majesty the Dollar is one of the most inhuman dictatorships in all world history.''

That investing dollars south of the Rio Grande has its happy and unhappy aspects was made clear by two developments before the conference was a week old. Cubans received with thanks promise of a $50,000,000 public works loan from a U. S. bank. Mexico, continuing its expropriation of domestic and foreign holdings, took over the U. S.-owned United Sugar Co. plant at Los Mochis.

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