THE HEMISPHERE

Ironic Requests

Big-hearted UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) had a tough job getting Latin American pledges of food for European countries wrecked by war (see INTERNATIONAL). Some Latin American Governments asked that their quotas be drastically reduced. Others offered inedibles, such as sodium nitrate from Chile or huaraches (sandals) from Mexico.

Niggardliness was not the reason. The fact was that Latin America, in spite of abundant fertile land, was one of the worst-fed regions in the world. The chief food surplus was in Argentina, not one of the United Nations. Most Latin American countries produced hardly enough to keep their people alive. According to UNRRA's own calculations, the war-sufferers of Europe would need at least 2,000 calories a day, just to keep alive. But in the Latin American countries where it begged for food many millions of people got far less to eat.

Primitive farming practices, lack of tools and transportation were partly to blame. But the chief reason was the system of land tenure. In most of the countries, the bulk of the land was in large estates. The owners, generally absentees, paid little attention to the food needs of their peons, or of the nation as a whole. Much good land lay idle, held for speculation. Land taxes were nonexistent, or too low to force the owners to cultivate their acres efficiently, as in the U.S.

If the recent UNRRA junket through Latin America learned these facts, it had not reported them. Only an occasional Latin American humorist (see cut) pointed up the irony of UNRRA's requests.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.