Dollars & Deficits

Until President Truman shelved the idea at Rio last summer, Latin America had hoped there would be a Marshall Plan for the Western Hemisphere, too. Last week, Latin America learned how substantially it would benefit from a plan designed almost exclusively for the reconstruction of Europe.

Under the plan sent to Congress by Harry Truman, the U.S., in effect, would supply dollars to Europe to buy goods from Latin America. The plan provided that Latins shoulder part of the trade deficit themselves by grants and credits to Europe. But U.S. dollars spent in dollar-short Latin America on goods for Europe might total as much as $300 million a year.

Of all the southern neighbors, only Argentina could sell Europe a significant amount of goods for Marshall Plan dollars. Argentina, which already holds most of Latin America's foreign exchange, would therefore get the lion's share of the money.

Such countries as Mexico, Colombia and Bolivia, which had led the agitation for a hemispheric Marshall Plan, would benefit hardly at all. Brazil had only coffee and cotton textiles to offer. These were the countries that had cried loudest for U.S. development loans, and would be heard from again at the Bogota conference next March.

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