CIAA photograph

the years, the Latin American countries have given increasing attention to diversification of production, with a view to the reduction of undue dependence on overspecialized economies. Several republics of the Caribbean area, for example, have, during the last two decades, greatly stimulated local production of basic foodstuffs, such as rice, corn, and vegetable oils. At the same time, experience has shown that neither the climate nor the soil of that area is suited to the economical production of certain items, such as wheat, and that it would be wise to continue to import local requirements of such items. Likewise, Argentina and Chile have become selfsufficient in various deciduous fruits, except on a seasonal basis, and have even developed substantial exports. Before the

war Brazil had become an important exporter of oranges. Various countries have also made considerable headway in the further development of forest resources and fisheries.

The war has also given further stimulus to industrialization, particularly in the larger countries. Some of the republics have long been virtually self-sufficient in numerous articles of wide popular consumption, such as cotton cloth, woolens, shoes, hats, soap, beer, cigarettes, and the like, and in the larger nations the variety of manufactured articles has expanded considerably. The effect of these developments on international trade is complex and dynamic. Insofar as the new industries are economically sound, they tend to augment the per capita national income, and in consequence tend to promote a larger volume of foreign trade. The experience of the older industrial nations would clearly indicate that larger foreign. trade, rather than self-sufficiency, is the

natural result of the process of industrialization. Obviously, as industrialization proceeds the position of both exports and imports tends to undergo changes, although the exact nature of these changes varies considerably from country to country. A close student of this problem has recently written:

It is... very difficult to point to any definite "law" according to which the commodity structure of foreign trade changes in the course of an economic development such as industrialization. This process does not necessarily lead to either decrease of industrial imports or an increase of industrial exports, nor does it lead to either an increase of the imports or a decrease of the exports of raw materials. It is, however, likely to bring about at least one of these developments.1

It is a mistake to assume that the international trade of the world consists exclusively, or even primarily, of an exchange

1 Albert O. Hirschman, National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade, University of California Press, 1945, p. 139.

of manufactured products of one nation for the raw materials of another. In practice, the process is much more complex, and a large part of world trade consists of the exchange of manufactured specialties and semimanufactures among the industrial nations. There is no reason to doubt that the spread of industrialism will continue to leave ample opportunity for regional specialization of production based upon differences in climate, resources, special skills, tastes, and styles.

It may therefore be concluded that the

trend toward the expansion of interAmerican commerce has been accelerated by the war. The volume of trade should grow as wartime energies are diverted into the channels of commercial production, and as transportation facilities are developed to meet the need of nations at peace. At the same time it is expected that all countries of the world should share in this expanding international commerce on the basis of fair competition in national markets and of equal access to supplies of raw materials, equipment, and techniques.

Dumarsais Estimé

President of Haiti

THE new President of Haiti, Dumarsais Estimé, was born in Verrettes on April 21, 1900, the son of Alcimé Estimé, a surveyor, and Mme. Fleurancia Massillon Estimé. His early childhood was spent in his native province, where he pursued his studies under the direction of the Brothers of Christian Instruction of the Congregationalist School of St. Marc. From there he went to Port-au-Prince, graduating with high honors from the Lycée Pétion there and obtaining his degree from the Law School.

M. Estimé has had a varied and interesting career. Beginning as a teacher, he first occupied the position of assistant in the Lycée Pétion, advancing rapidly to a professorship. Meanwhile, he was making frequent excursions into the field of journalism, writing numerous articles and publishing a newspaper.

In the national elections held in 1930,

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native city, Verrettes, to a seat in the Chamber of Deputies as a representative of the second district of the province of St. Marc. Though one of the youngest members of the Chamber, he held the place of Secretary. Later he was chosen by his colleagues to fill the post of First Secretary and then, because of his outstanding service, became Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies. Successively in the years 1932, 1936, 1940, and 1946 he was reelected to the Chamber. M. Estimé, under the government of Stenio Vincent (1931-1941), received the portfolio of Secretary of Public Education, Agriculture, and Labor, which he held with distinction. His work in the field of public education was particularly noteworthy.

M. Estimé is remembered as the only member of the old Congress to vote for former President Lescot in 1941. In 1944 he reversed this stand by voting against a second term for President Lescot when all other members of the National Assembly approved it. Last May, following the military coup d'état that overthrew President Lescot, he was elected a delegate to the Constituent Assembly. On August 16, 1946, Dumarsais Estimé was elected President of Haiti by the General Constituent Assembly and he took office on the same day. According to Haiti's new Constitution, effective in November 1946, his term will extend to May 15, 1952.

Honduran Hands

BESSIE REINDORP

"Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you."

The truth of these words is nowhere more apparent than in Honduras, especially for the stranger who comes seeking to know how the people themselves think and live and what their hands accomplish.

Of course the first thing that one realizes is the intense beauty and the diversity of the republic's physical being. There are pine-covered mountains that loom high. against the sky, some gently sloped, others harsh and arresting. The valleys are endlessly surprising with their cultivated fields, their cattle-filled pastures, their rose-roofed villages and their recurrent mounds that are as apt as not to be ancient temples. And there are the tangled jungles of Mosquitia Territory and the thousands of acres of banana lands.

Craft work usually connotes a small, perfect object, often of commercial value. But "hand work" may embrace a larger field and include the work of broad rough farm hands, of the long firm hands of potters and tile makers, of slender brown hands of palm weavers, or the bluntfingered hands of the true craftsman. Perhaps, as one thinks of Honduran hands, it is fair to think of two other kinds, similar to each other. There are the perfectly kept hands of the wealthy aristocratic officials, of bankers, of heads of large commercial houses, and of professional men. And there are the small white hands of the ladies of the land. Surely no country boasts more beautiful and cultured women than those of Comayagua, women whose hands rest like petals against the dark coats of their escorts at formal dances or receptions in that infinitely charming first capital of the republic.

Throughout Honduras other women whose hands are strong gossip together at the river as they wash their clothes on the smooth flat rocks and dry them on the