A RICA Road to Beauty WILLIAM VOGT Chief, Conservation Section, Division of Agricultural Cooperation, Pan American Union THE PAN AMERICAN HIGHWAY, now nearing completion in many of the Republics of Central and South America, is likely to prove one of the most influential cultural developments in history. To use a biological simile, it may be compared to the breaking down between the walls of a group of one-celled animals, Paramecium, to permit an interchange of protoplasma sudden and effective heightening of Pan Americanism. The implications and potentialities of such interchange are so vast, so fraught with the possibilities of good and ill, that every phase deserves thoughtful consideration by the citizens of all the American Republics. Military factors have undoubtedly already been thoroughly discussed by general staffs, from the United. States to Argentina. Health problems, involving the interchange of diseases (they are eager travelers, and unwilling to be left behind!) are already being studied and discussed, as they affect man, domestic animals, and cultivated plants. The economic influence of the highway has been studied and discussed; and, doubtless, more than one Treasury Department official is concerned with the effect on the finances of his country of transit, export, and import along the road. These factors are, of course, all of major importance. Yet, in the long run, their influence on the peoples of the American hemisphere may well be insignificant in comparison with the cultural influence of the highway. That there will be such an influence is unquestionable. Letters from Peru and Chile ask, "Is the work on the Pan American Highway going ahead? We hope to drive north to see you, after the war." I have just completed a trip of between 5,000 and 6,000 miles through the United States and, over and over again, people have said, "When the war's 661 As the maps show, the Pan American Highway is well on its way to completion. As a matter of adventurous people have already driven from Caracas to Rio de Janeiro and Santiago. After the war may confidently expect, many more will do it. Here is adventure of the highest sort-adventure of many sorts, especially for those who are willin apply their minds to what they see, as well as their feet to the gas pedal. Here the face of the e wears a most lovely expression: now warm, and friendly, and welcoming, now grave, and distant, austere. Here are some of the most amazing highways in the world. The Romans would have marvelled at th and been quick to recognize the superb engineering skill of the countries through which the high passes. Here are for many travellers new ways of living, that no one with an interest in learning will tentedly pass by. Here, in the beauty of the faces of old men and women, many of us from sophisticated worlds may recollect things we have long forgotten. Here, in environments that will be new to us, where we shall find human beings overcoming seemi strange difficulties in strange ways, we may learn something we did not know before about the resili of the human mind and spirit. Here in ancient churches, libraries, universities, even more ancient temples and ruined towns, we learn the story of culture's first blossoming in this hemisphere. Here nature is most prodigal, with an outpouring of plant and animal life whose beauty and comple seem almost infinite. Monkeys howl through the tree-tops, alligators shatter the stillness of ju rivers, orchids lead one on a willow-the-wisp chase into the forests and mighty condors sweep their shad across unmelting snows. Here, almost ready to be begun, is one of the most amazing journeys ever opened up before man. to begin it, he need not outfit a safari, set sail in a caravel, or calculate the pay-load of cargo pla All he has to do is swing wide the doors of the family garage. Photograph by Herbert C. Lanks A FAMILIAR SCENE, TAMAZUNCHALE, MEXICO A few hours' drive from the United States, the tourist may make the acquaintance of a way of life that new to him, and perhaps find the answer to such questions as "Why is the percentage of nervous break downs so much lower south of the Rio Grande than north of it?" over we're going to take a real vacation, and get to know Latin America. It will be a great thing to be able to drive to Buenos Aires." Now, as never before, American neighbors will come to know one another, to live together, to like each other and, in some cases perhaps, to dislike each other. Every traveler, whether he realizes it or not, will be an unofficial envoy of his country, and the American from any country who, for instance, attempts to carry away a relic from Chichén Itzá or Pachacámac will leave behind him a bad impression of his country that will be difficult to erase. If, in addition to a passport, the Department of State of each country would provide each. of its departing nationals with a pamphlet, pointing out the individual's responsibilit in foreign affairs, and suggesting certai patterns of behavior-as has been don with soldiers all over the world-th protoplasmic exchange might be mad with far less friction, and consequent heat Is such a suggestion unreasonably vision ary? What happens within a given countr will be even less controllable than th behavior of the traveler abroad. Fo example, I have asked many friends from Peru or Mexico how they like the food in the United States, and with much amuse ment, received the almost invariable answer, "It's very healthy!" Too polit to say that it is monotonous and tasteless to a palate accustomed to delicious condi |
