Good Will in the Americas

At Washington's airport Secretary of State Edward Stettinius, arriving, and Under Secretary Joseph C. Grew, welcoming him, beamed and embraced each other in almost Latin style. They felt they could congratulate themselves on the outcome of the Mexico Conference on War & Peace.

Pay-Off. When the Conference made its last formal bows and speeches, Stettinius, bubbling with confidence, had challenged reporters to find any serious failure in his first public international conference.

Both Stettinius and Nelson Rockefeller, with Mexico's Ezequiel Padilla and a small army of experts like Adolf Berle, Avra Warren, Oscar Cox, Leo Pasvolsky and Senator Warren Austin, won Latin praise.

The plain truth was, it had been a good conference. The compromise way had paid off. There had been compromises on almost every major question between a powerful but reasonable U.S. and weak but sensitive Latins. Together they had agreed where they could, pushed aside for the future difficulties that defied agreement.

Thus the American nations would go to San Francisco united only on the general principle that world organization is a good thing. The fundamental difference of viewpoint between the big-power U.S. and the small-power Latin American nations was not resolved. But mutual consideration had been shown--no one had been pushed around.

"Courteous . . . Honorable." On Argentina the compromise was typical. Between the U.S. stand that Argentina should be ignored or castigated and the Latin demand that it be discussed and forgiven, a middle ground had been found. Said the resolution: it is too bad Argentina could not take part; it can still join up if it will "cooperate with the other American nations by identifying itself with the common policy . . . and by orienting its own policy until it achieves its incorporation into the United Nations as a signatory. . . . The final Act of the Conference is open to adhesion by the Argentine nation. . . ."

Of the resolution, even Argentina's Acting Foreign Minister, Cesar Ameghino, purred: "A courteous and honorable formula" that permits Argentina to "go ahead in search of satisfactory solutions."

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