EXPANDING NEIGHBOR
BEALS, CARLETON
Expanding Neighbor BRAZIL: An Expanding Economy, by George Wythe,. Royce A. Wright, and Harold M. Midkiff. Twentieth Century Fund. 412 pp. $3.50. Reviewed by Carleron Beals THE competent and...
...nor of Spanish, Portuguese, Frendf Italian, or Argentine business...
...Ther$ is no presentation of what in the long run may prove most important of all to Brazil—her relations with Argentina—and nothing is told about Brazil's railroad drive infe Bolivia and its political and economic repercussions...
...A book so definitely slanted toward hopeful U. S. capital rather than toward the needs and purposes of Brazil and her people must inevitably omit important ma^Hl There is a list of American')2| British firms operating in Brazil, H no list of important Brazilian firm...
...WILLIAM B. HE5-SETINE Is a professor of American history at the University of Wisconsin...
...Thus, the book is not a history of Brazil nor is it meant to be a vital interpretation of the living Brazil...
...CARLETON BEALS is one of America's best known authorities on Latin America...
...There is a real problem here: previous investment was largely for the purpose of getting raw materials out...
...For the other things, the reader will have to look elsewhere—and find nothing worth while...
...All three writers have had previous experience in Latin America, chiefly in official government capacities, which may partly explain why the book remains on the inoffensive protocol level, avoiding more serious problems, although the facts about wages, coerced labor unions, health, and education are not shirked...
...Reviewed by Carleron Beals THE competent and comprehensive survey of Brazil by George Wythe and his associates is an invaluable reference manual, jammed with nearly all available statistics— with the chief purpose of showing the great opportunities for U. S. capital investment, provided Brazil will modify her present policies of economic nationalism and permit free immigration...
...Since it is clearly stated that the chief stumbling block to United States investment in Brazil is economic nationalism, a thoroughgoing analysis of this trend, which is to be encountered in all Latin America in varying degrees of intensity, seems required—especially since British and U. S. capital investment was in good part responsible for present attempts at greater economic independence...
...Although the Preface states that "no country in the world" offers greater opportunities for the utilization of "capital, management, labor, and resources" than Brazil, the writers are super-conservative in their estimate of present and future possibilities...
...Certainly this book does not adequately cover the Amazon region, the major portion of Brazil...
...His many books include "Land of the Dawning Morrow" and "America South...
...Often railroads and roads were built and public utilities established in order to promote that end rather than serve the more basic national and popular needs of the country...
...OSCAR HAND LIN Is an associate pressor of history at Harvard and author of 'This Was America...
...GEORGE FISCHER, who grew up and was educated In the Soviet Union, !¦ now doing special graduate studies on Russia at Harvard...
...The question would seem to be whether U. S. capital will be willing to go along in the diversification and over-all national development by which resources can be more efficiently and extensively utilized, not merely for foreign export but for the progress and prosperity of the country as a whole...
...The authors have kept their noses close to the grindstone of production statistics and have produced an unequalled book worthy of all praise...
...Brazil: An Expanding Economy is a blueprint of that country's present industry and possibilities, and one cannot carp at an architect for not giving the history of the site, the people in the neighborhood, and the dwellers in the house...
Vol. 14 • March 1950 • No. 3
