New Ambassador

In South America last week a new kind of ambassador was delivering a new kind of plain talk to the people--Eric Johnston, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who took off three weeks ago from Miami, has now visited Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile (TIME, March 1).

As chairman of the U.S. Committee of the Inter-American Development Commission, Johnston is making the tour not "as a good-will mission but a business trip." Instead of following the Government line of promising much (and delivering little), Johnston bluntly told Brazilians that for the duration of the war they could expect precious little machinery and other needed products, mainly because of lack of ships. His audience applauded.

Second big Johnston point: U.S. business stands 100% behind the Administration's Good Neighbor policy. But this cannot be achieved through grandiose Government-sponsored plans to control trade. The Good Neighbor policy's success depends on private business initiative. Said Johnston in Buenos Aires: "We came down primarily to lay a foundation for postwar development through private enterprise. We do not want any South American WPA."

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