Help on the Way

How goes the Alliance for Progress six months after President Kennedy, in a good-neighborly mixture of determined English and halting Spanish, laid out the goals for hemispheric development? The bare framework of the formal Alliance has just been hammered together, but the U.S. is not awaiting treaties or paper proclamations before turning on the stream of dollars. In a striking speedup of aid since President Kennedy's speech last March, 99 loans, totaling $973 million in hard cash and credits, have been pumped into Latin America as convincing evidence that the U.S. intends to put its money where its sentiments are.

One of Washington's busiest offices these days belongs to the Inter-American Development Bank, which has $1 billion capital, $450 million of it pledged by the U.S. In its first year of operation, the IDE has granted 40 loans totaling $139.5 million to 18 Latin American countries, and the money goes faster each week--17 loans worth $49.5 million in the month since Punta del Este. Last week the IDB approved $500,000 for economic planning in Colombia, a hefty $13 million for four irrigation projects in Mexico. So solid is the bank's program of loans for basic social underpinnings that four European and five U.S. banks agreed to participate in the Mexican loan, marking the first time European bankers have risked their money on IDB projects that guarantee no quick return but promise to pay off in future development.

Other big lenders:

sbDEVELOPMENT LOAN FUND. In its first 2 1/2 years, DLF granted 24 loans worth $45 million to Latin American nations. Since March, 19 loans worth $100.4 million have gone to 14 countries. Among the beneficiaries: Haiti, with $250,000 for a hemp plantation; Peru, with $10.8 million for agrarian reform and a penetration road over the Andes.

sbEXPORT-IMPORT BANK. Restricted by law to financing the purchase of specific U.S. goods and services by foreign nations, the Ex-Im Bank has broadened its mission to include general lines of credit to Latin American countries for basic development projects. Extent of the speedup: 18 loans for $456.3 million (mostly for U.S.-made road-building machinery and agricultural equipment) since March, v. nine loans worth $280 million in the same six months last year.

sbINTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND, to which the U.S. contributes $4.1 billion of the $14 billion subscription, promotes international monetary stability by lending money to meet short-term balance-of-payment problems. With the U.S. using its considerable influence to bolster the Alliance, Latin American countries have been able to withdraw an imposing $210,200,000 since March. The heaviest borrowers so far: Brazil, $60 million; Chile, $60 million; Colombia, $65 million.

sbWORLD BANK, also heavily endowed by the U.S., has contributed $109,300,000 in six Latin American loans, primarily for the development of natural resources and industrial expansion.

The man who gets most credit for the Alliance's fast start is Treasury Secretary C. Douglas Dillon. Deeply aware of charges that the U.S. has in the past neglected its neighbors, Dillon stood before a Los Angeles audience last week and said that if the accusation were true in the past, it most certainly is not now: "We are well launched on our Alliance, and already good progress has been made. Our friends in Latin America are aware that we have now given the highest priority to the development of our own hemisphere."

To make certain that everyone in Washington is tuned in to the new wave length, Dillon himself checks to be sure that loan applications do not get lost in the bureaucratic pigeonholes. Concerned over the slow progress of one loan recently, Dillon visited the agency to see the man in charge. "We're not ready to process it yet," said the official. "Fine," said Dillon. "I'll just sit down and wait for it." The "processing," that is, approval, came through in about 60 seconds.

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