Latent Costa Rica
Hesseltine, William B.
Latent Costa Rica Costa Rica: a study in economic development, by Stacy May, Just Faaland, Albert R. Koch, Howard L. Parsons, and Clarence Senior. Twentieth Century Fund. 374 pp. $3. Reviewed...
...The report, an analysis and a blueprint for development, deals with agricultural, commercial, and industrial potentialities, discusses health and welfare, and outlines the cultural situation...
...Costa Ricans could gain much from a Point Four aid along the lines here suggested—and Americans might reap a rich profit in some of the elemental virtues, in human decency, and even in a sturdy democracy by association with the gentle Ticos...
...So, too, the forest resources might indicate a possible pulp industry, while the high literacy of the land might well make it a publishing center...
...The Twentieth Century Fund's researchers have only scratched the surface of this fairest daughter of Old Spain...
...If there is any spot on the globe where the "Point Four" program can bring quick and tangible results, it is Costa Rica...
...High points of the surveyors' report are their suggestions for improved coffee growing methods, reforestation, and utilization of wood products, hydroelectric developments, vegetable fats and oils, cement, and transportation...
...In the light of the world situation in cotton, their extensive proposals for cotton growing and textile manufacturing seem unrealistic...
...Those familiar with the superior craftsmanship of Costa Rican leather workers might wonder at the surveyors' failure to explore these potentials...
...Reviewed by William B. Hesseltine NO ONE can visit Costa Rica, the most literate, most "European," and most democratic country of Central America, without seeing economic opportunities...
...The Twentieth Century Fund sent a balanced team of five economic surveyors into Costa Rica in 1950 to scout out the land...
Vol. 17 • May 1953 • No. 5
