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+ Sey tet an OLDIE” Bit. i Ree ea ee 
 
 
 
 Courtesy Board of 'oreign Missions, Methodist Episcopal Church 
 
 Cuzco UNIVERSITY 
 
 A VIEW OF THE QUADRANGLE OF THE UNIVERSITY, 
 SHOWING THE BEAUTY OF SPANISH ARCHITECTURE. 
 THE UNIVERSITY WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1692. 
 
Looking Ahead 
 with Latin _A METICO 
 
 “ARN OF PRIN 
 SR i E 6, 
 Ys 4 WAY 14 1927 Z 
 By Stanley High 7 OGICAL sew 
 
 Author of: China’s Place in the Sun; The Revolt 
 of Youth; Europe Turns the Corner; etc. 
 
 
 
 
 MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT 
 OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 
 
 New York 
 
i T 
 ———————— oo 
 
 Stanley High was graduated from Nebraska 
 Wesleyan University in 1917 and served as 
 a pilot in the air service during the World 
 War. In 1919 he went to Europe as a member 
 of the Reconstruction Committee of the Metho- 
 dist Episcopal Church and then spent eight 
 months traveling in China, investigating condi- 
 tions and reporting for American papers. His 
 first book, China’s Place in the Sun, was an 
 outgrowth of this journey. In 1920 Mr. High 
 entered the Boston University School of Theol- 
 ogy and after his graduation in 1923 he spent 
 several months studying the Youth Movements 
 in Europe which he described in his second 
 book, The Revolt of Youth. A later visit to 
 Russia and Central Europe in 1924 resulted in 
 a series of articles which have appeared in the 
 Christian Science Monitor, the Atlantic Monthly 
 and Asia and in another volume, Hurope Turns 
 the Corner, published in 1925 by the Abingdon 
 Press. Mr. High has studied Latin American 
 problems under Leo S. Rowe, president of the 
 Pan-American Union at the Williamstown 
 Institute of Politics and has been in touch with 
 the leaders among the younger generation in 
 Latin American lands. Mr. High is Assistant 
 Secretary in the Department of Home Culti- 
 vation of the Board of Foreign Missions of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 
 
 Copyright, 1925, by the 
 Missionary Education Movement 
 of the United States and Canada 
 
 Printed in the United States of America 
 
 nT 
 SSS 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Preface 
 
 Cuapter I 
 Conquistadores of the New World . 
 
 Cuaprter II 
 Today’s Latin America . 
 
 Cuaprer III 
 Building a New Mezico . 
 
 Cuaptrrer IV 
 Youth and the New Latin America 
 
 Cuaprrer V 
 Sefioras and Sefioritas of the South 
 
 Cuapter VI 
 Indians of Latin America 
 
 Cuarter VII 
 Results 
 
 Cuaprer VIII 
 Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 Note on Pronunciation 
 
 Reading List Dianne 
 
 33 
 
 59 
 
 82 
 
 102 
 
 122 
 
 144 
 
 164 
 
 187 
 
 188 
 
y A 
 at aves: 
 ‘ Wei MA 
 
 fis 
 si 
 
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 ABLE ate 
 a ew d Ky ¥ if 
 FAN EOD ee 
 
 Pata BMA 
 
 ae ah tel ty 
 
 re Ni 05 Fo 
 th eas! 
 
 Hoalaelth 
 Deh a tol AM. 
 (VAY Va 
 
 Ree i) 
 
 [ve nt ¢ 
 air Ni Wy ee 
 
 fray" 
 * pid 
 
 i 
 4 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 “paGn 
 Casco University iis och y. Frontispiece 
 Laguna Frias, Argentina A MAL ERC RCA GAOL Me © 6 
 A fertile valley in Chile . : : : cased Ga 
 PE Revol) LOG) Wale fy yah ie iis pi Reiaceny ui Be 
 The old wall of Cartagena . . ‘ i 48 
 Church at\Copacabana . .  . : 4D 
 Harbor of Rio de Janeiro... } a GS 
 Congress Building, Buenos Aires . Cet D 
 Grain elevators : PER ML Oa MPR MMO eRI tee 6 
 Coffee ready for Seno AN ROE ie shal oO 
 University of Chile, Santiago ; ; a ET 
 Girls’ Club of a mission college .  . AN S$. 
 Track meet at the American College . . 118 
 Football team of Granbery College . . 1138 
 Indian boy } d : ; : ? . 144 
 Boy Scouts Aa FoR VMN : . 145 
 Bible distribution . : : A rth OO 
 
 Students in Theological hedee sah atk 
 
¥ 
 
 ai * 
 elt oh 
 wv : 
 
 J 
 AS: 
 > tye 
 ah ft 
 
 ~ 
 
 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Two purposes have dominated the writing of 
 this book. I have sought, in the first place, to 
 present an account of present-day Latin America 
 which would emphasize the community of ideals 
 that exists between the nations of the South and 
 Canada and the United States to the North. A 
 great many historical factors enter in to account 
 for the fact that to many North Americans the 
 Republics of Latin America appear to be back- 
 ward, unstable, and of doubtful trustworthiness. 
 An accurate account of present-day Latin America 
 is the only effective antidote for that particular 
 poison. In the present volume, therefore, I have 
 sought to present a picture of these great Re- 
 publics in terms that North Americans can under- 
 stand and appreciate. 
 
 As a second purpose, I have endeavored to 
 indicate the fundamental place of Evangelical 
 Christianity in the new and vital life that is 
 stirring in Latin America. Evangelical Christi- 
 anity has a great part to play in molding the 
 post-war life of these republics. But that place, 
 in Latin America, is not unique, save in so far as 
 the Christian contribution around the world is 
 unique. I have sought, therefore, to indicate that 
 at the base of the new Latin America there must 
 be built this Evangelical faith—in precisely the 
 
 Vil 
 
Preface 
 
 same way that I believe such faith must be built 
 into the foundations of every nation that is 
 struggling to reshape its life since the War. 
 
 Looking Ahead with Latin America is a study 
 book for young people. I have not written it ‘‘to 
 young people.’? The accounts presented here of 
 the tides of thought that are moving in the 
 South have been written as matters of vital im- 
 portance. It is my belief that—so long as they 
 are kept vital—young people will be interested 
 in these developments, sometimes even more 
 earnestly than their elders. 
 
 In the preparation of this volume the work done 
 by Mr. W. Reginald Wheeler, Secretary of the 
 Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian 
 Church in the U.S. A., in assembling a vast amount 
 of material touching every phase of the life in 
 Latin America has been of inestimable value. Mr. 
 Wheeler, prevented from writing the book because 
 of ill health, placed the data which he had gathered 
 at my disposal, and I wish to express to him my 
 very great indebtedness for that help. 
 
 STANLEY HIGH 
 
 New York 
 1925 
 
I 
 Conquistadores of the New World 
 
 Tus history of the discovery and conquest of 
 the Americas is a romance of Old World dream- 
 ers and gay adventurers; of scientists, alter- 
 nately scoffed at and revered, plotting maps and 
 reading stars; of kings and queens in search of 
 richer kingdoms; of sailors out for spoils, and 
 priests for converts; and merchants seeking gold 
 and silks and spices. To follow this romance 
 leads one to royal audience rooms—tapestried 
 and dazzling; down cobbled streets, along fish- 
 fragrant waterfronts to harbors where fragile 
 ships bob at their anchors and fishermen, in the 
 early morning, work with the nets. 
 
 Its further course lies out beyond the bound- 
 aries of maps and charts into an unknown vast- 
 ness of sky and sea, and of stars, at night; of 
 vicious winds and rain and sea-green waves that 
 put the decks awash; of strange birds and drift- 
 ing seaweed; through the Ancients’ Heaven and 
 Hell into a New World. 
 
 And then the story of discovery becomes, also, 
 a tale of conquest. Strange tribes are met and, 
 as the case requires, conciliated or vanquished. 
 Flags are planted, new Empires claimed and new 
 Kingdoms of the Cross staked out. The thin 
 
 9 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 thread that Columbus drew between the Old 
 World and the New becomes a brilliant fabric 
 woven by countless ships and dauntless men. 
 Into the pattern of that fabric go all the passions 
 of the ages—the lust for gold and the lust for 
 power; the love of adventure and the ruthless 
 piety; and later the flaming zeal for religious and 
 political freedom. 
 
 And bound inseparably in the warp and woof 
 of this fabric of discovery and conquest are the 
 two Americas—North and South. The same pas- 
 sions and loyalties and the same adventuring led 
 to the conquering of both continents. For good 
 or ill, the early history of the Americas is woven 
 together in this single pattern of romance. And 
 in this twentieth century, for good or for ill, the 
 destiny of these two Americas is still closely 
 intertwined. 
 
 In the cabin of Columbus, on his voyage of dis- 
 covery, there sailed Martino Sanchez, a lad still 
 in his teens, whose father served His Most Chris- 
 tian Majesty, King Ferdinand of Spain. Mar- 
 tino, though no sailor, was sent forth with the 
 blessing of the King himself, to watch over the 
 Admiral who bore the flag of Spain. 
 
 It was on the third day of August, 1492, that 
 the little fleet of caravels set sail from the har- 
 bor of Palos, a short way to the north of the 
 
 10 
 
Conquistadores of the New World 
 
 Spanish city of Cadiz. Three ships—the Pinta, 
 the Nina, and the Santa Maria—comprised the 
 squadron. And toy vessels they were, too. The 
 Santa Maria, the flagship and largest of the 
 three, was but ninety feet in length, with a twenty- 
 foot beam, and she carried a crew of fifty-two. 
 Any one of the three, doubtless, could be con- 
 veniently stowed away in the hold of a twentieth- 
 century liner. 
 
 But to Martino, as he stood on the deck of the 
 Maria, watching the Spanish coast drop down the 
 horizon, they were glorious vessels—craft of con- 
 quest and emblems of the majesty of Spain. It 
 was near sunset and a stiff land breeze was blow- 
 ing. The sun, lingering above the sea, shot rays 
 of gold into the topsail of the Santa Mara and 
 shone upon the flag of Ferdinand and Isabella 
 flying above it. Ahead, the square-sailed Pinta— 
 the fleetest craft of the three—was leading this 
 merry race into the Unknown. Aft, somewhat 
 lumbering, came the Nina. 
 
 Martino’s eyes shone. Behind him lay the drab 
 Old World. Ahead was mystery—the Great Ad- 
 venture—he knew not what. The sun fell over 
 the ocean’s rim. Whitecaps spotted the sea 
 ahead. A wave rode into the Mara. Spray 
 dashed the deck where Martino stood. He 
 dreamed no more. For all of a sudden he 
 realized that he was hungry, and that things were 
 
 ll 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 stirring in the brick-made cooking galley half- 
 way down the deck. 
 
 More than two months later—October 5, to 
 be exact—and the little fleet still headed into the 
 west. A heavy sea was running. The three ships 
 tossed like bits of cork from wave to wave. Mar- 
 tino, his dark skin blackened. by the weeks at 
 sea, was on deck. <A good bit of glory had gone 
 out of his adventure since that sunshiny August 
 day when the three boats—their pennants stream- 
 ing—beat down the coast of Spain and sailed to- | 
 ward the setting sun. The flag of Ferdinand and 
 Isabella had been whipped from the mast in a 
 gale long since. The Maltese cross in the main- 
 sail had been washed out by the driving rains. 
 There was little enough of glamor now about the 
 caravels; only the signs of days becalmed under 
 a scorching sun; the batterings by day and night 
 of wind-swept seas; weary men who were afraid 
 and a weary Admiral who had both faith and 
 courage. | 
 
 Martino slipped down the deck and steadied 
 himself against the capstan. It was that last— 
 the Admiral—that worried him. For himself, 
 Martino had no fear. Day and night in the Ad- 
 miral’s cabin he had come to partake of the Ad- 
 miral’s faith. Land, at every evening, was 
 always just over the horizon beyond the sun. 
 
 12 
 
Conquistadores of the New World 
 
 And every morning, with the world still a mean- 
 ingless expanse of sea and sky, Martino believed, 
 as the Admiral said, that night would certainly 
 bring land. So it went, night and day, day and 
 night, week after week. And the faith of Mar- 
 tino in the Admiral, and the Admiral’s faith in 
 his enterprise never for a moment wavered. 
 
 But the crew did not know the Admiral as 
 Martino knew him. The crew was mutinous. 
 Only the night before, loitering in the stern of 
 the boat, Martino overheard a conversation be- 
 tween two common sailors. 
 
 ‘‘We’ll pitch him over the side,’’ said one. 
 ‘“Who’d be wiser?”’ 
 
 ‘‘Washed away in a storm,’’ said the other, 
 ‘Cand there’d be no more questions asked.’’ 
 
 ‘“‘But we can’t keep on and on forever,’’ said 
 the first. ‘‘The food is low and God knows what’s 
 ahead of us.”’ 
 
 ‘‘Tt’s the Admiral’s mind,’’ said the second. 
 ‘‘He thinks there’s land out there, when every- 
 body in Cadiz knows well enough there’s nothing 
 but destruction. But the Admiral’ll have us all 
 to the bottom—and that soon—before he’ll put 
 about. For me, I’m for taking over the ship our- 
 selves and pointing her back to Spain.’’ 
 
 ‘¢And me,’’ said the other. 
 
 Martino slipped out of hearing and down the 
 deck to the cabin. His heart was pounding and 
 
 13 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 his knees shook. Inside the cabin the Admiral 
 was bending over his log. In the cabin he was 
 always at work on his log or toiling over his maps. 
 He looked up as Martino entered. His eyes were 
 sunken and his face drawn. His smile was weary. 
 
 ‘‘A rough night,’’ he said, and bent over his 
 log again. 
 
 Martino did not answer. He was thinking hard. 
 Should he tell the Admiral, or confide first to 
 Pero Gutierrez, a friend of Martino’s father, who, 
 in the Old Country, had been groom of the King’s 
 wardrobe. No—the Admiral must be told. And 
 Martino, therefore, told him, and named the con- 
 spirators. 
 
 Columbus heard him through—his bearded chin 
 sunk on his breast, his legs spread out full length 
 before him, his hands hanging listless at his sides. 
 For a moment he did not speak, and then not to 
 Martino. He looked across at the cabin wall 
 where a tiny crucifix was hung, and muttered to 
 himself. 
 
 ‘¢We’ve gone so far, so far,’’ he said, ‘‘we must 
 goon. It’s there—the land—it must be there. I 
 will not turn back. They can throw me over- 
 board, but I’ll not turn back—never, never!’ and 
 his voice trailed off. 
 
 He looked at Martino, still standing there riv- 
 eted to the spot. 
 
 ‘‘Thank you, lad,’’ he said, ‘‘I’ve need of 
 
 14 
 
Conquistadores of the New World 
 
 friends like you. But we’ll not head for Spain 
 —not yet—not until we’ve claimed new land for 
 their Majesties whose flag we bear, and the Cross 
 we are proud to carry.”’ 
 
 And without another word he turned again to 
 his log. 
 
 So on this night Martino was worried. The 
 crew was sullen, more sullen than the Admiral 
 knew. For two days there had been no seaweed 
 alongside the ship; no birds to spur their hope 
 that land was near; and a stiff gale had kept 
 all hands on deck. Worst of all, Martino had 
 discovered that the Admiral was giving false re- 
 ports of the distance sailed each day in order to 
 reassure the men. In the log, which lay open on 
 the Admiral’s table, Martino had read this entry 
 —obviously intended for the eyes of no one but 
 Columbus himself: 
 
 ‘‘Sailed this day nineteen leagues and deter- 
 mined to count less than the true number that the 
 crew might not be dismayed if the voyage should 
 prove long.’’ 
 
 Standing there beside the capstan, watching the 
 dark hulks of the Nina and the Pinta as they 
 pitched along in the wake of the Santa Maria, 
 Martino felt certain that serious developments 
 were at hand. The Admiral’s promises had worn 
 threadbare. His threats no longer were a men- 
 ace. The journey was insufferably long. And, 
 
 15 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 after all, who knew what lay out there beyond 
 this black and endless waste? 
 
 Martino was right. At that moment three 
 sailors passed him on their way from the Ad- 
 miral’s cabin. The lad was alarmed. What busi- 
 ness had they with Columbus at this hour? Mar- 
 tino made all haste to the cabin. Columbus was 
 there, as usual, his log spread out before him, 
 a crude map dropping over the side of the table. 
 But he was not writing—only staring straight 
 ahead of him at the cabin wall where the crucifix 
 was hanging. 
 
 He looked up as Martino entered. 
 
 ‘Well, they’ve driven me to it, lad,’’ he said. 
 ‘“‘T cannot sail the ships without men, and those 
 who would stand with me are outnumbered three 
 to one by these mutineers. I’ve agreed that if, 
 after three days’ sail, we sight no land, IT will 
 put about for Spain.’’ 
 
 He said no more, but continued sitting there 
 _his weary eyes despairing, his body slouched 
 in his chair in utter, desperate exhaustion. Mar- 
 tino, his heart heavy for the Admiral, slipped 
 off to his bunk without a word. 
 
 The next day, October 11, was fair—but the 
 sea ran heavily. At noon word came from the 
 Pinta, now leading the little fleet, that the crew 
 had picked up a stick which appeared to have 
 been carved with iron. Columbus, who had been 
 
 16 
 

 
 
 
 ScENIC CONTRASTS IN SoutTH AMERICA 
 
 ABOVE, IS ONE OF THE MANY LAKES OF ARGENTINA, BEAUTIFIED 
 BY SNOW-CAPPED PEAKS IN THE BACKGROUND. BELOW, IS A 
 PASTURE SCENE IN ONE OF THE FERTILE VALLEYS OF CHILE. 
 
“AUOLINGAD HLATHML FHL AOA 
 aqoiwad AWOS OL MOVE ALVA SNINYW ASHHL “AVINOW LOOHLIMA AWHALASOL TNd ANV 
 ‘dNVH AM SNVIGNI AHL AT NMAH AYAM TIVM SIHL dd AIVN LVHL SMOOTd ANOLS FHL 
 
 TIVAA VONT GIO AHL 
 
 
 
Conquistadores of the New World 
 
 on deck since before dawn, never ceased to strain 
 his eyes toward the west. Two days more to sail 
 —and if no land, Spain again—and defeat. 
 
 And so the day passed. Late afternoon a sailor 
 called from the Nina, in great joy, that they had 
 seen a stalk loaded with roseberries floating upon 
 the waves. The Admiral’s eyes flashed at the 
 news. And Martino did a joyful song and dance 
 back of the cooking galley. Night came on—and 
 still the Admiral did not leave the deck. A 
 strange suspense held all the crew and all hands 
 were on deck. The ships made good headway in 
 the early evening—sailing due west. 
 
 At ten o’clock the Admiral cried out that he 
 saw a light. But it flickered once and was gone 
 before anyone else could see it. At midnight, 
 however, a joyful shout went up from the Pinta. © 
 Rodrigo de Triana, standing watch, discovered a 
 Jong dark line above the horizon. Immediately 
 land signals were given, and by two o’clock the 
 three caravels, having sailed within two leagues 
 of the shore, drew in their canvas and hove te 
 until morning, in the lee of the New World. 
 
 And Martino, breathless in his excitement, 
 joined with the sailors in the Salve,—which they 
 always repeat on occasions of rejoicing,—looked 
 once more at the dim mysterious coastline that 
 loomed up ahead, and went below, crossing him- 
 self—good Catholic that he was—and dreaming 
 
 17 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 already of the thrills which the next day promised. 
 
 He touched the side of the cabin wall. The 
 glamor of that first day, off the coast of Spain, 
 was coming back. Those little boats were the 
 eraft of conquest and this voyage, after all, had 
 become the Great Adventure. 
 
 Hernan Cortez was as chivalrous a farmer as 
 ever drove the slaves of the Indies, and as pros- 
 perous. The little town of St. Jago was his town. 
 He had come to it sometime after the year 1511, 
 when he joined Velasquez in the conquest of Cuba. 
 Ample acreage, and slaves sufficient to cultivate 
 it, were the reward of Cortez for his services in 
 that expedition. Wealth had flowed into the 
 Cortez coffers, and distinction—dignified, rural 
 distinction—had accrued to the Cortez name. 
 
 But Cortez himself was far from satisfied. He 
 had come out from Spain—a lad of nineteen years 
 —seeking adventure. He had found it—scatter- 
 mgs of it; a duel now and then, a skirmish or 
 two, this expedition to Cuba. And then—agri- 
 cultural oblivion. Cortez was still a very young 
 man, and driving slaves to the fields and sipping 
 wine on his spacious piazza and engaging in 
 sweet tilts with the maidens of St. Jago was no 
 hife for a young man. Not, at least, in such stir- 
 ring times. 
 
 18 
 
Conquistadores of the New World 
 
 So when Velasquez, the Governor, proposed to 
 outfit an armada and proceed to Mexico,—there 
 to convert the Indians, and, incidentally, of 
 course, to annex their lands and wealth,—Cortez 
 was ready for the expedition. And when the 
 young farmer of St. Jago was chosen as captain- 
 general of the force, he sank all his fortune and 
 also that of his friends in preparations for the 
 conquest. 
 
 But Velasquez’s was a suspicious soul—given 
 to jealousy. The rising fortunes of young Cortez 
 gave him uneasiness. How should he know that 
 this young and reckless courtier would ever split 
 the spoils or share the honors? He was too young 
 and too ambitious to be trusted. A new captain- 
 general, therefore, must be found. 
 
 But Cortez had friends at court. Two young 
 men, Lares and Duero, hearing of the plan on 
 foot forthwith told him of the Governor’s scheme. 
 And Cortez, though his fleet was inadequately 
 equipped and his force not yet recruited, made 
 a quick decision, as he was frequently called upon 
 to do in later times. He resolved to weigh anchor 
 that very night. He called his officers, informed 
 them of his purpose, and at midnight—while the 
 town was sleeping—they boarded the ships and. 
 slipped noiselessly down the bay. 
 
 First, however, Cortez, with an eye to the 
 
 19 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 future, visited the merchant who was to supply 
 him with meat, relieved him of his entire stock 
 and left, in payment, a heavy gold chain that he 
 wore about his neck. 
 
 The next morning the little town was agog. 
 The news reached the Governor and he was still 
 more agog. He arose,—an hour earlier than 
 notables were accustomed to arise,—mounted his 
 horse, and galloped madly to the quay. Cortez, 
 seeing from his vessel the arrival of Velasquez, 
 entered an armed boat and drew close to shore. 
 
 ‘‘Have you any commands to give me?”’ 
 shouted Cortez. 
 
 But the incensed Governor had no commands 
 and returned to his mansion conscious that he 
 had made two fatal errors; first, the appointment 
 of Cortez to command; and, second, the effort 
 to deprive him of it. 
 
 Cortez, however, little disturbed, set sail. 
 After weeks of loitering along the coast of Cuba, 
 where his stores were completed and his com- 
 plement of men filled out, he set sail, on the 
 tenth of February, 1519, for the mainland. Be- 
 fore sailing for Yucatan, however, Cortez took 
 stock of his force and found that his strength 
 consisted of one hundred and ten mariners; an 
 infantry division of five hundred and fifty-three 
 
 20 
 
Conquistadores of the New World 
 
 soldiers; Indians to the extent of some two hun- 
 dred; an artillery brigade of ten heavy guns, four 
 light pieces, and ample ammunition; and a cav- 
 alry squadron containing sixteen horses. 
 
 With this handful for an army the young Span- 
 ish farmer—he was then but thirty-three—set sail 
 on February 19, 1519, in eleven flimsy vessels 
 for the conquest of a continent—a conquest that 
 was to destroy the Aztec, one of the most ancient 
 of civilizations; lay waste a great territory; 
 subjugate the whole of Mexico; and implant the 
 Spanish flag and the Cross over a new World 
 Empire. 
 
 It was midsummer of the same year—1519. 
 Cortez and his paltry force had pushed inland 
 from the coast, leaving the fleet with one hundred 
 mariners at the little village of Villa Rica—now 
 Vera Cruz. With the advancing Spanish con- 
 querors was Duero—the same young man who 
 had apprized Cortez of the Governor’s determi- 
 nation to give the command of the expedition to 
 another. Duero, several years younger than 
 Cortez, was still his most trusted friend. They 
 were constantly together on the march. 
 
 On this particular July night camp was pitched 
 on the outskirts of an Indian village. The day 
 had been overbearingly hot. Two men whom 
 
 21 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 Cortez could ill afford to lose had died that day 
 of some strange New World malady. The men 
 were disaffected, and their disaffection was stim- 
 ulated by a traitorous priest, Juan Diaz. 
 
 This priest—as ingenious as he was faithless— 
 hatched a plan against Cortez. The disaffected 
 soldiers, with Diaz at their head, were to steal 
 provisions, make for Villa Rica, and from there 
 set sail for Cuba, where the Governor, doubtless, 
 would give them safe haven from the wrath of 
 Cortez. On this particular night the plan was to 
 be executed. Stores were secreted beyond the 
 camp, and at the appointed signal the deserters 
 were to slip from their tents and with all haste 
 make for the coast. 
 
 Duero, returning to his tent from the quarters 
 of Cortez, passed Diaz, the priest, on the way. 
 He spoke, and the priest, obviously disturbed at 
 the meeting, stammered some reply. Duero, who 
 wasted no affection on Diaz, determined to follow 
 him. The way led, by a circuitous route, to the 
 cache where the stolen stores were hidden. | 
 
 Alarmed, Duero hastened back to Cortez and 
 told him what he had seen. The young general 
 lost no time. He summoned to him two captains 
 and confided to them the plot on foot. ‘‘We will 
 surround the place,’’ said Cortez, ‘‘and make 
 short shrift of their enterprise.’’ 
 
 22 
 
Conquistadores of the New World 
 
 The two captains, Cortez, and twelve men did 
 the job. The traitors were caught by surprise 
 and captured. Diaz claimed the benefit of clergy 
 and got it. The other ringleaders, not fortunate 
 enough to be priests, were hanged and the rest 
 of the rebels dealt with in no uncertain manner. 
 
 The conspiracy had been caught in time. But 
 Cortez was still disturbed. Mutiny in a force so 
 small as his meant disaster. And mutiny there 
 would always be so long as ahead there lay more 
 perils, and behind, these ships and a certain 
 avenue of escape. 
 
 ‘“‘T’ve made up my mind,’’ he said to Duero 
 the next day. ‘‘I’m going to destroy the ships.’’ 
 - Duero was aghast. ‘‘What do you mean?’’ he 
 asked. 
 
 ‘‘ Just that. As long as we have the ships, the 
 faint hearts among our men will look back to them 
 with so much longing that it is bound to interfere 
 with their fighting.’’ 
 
 ‘‘But,’’ said Duero, ‘‘if we’re defented-—how 
 can we escape?’’ 
 
 ‘¢We will not be defeated,’’ said Cortez. And 
 added, after a moment, ‘‘So long as we have the 
 ships, we are more certain to be beaten. And if 
 we are beaten, we’ll be so far from the coast that 
 they’ll do us no good and we will perish anyway. 
 There’s no arguing; my mind is made up.’’ 
 
 23 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 A few days later word spread like wildfire 
 among the troops that all but one of the eleven 
 vessels were at the bottom of the bay. There 
 was consternation—and then anger. The mur- 
 murs against Cortez were threatening. The sol- 
 diers gathered in little groups and cursed their 
 general and swore certain vengeance. Plots— 
 many of them—were set on foot for his destruc- 
 tion. The expedition was on the verge of bloody 
 disaster. 
 
 Cortez, knowing full well his peril, summoned 
 his men to arms. He watched them as they drew 
 in line before his quarters, a sullen, desperate lot, 
 their eyes glaring at him. One false word and 
 they would be upon him. He knew that well 
 enough. He stood before them. The air was 
 charged with their hatred. He began to speak. 
 Their loss, he said, was a greater loss to him, 
 for the vessels were his property. If saved, the 
 fleet could be of little value to them in the in- 
 terior. He urged them to turn their thoughts, 
 not backward, but ahead. ‘‘To be calculating 
 chances and means of escape is unworthy of brave 
 souls. You have set your hands to the work; 
 to look back, as you advance, will be your ruin.”? 
 
 He concluded, ‘‘If there be any so craven as to 
 shrink from sharing the dangers of our glorious 
 enterprise, let them go home, in God’s name. 
 There is still one vessel left. Let them take that 
 
 24 
 
Conquistadores of the New World 
 
 and return to Cuba. They can tell there how 
 they deserted their commander and their com- 
 rades, and patiently wait until we return, loaded 
 with spoils of the Aztecs. As for me, I have 
 chosen my part. I will remain here while there 
 is one to bear me company.”’ 
 
 And the soldiers, under the spell of a conqueror 
 of men as well as continents, shouted with him: 
 
 ‘<To Mexico! To Mexico!’’ 
 
 This act of destroying the ships, say the his- 
 torians, ‘‘in the face of an incensed and desperate 
 soldiery has few parallels in history.’? And with 
 his bridges burned behind, Cortez turned toward 
 the dangerous course ahead that he had elected 
 to follow—a path that was to lead him conquer- 
 ing through the empire of Moctezuma and into 
 the city of Mexico, the capital of the Western 
 World. 
 
 Peru—to the Spaniards who had settled on the 
 coasts of the New World—was a land of mys- 
 tery; of old civilizations and cities; of great lakes 
 and mountains; of rich valleys, watered by great 
 rivers; and, above all, a land where gold abounded 
 like sand by the sea. 
 
 It happened, sometime about the year 1511, that 
 Vasco Nuifiez de Balboa, discoverer of the South- 
 ern Sea, was one day weighing some gold which 
 he had gathered from the natives. A young chief- 
 
 25 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 tain, watching the operation, stepped up, struck 
 the scales, and scattered the precious metal upon 
 the ground. 
 
 ‘Tf this is what you prize so much that you are 
 willing to leave your distant homes and risk even 
 life itself for it, I can tell you of a land where 
 they eat and drink out of golden vessels and where 
 gold is as cheap as iron with you.’’? 
 
 It was sometime after this that Balboa scaled 
 the mountains which divide the Isthmus of Pan- 
 ama and beheld, for the first time, the Pacific 
 Ocean. Armed with his sword and buckler, he 
 strode into the waters of this new-found ocean 
 and, with chivalrous vanity, declared that he 
 claimed it ‘‘with all that it contained for the King 
 of Castile, and that he would make good that claim 
 against all, Christian or infidel, who dared gain- 
 say it.’’ Thus, coolly and in one breath, all the 
 vast ocean and host of islands washed by the 
 Pacific were pocketed for Spain. A large boast— 
 that, but typically imperial and one that led to 
 more bloodshed than Balboa ever dreamed. 
 
 Here, at the fringe of the Pacific, Balboa heard 
 more of Peru—the land of mystery and of gold. 
 Though he steered his ship for this kingdom of 
 riches, he never reached its borders, for he fell 
 a victim to the hostility of a jealous superior. 
 
 Some years later, in the little community of 
 
 1 Conquest of Peru, The. W. H. Prescott. Vol. I. p. 197. 
 
 26 
 
Conquistadores of the New World 
 
 Panama, however, Peru was constantly talked 
 about and rumors of its wealth flew even thicker 
 than in the earlier time. Cortez, by his dazzling 
 feats of conquest in Mexico, fanned the flames of 
 desire among these Spanish adventurers, and one 
 day, in 1524, three men joined hands in a pledge 
 that, come what might, they would penetrate this 
 strange country. One of the three, because of 
 his courage and resource, was chosen to head the 
 expedition. This man was Francisco Pizarro. 
 His two associates were Diego de Almagro, a sol- 
 dier of fortune, and Hernando de Luque, a Span- 
 ish ecclesiastic and a man of means. 
 
 With a hundred men—a motley lot of irre- 
 sponsible adventurers—and one small ship, Pi- 
 zarro, in November, 1524, set sail from Panama 
 on his first voyage to the South. 
 
 Three years later—and the solemn contract en- 
 tered into by Almagro, Luque, and Pizarro was 
 still unfulfilled. Expeditions had gone forth only 
 to be turned back by starvation, storms, disease, 
 and mutiny. Pizarro and his followers, now on 
 their second voyage, were marooned on the island 
 of Gallo, a short distance off the northern coast 
 of South America. Their only vessel had just 
 been sent to Panama for help. And the men on 
 the island waited week after week for its return. 
 They were half naked. The food gave out and 
 starvation clawed at them. Panama seemed 
 
 27 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 worlds away. The spirit of adventure died out 
 of their hearts. Only Pizarro determined to hold 
 on. | 
 
 It was thus that Tafur, the agent of the Gov- 
 ernor at Panama, sent out to effect their rescue, 
 found them. His orders were to embark the en- 
 tire company at once and return with them to 
 Panama. The Governor was disgusted with wild 
 expeditions of wilder men that brought nothing 
 but disaster to a none too wealthy colony. And 
 Pizarro’s men, weak with their suffering, shared 
 this disgust. 
 
 But not so, Pizarro. South of the Isle of Gallo 
 was Peru. Back there in Panama, in a church, 
 Pizarro had sealed a vow to find that golden king- 
 dom, and no amount of starvation, no suffering, 
 and no instructions from an irate Governor could 
 turn him back from the quest. Pizarro would 
 stay if he stayed alone. He would find Peru if 
 with his own sword he was forced to cut a path- 
 way to its boundaries. His men were leaving 
 him. A favoring wind was blowing, and the boats 
 were about to sail. But Pizarro, himself worn 
 and haggard, made a last appeal. He stepped in 
 front of his little company. They watched him 
 —hesitating—as he drew his sword and traced in 
 the sand at his feet a line from east to west. 
 Stepping back and turning toward the south he 
 said: 
 
 28 
 
Conquistadores of the New World 
 
 ‘‘Wriends and comrades, on that side are toil, 
 hunger, nakedness, the drenching storm, deser- 
 tion, and death; on this side ease and pleasure. 
 There lies Peru with its riches; here, Panama 
 and its poverty. Choose, each man, what best 
 becomes a brave Castilian. For my part, I go 
 to the South.’’ And he stepped across the line. 
 
 And twelve others followed him across that 
 line. The rest, with hearts less stout, boarded 
 the ships for Panama. The sails were set and 
 a stiff breeze, blowing north, soon bore them off 
 beyond the horizon. On the sandy beach of the 
 Isle of Gallo, thirteen men watched them—two 
 tiny white spots—as they disappeared. Then 
 thirteen men turned south to face an enterprise 
 unequaled in the romance of world conquest. 
 Without food or clothing, with arms unfit for con- 
 querors, not knowing the land toward which they 
 started, and with no vessel to transport them 
 there, these thirteen men had stepped across that 
 thin line in the sand, faced south, and entered 
 upon a great crusade; a crusade that did not end 
 until another ancient civilization—that of the 
 Incas—was destroyed, amazing fortunes made, 
 new cities founded, and the white man far ad- 
 vanced, for good or ill, on the road to the conquest 
 of all the southern continent. 
 
 It was stuff of this sort—Old World dreamers 
 29 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 and gay adventurers, strange seas and stranger 
 lands, blood and gold, starvation and disease— 
 that was woven, bright threads and dull, into the 
 pattern of romance of the New World’s conquest. 
 
 The doorway of the vast continent of the South 
 we have seen pried open by the swords of daunt- 
 less Spanish conquistadores. Other conquerors 
 —Portuguese as well as Spanish—pushed in after 
 these first adventurers. In their wake came colo- 
 nists, seeking to pluck wealth from the trees or, 
 as more often happened, from the natives; mer- 
 chants, who took, after the white man’s fashion, 
 and gave little in return; priests, bent on con- 
 verting the natives whether they liked it or not. 
 A long and ever increasing host of new popula- 
 tion crowded through. Cities that transplanted 
 bits of the Old World into the New sprang up. 
 Nations founded upon Old World ideals, refreshed 
 and modernized, came into being. The door that 
 the conquistadores, with their swords, pried open 
 was flung wide as it stands today. Through that 
 door Latin America is reaching out to the world, 
 and through it, the world, for good or ill, is 
 entering Latin America. 
 
 As in those earlier days of conquest there are 
 new adventures today in Latin America. There 
 are adventures in commerce and in engineering 
 and in industry. But more than these are the 
 adventures in the great human enterprise of help- 
 
 30 
 
Conquistadores of the New World 
 
 ing the people of Latin America, themselves, to 
 build a new social order. For Latin America 
 has been in the path of this twentieth century’s 
 material progress. Those things by which we 
 distinguish our age from ages past have come 
 in abundance to most of the nations of the South. 
 As a result, Latin America is being driven, as 
 all of the world is driven, to choose whom she 
 will serve. Materialism, on the one hand, offers 
 more wealth while paralleling greater poverty; 
 a religion of possessions; a trust only in man- 
 made tools and a disdain for the unseen force that 
 created them. Christianity, on the other hand, 
 offers no less of the good things of life but con- 
 tends for the rights of all mankind to share them; 
 and makes the test of progress not in terms of 
 greater speed or comfort or efficiency, but in 
 terms of better men and women. 
 
 This is the issue in today’s Latin America—a 
 straight-drawn struggle between materialism and 
 the ideals of Christ; between those who would 
 live to get and those who would live to give. 
 In that struggle every right-thinking young man 
 and woman is concerned, for its issue will de- 
 termine the ideals that will dominate Latin Amer- 
 ica and the world for the next century. Into the 
 balance in Latin America, as in every other con- 
 tinent, the resources of Christianity have been 
 thrown. In the issues now at stake Christianity 
 
 ol 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 itself is involved. And because both Americas 
 face the future as neighbors, the fate of both is 
 twined together in this struggle—as their early 
 history was woven into the single pattern of their 
 first discovery and conquests. 
 
 32 
 
IT 
 Today's Latin America 
 
 Neary four centuries and a half after Rodrigo 
 de Triana, standing watch in the Pinta, sighted 
 the island outposts of a new continent, another 
 voyager came from the Old World into the New. 
 In the path of that fragile fleet of Spanish cara- 
 vels that brought Martino Sanchez to his Great 
 Adventure sailed the giant ZR-3. Along the route 
 that Columbus sailed, driven by every variant 
 wind toward meaningless horizons, a new trail 
 had been blazed, a trail marked by wireless and 
 weather reports, by steaming cruisers, huge mo- 
 tors and a silver pencil, with the speed of the 
 fastest train, droning its way down the sky. 
 
 Kighty-one hours—Columbus took nearly as 
 many days as this—from Friedrichshaven, in 
 southern Germany, and the great dirigible was 
 at rest in its hangar at Lakehurst. And the New 
 World of the ZR-3, speeding down the coast of 
 Spain to the open sea, was millenniums removed 
 from the dark shores to which Martino sailed. 
 In the early morning the great ship, trailing mists 
 from the east, came and hung, a miracle, in the 
 brilliant sky over New York City. Giant build- 
 ings—floor on floor—stretched their steel arms 
 up toward it. Airplanes, like wide-winged wasps, 
 
 33 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 flitted around. Its motors sent a rhythmic roar 
 down into the canyoned streets. It dipped and 
 rose and circled over the capital of the West, and 
 from factories and steamships and thousands of 
 people, bound for work, went up a medley of 
 welcome. 
 
 Adventure, surely, was not dead, nor conquests 
 ended. In 1924 came the aerial discovery of 
 America. Now one may travel up some of the 
 rivers of Latin America—along the routes that 
 the early explorers labored over—by airplane. A 
 few hours, whirling through space five thousand 
 feet above the land, and today’s adventurer may 
 cover distances that required months in those 
 early years of conquest. | 
 
 Airplanes, flying along the trail of Quesada 
 through Colombia; the ZR-3 in its Lakehurst 
 hangar beside the Shenandoah; the pioneering 
 squadron that found a way, by air, around the 
 globe; millions of ‘‘listeners in’’ at tiny, mys- 
 terious sets that put the whole world chair-to- 
 chair in a single audience—these are the signs— 
 inescapable signs—that all nations and peoples 
 have found lodgings in the same house—and a 
 very small house at that. And for us—in North 
 America—it is time to start to inquire about 
 those who live in the next apartment. Some day 
 —who knows?—there may be a fire; or a thief 
 may break in upon us; or sickness may lay us 
 
 od 
 
Today’s Latin America 
 
 low. It is good—and safer—to keep on friendly 
 terms with the neighbors. 
 
 Now Latin America—who happens to live next 
 to us—possesses wide estates and yet is as little 
 known as her people are understood. To tell the 
 truth, it needs some genius to popularize her 
 wonders as Kipling has popularized the wonders 
 of India. The real romance of Latin America 
 has not, as yet, been discovered by the people 
 of North America. The hidden rivers, strange, 
 lost tribes, ancient civilizations of that southern 
 continent have not been popularized as some day 
 they are sure to be. It is plain enough, of course, 
 that temple bells and jade pagodas and ancient 
 junks on a lazy sea lend themselves more readily 
 to poetry than rubber plantations and beef, tram 
 cars and public schools and parliaments. The un- 
 fortunate fact is that—outside of poetry—we 
 could probably worry along fairly well without 
 the colorful paraphernalia which Kipling brings 
 from the East. But we need beef, and rubber, 
 and schools. They are a part of our daily life. 
 So no one writes poetry about them. They have 
 too much matter-of-fact importance. The won- 
 ders of Latin America, therefore, have not, as 
 yet, been sung. But when they are they will make 
 a real epic. 
 
 Latin America, if we include Mexico, South 
 35 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 America, Central America, and the West Indies, 
 covers an area of more than 8,000,000 square 
 miles. From the Rio Grande on the northern 
 boundary of Mexico to Cape Horn, the southern 
 tip of the continent, is a distance of 7,000 miles. 
 South America’s largest state, Brazil, has a 
 greater area than the United States without 
 Alaska and is larger than all Europe without Rus- 
 sia. One of the smallest states—Panama—is 
 twice the size of Switzerland. Uruguay, the 
 smallest country in South America proper, has 
 an area larger than England. The republics of 
 Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru have 
 areas ranging from 364,000 to 695,733 square 
 miles—the smallest of the three being larger than 
 France and Spain combined. Argentina is larger 
 than the United States east of the Mississippl, 
 and if laid upon the map of North America would 
 reach from the southern tip of Florida to 
 northern Labrador.’ 
 
 The mountains of South America are the high- 
 est in the Western Hemisphere and the Andean 
 range, alone, is 4,400 miles long. Three rivers— 
 the Orinoco, the Amazon, and La Plata—drain 
 South America’s aante slope. 
 
 Much of South America is situated in n the torrid 
 zone and, as a result, its great mineral wealth 
 of gold, alee copper, mercury, iron, and petro- 
 
 1A History of Latin America. William Warren Sweet. 
 
 36 
 
Today's Latin America 
 
 leum is supplemented by rich yields of cotton, 
 rice, sugar, coffee, cocoa, bananas, oranges, and 
 rubber. Most of the capitals of South American 
 states, however, are in the temperate zone, and 
 the southern part of the continent is as far from 
 the equator as Labrador. 
 
 The Portuguese and Spanish explorers found 
 two general types of native races when they en- 
 tered Latin America. First, there were the sav- 
 ages—naked, barbarous, living, for the most part, 
 on the islands and east of the Andes in South 
 America; and, second, the Indians, who had built 
 up—especially the Aztecs in Mexico and the Incas 
 in Peru—a rather remarkable civilization of their 
 own. In general, there are now three strains of 
 population; the Indians, the whites, and the mes- 
 tizos, those of mixed blood. Of the present-day 
 total population of eighty millions some eighteen 
 millions are pure white; seventeen millions pure 
 Indian; thirty millions mestizos, with approxi- 
 mately fourteen millions of intermixed white, In- 
 dian, and Negro blood. 
 
 Here in North America we go on in bland ig- 
 norance of the world that lies to the south of us. 
 We learn in school that back in the nineteenth 
 century the United States, by the Monroe Doc- 
 trine, made a special preserve of all the southern 
 continent—and let it go at that. Real estate de- 
 velopments at the north pole arouse more popular 
 
 37 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 interest. Every now and then some general or 
 secretary or ambassador goes to a southern coun- 
 try on a friendship-stimulating expedition and we 
 all breathe a sigh of relief when he gets safely 
 home again. 
 
 Go into the office of the news editor of almost 
 any American daily paper and you will find that, 
 with the possible exception of Mexico, the last 
 ‘‘dope’’ that ever makes the sheet is the news 
 —the real news—of Latin America. And the last 
 place on earth—Africa included—to which news- 
 papers send their crack correspondents is our 
 neighbor continent. Of course, if there is a riot 
 somewhere—if some Herrin, Illinois, breaks loose 
 down there—we have it, with our breakfast cereal, 
 as ‘‘another South American revolution.’’ 
 
 So we go on, bound to South America as in- 
 separably as God could bind us, yet relishing these 
 preconceived misconceptions about our continental 
 Siamese twin. At breakfast we grunt ‘‘I told you 
 so’s’’ about the latest ‘‘revolution,’’ over a cup 
 of Brazilian coffee, sweetened, perhaps, with 
 Peruvian sugar; we walk to work on heels of 
 Colombian rubber; dine on Argentine beef and 
 vegetables grown in fields fertilized with Chilean 
 nitrates; and then, like as not, in some moment 
 of exuberance invest in a diamond—the diamond 
 —cut probably from the mines of Brazil. 
 
 When the Portuguese navigator, Cabral, who 
 
 38 
 
Today's Latin America 
 
 put out from Lisbon in March of the year 1500, 
 first landed on the Brazilian coast and, after the 
 fashion of that and subsequent periods, erected 
 a cross and claimed the territory in the name of 
 Portugal, there was little to commend the land. 
 And when, on New Year’s day, 1501, Amerigo 
 Vespucci, in the employ of Portugal, sailed into 
 the harbor of present-day Rio de Janeiro and 
 named the harbor the River of January, it looked 
 much as many North Americans imagine it today. 
 There was no native civilization such as Cortez 
 found in Mexico and Pizarro in Peru. The in- 
 habitants were savages. The country was over- 
 grown with a dense vegetation. Gold was not to 
 be had, and though Vespucci sailed for some two 
 thousand miles along the coast, he found nothing 
 of value save brazil wood, the abundance of which 
 gave the country its name. 
 
 This picture of Brazil applies to present-day 
 Latin America with as much accuracy as a de- 
 scription by De Soto might fit the Mississippi 
 Valley of the present. 
 
 The harbor of Rio, in fact, is judged to be the 
 most beautiful in the world. At the south of its 
 entrance, as one steams towards it from the sea, 
 stands Sugar Loaf Mountain, rising some fifteen 
 hundred feet above the shore. Beyond Sugar 
 Loaf, the mountains stand, tier on tier, dark with 
 heavy vegetation to their very summits. The 
 
 39 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 mouth of the bay is but a mile in width, but its 
 depth is great enough to admit the largest ocean 
 liners. Through this channel one passes into the 
 harbor itself—a beautiful, placid, expanse of 
 water fifteen miles long and from two to seven 
 miles wide, like some northern lake, dotted here 
 and there with beautiful wooded islands and fleets 
 of vessels, large and small. Off to the southwest, 
 extending along a great peninsula, lies the city of 
 Rio, itself. 
 
 Rio de Janeiro is a city of revelations, of great 
 schools and churches, railroads and trams, thea- 
 ters and Chambers of Commerce. Its broad 
 thoroughfares are paved and palm lined. Along 
 the Avenida Central and other famous streets the 
 business of a thriving, prosperous city is car- 
 ried on with the hustling, traffic-jamming energy 
 so characteristic of all things Western. In the 
 shops of the narrow Rua de Ouvidor another 
 pageant passes: women, gowned as in Paris, with 
 organdies and colored silks, jewels and _ high- 
 heeled shoes. Of an afternoon, with a brilliant 
 sun slanting against the mountains and gray 
 shadows lengthening under the palms, long, quiet 
 avenues stretch alluringly to the hills, past rich 
 chalets, where flowering tulip-trees are blooming 
 and bougainvillea vines grow vagrantly beside the 
 road; and at night, from the summit of Corco- 
 vado, Rio is a fairy-land, fragrant and fragile and 
 
 40 
 
Today's Latin America 
 
 sprinkled with stars, from the colored lights of . 
 the ships in the bay to the mountains that tower 
 in the dark. This is Rio. 
 
 This, too, is Buenos Aires, although Buenos 
 is no fairy-land—unless one could also call 
 Chicago that. For Buenos Aires, the capital of 
 the Argentine Republic, is the fourth largest city 
 in the Americas—a southern Chicago without the 
 smoke, with buildings of French architecture, and 
 gardens purely Spanish. But though there is 
 beauty a-plenty, Buenos Aires, after all, is less a 
 place of gardens than of docks and wharfs, of 
 warehouses and heavy trucks, of subways and 
 great newspapers, of freighters from almost any 
 port and heavy trains with cattle, sheep, wheat, 
 corn, and flax, bearing the wealth of the Repub- 
 lic. B. A.—as the English-speaking inhabitants 
 call it—is one of the world’s busiest cities. From 
 its docks more than three times as much goods 
 per capita is exported every year than from the 
 United States. 
 
 So, too, is Santiago—the capital of Chile. In 
 Santiago there is the same Spanish beauty, and 
 more of the Spanish languor. Less of the com- 
 mercial stride of Buenos Aires and Rio, but more, 
 perhaps, of social progress. If you doubt this 
 social progress, I recommend a visit to the Club 
 de Seforas. For beauty of appointment few, if 
 any, women’s organizations in the world equal it. 
 
 41 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 And for genuine pioneering the club is notable, 
 for it was no ordinary innovation to set about the 
 task of bringing the womanhood of Santiago 
 abreast of the movements of the present day. 
 There are, also, great schools in Santiago as in 
 all of these southern cities—the Santiago College 
 and Instituto Inglés and the Chilean Pedagogico, 
 a coeducational institution. 
 
 These are typical centers of the life of Latin 
 America. They set the pace for the progress of 
 the continent. And they walk—or run—abreast 
 of the cities of the North, where a strange Anglo- 
 Saxon malady has laid hold of a great nation and 
 led to the misconception that no other people move 
 so fast or so purposefully as we. 
 
 The political evolution of Latin America, from 
 the time of Pizarro and Cortez, has kept pace with 
 the material progress of the continent. It is sig- 
 nificant that good ideas and good inventions can- 
 not be isolated. We seldom think of that fact. 
 Let a Boston doctor give a practical demonstra- 
 tion of general anesthesia, and the world’s sur- 
 geons soon put the discovery to use. Let auto- 
 mobiles appear, and before long much of the 
 world goes riding forth on rubber wheels. Tele- 
 phones, telegraphs, phonographs, tinned foods— 
 no matter where they first appeared—have been 
 put at the disposal of the entire civilized world. 
 
 42 
 
Today's Latin America 
 
 But when it comes to new ideas, we do not 
 always realize how they spread to the ends of 
 the earth and kindle sudden fires in unexpected 
 places. The World War—with little question— 
 was hurried to its conclusion by the force of the 
 ideas and ideals of President Wilson, scattered 
 across the enemy lines. ‘‘Self-determination’’ 
 was a war phrase and most of us have forgotten 
 it. But out in Korea, and among other subject 
 peoples far and near, ‘‘self-determination’’ is a 
 magic word that has unlocked doors of hope and 
 aspiration. The period of the World War—de- 
 spite the petty strifes and jealousies that clouded 
 the atmosphere—was a period of great ideas. 
 
 It so happened that the end of the eighteenth 
 century was another such period. ‘‘All men are 
 created free and equal’’—‘‘Liberty, Equality, 
 Fraternity.’? With such phrases revolutions were 
 begun; old monarchies cast down and kingdoms 
 of the people set up in both the Old World and 
 the New. And in the Spanish realms of Latin 
 America, no less than in the British Colonies to 
 the north, the passion for freedom—a passion 
 that never downs—was stirring men to glorious 
 mad deeds and epoch-making enterprises. 
 
 It is significant, too, that these enterprises, for 
 the most part, were youth-led. In fact, through 
 the whole history of the conquest and discovery 
 of the Americas, and the revolutions that later 
 
 43 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 set up free states, there run the fire and the 
 courage and the reckless idealism of youth. The 
 New World was conquered by young men, and 
 young men laid the foundations of its free institu- 
 tions. Columbus before he was thirty had his 
 plans laid for his voyage, and the skepticism of 
 his associates alone withheld him. Cortez was 
 nineteen years of age when he left Spain for the 
 New World and only thirty-three when his con- 
 quest of Mexico began. Quesada was scarcely 
 thirty when he received his commission as lieu- 
 tenant-general and started for the exploration of 
 the river Magdalena that led to the conquest of 
 New Granada. Our own revolutionary leaders, 
 hke Patrick Henry, were, many of them, under 
 thirty. Miranda, the father of Latin American 
 freedom, began his lifelong fight against Spain 
 when a little over twenty. Simon Bolivar, the 
 Liberator, when twenty-two years old ‘‘took a 
 solemn oath to dedicate himself to the task of 
 liberating America from the yoke of Spain.’’ 
 Without the spirit of youth—indomitable and 
 rash, thoughtless of the risks and, above all, un- 
 conditionally idealistic—the building of the New 
 World would have been long delayed. And the 
 new conquests in this twentieth century will come 
 when the same youth spirit goes into action. 
 After all, the real perils to human progress are 
 the product of later life. And youth, aflame with 
 4:4 
 
 i i i i 
 
Today's Latin America 
 
 some great passion, provides the only hope that 
 the fires of inspiration, in middle age, will not 
 burn out. 
 
 Spanish colonists of South America had no spe- 
 cial cause for loving the mother country. Revolts 
 were frequent, and the severity with which they 
 were suppressed delayed, yet made greater, the 
 revolutions that were inevitable. The crisis that 
 finally led to the shattering of Spain’s New World 
 Hmpire and the establishment of independent 
 Latin republics first developed in Venezuela. 
 Venezuela—named as ‘‘The little Venice’’—was 
 well situated for this uprising. In the northern 
 part of the continent the highways of the New 
 World crossed its territory. Near the United 
 States, the spirit of the American War for In- 
 dependence electrified Venezuelan patriots. And 
 among the restless Venezuelan lads who hated the 
 irksome yoke of Spain was Francisco Miranda, 
 who was born in the beautiful city of Caracas in 
 1754. 
 
 Young Miranda—after the fashion of the Span- 
 ish aristocracy—went to school in his native city 
 and probably to college there. His courses took 
 him laboring through the prescribed studies— 
 Latin, philosophy, law. And then, at the first 
 chance, he joined the army, sailed for Spain, and 
 purchased a captain’s commission in time to see 
 action against the Moors of North Africa. From 
 
 AS 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 North Africa he returned to Spain, spent tedious 
 months in garrisons, studied revolutionary litera- 
 ture, and ran amuck of the authorities. The re- 
 sult was that, after campaigns in the West In- 
 dies where he used his office as a means of secur- 
 ing information to help him in the revolution he 
 planned, he was ousted from the army. Out of 
 the employ of Spain, Miranda became a roving 
 revolutionist, seeking aid wherever aid seemed 
 likely; driven from one country to another; fre- 
 quently imprisoned; always persecuted but never 
 relenting in the Gospel of Freedom that he 
 preached. 
 
 And Miranda’s Gospel of Freedom received 
 great impetus from the American War for In- 
 dependence. Miranda came north during the 
 Revolution. He caught a vision of the high ideal- 
 ism that animated the daring exponents of Amer- 
 ican independence and his own youthful soul was 
 aflamed anew. 
 
 In London, so tradition has it, Miranda founded 
 an underground society of revolutionists. Into 
 the membership of this society came Simon Boli- 
 var from Caracas, Bernardo O’Higgins from 
 Chile, and José de San Martin from the Plata 
 country. Night after night, in their secret meet- 
 ing-place, Miranda infused these young patriots 
 with his own zeal. The empire of Spain was 
 tottering towards a fall, and these young hot- 
 
 46 
 
 ON es 
 
Today's Latin America 
 
 bloods, with no power other than their own high 
 faith and courage, were to push it, crumbling, to 
 ruin. 
 
 It was the ideal of Miranda to unite all of Latin 
 America into one United States of South Amer- 
 ica. For this ideal he fought to the very last. 
 When he returned to Venezuela, in 1811, and was 
 made a virtual dictator, it looked, for a time, as 
 though his ambition might be realized. But jeal- 
 ousies and suspicions arose against him. His 
 cause was discredited. He fell into the hands of 
 Spanish Royalists, was imprisoned, and later sent 
 to Spain. Miranda became an old and broken 
 man. His life, apparently, had been a fruitless 
 one. He died on July 14, 1816, in a loathsome 
 dungeon in Cadiz. 
 
 But Miranda’s preaching had not been in vain. 
 The seeds of revolution, which he had scattered 
 far and wide, grew and could not be uprooted. 
 Of those who carried on the torch that Miranda 
 lighted Simon Bolivar is perhaps the most fa- 
 mous. Bolivar, after the failure of Miranda, took 
 refuge on the island of Curacao. There he laid 
 plans for a march against the Royalists in Vene- 
 zuela. Not only in his native country, but in the 
 Argentine and other Latin American colonies, re- 
 volts against Spain were in the making. Bolivar’s 
 cause, therefore, progressed rapidly. The people 
 
 47 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 were more and more determined to overthrow 
 Spain and recruits for a revolutionary enterprise 
 were not difficult to secure. 
 
 Bolivar, with his plans matured, slipped quietly, 
 one day, from the island of Curagao back to Vene- 
 yuela. He organized a small handful of recruits 
 in the first village he entered and with this poorly 
 equipped and paltry force started out to destroy 
 the power of Spain in Venezuela. His onward 
 march was atriumph. In every village and town 
 recruits flocked to his standard. And when at 
 last he met the Royalist forces, the patriotic 
 army could not be turned back. The Spanish 
 troops were defeated, and on August 4, 1813, Boli- 
 var entered Caracas in state. His triumphal car 
 was drawn by twelve Venezuelan maidens, dressed 
 in white and bearing the national colors. He 
 was hailed by the exultant throngs as ‘‘The 
 Liberator.’’ 
 
 But his victory was short lived. The Royalists 
 reorganized their forces, defeated Bolivar, and 
 forced him to flee into New Granada—now Co- 
 lombia—where he joined forces with the revolu- 
 tionary party; and at the head of another patriot 
 army he captured the capital, Bogota. But other 
 reverses drove him from New Granada to refuge 
 in the island of Jamaica. And while in the depths 
 of despair because of his failures, encouraging 
 messages came to him from Bernardo O’Higgins, 
 
 48 
 
 a 
 
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 OLTOHLVO NVWOHX GIO NV dO LNOYA NI SNVIGNI NVIAIIO“ JO dOOND IVOIaKL V 
 
 VNVdVOVdO)) LY HOWNHD 
 
 
 
Today's Latin America 
 
 the champion of Chilean independence, and from 
 San Martin, the great revolutionary general of 
 the Argentine. Bolivar, with a will of steel, re- 
 fused to give up his fight. In February, 1819, 
 he again organized a Venezuelan army and at its 
 head defeated the Royalists at the famous battle 
 of Boyaca. 
 
 Today a great rock marks the spot where, at 
 the conclusion of this battle, Bolivar addressed 
 his troops. And on this monument erected to the 
 memory of Bolivar on the field of Boyaca are 
 two significant inscriptions: ‘‘The Liberty of the 
 New World is the Hope of the Universe’’ and 
 ‘‘The greatest of men is he who knows how to 
 win Freedom for the rest.”’ 
 
 More than a century has elapsed since the battle 
 of Boyaca, and today, with different weapons 
 and on other fields, the tide of the battle for 
 freedom ebbs and flows. As much as at Boyaca, 
 great generals today are needed to direct this 
 fight, and courageous men and women to serve 
 in the ranks of the patriot army. The problems 
 of Latin America were no more fully solved at 
 Boyaca or at Maipo—where the battle that 
 secured independence for Chile was fought—or 
 on the other fields where freedom was victorious 
 than the problems of the new United States were 
 solved when Cornwallis at Yorktown proffered 
 his sword to Washington. 
 
 49 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 The problems of the New Latin America vw nich 
 we will study in this book were given a good gen- 
 eral statement in the ‘‘Challenge’’* of the Mon- 
 tevideo Congress, a great Christian Congress held 
 in the spring of 1925 in Montevideo, the capital 
 of Uruguay. 
 
 ‘‘More remarkable transformations are taking 
 place in the social structure of the continent. 
 Formerly there were only two classes, the rich 
 and the poor, the highly educated and the illit- 
 erate. While that condition existed there was 
 little hope for the solution of South America’s 
 many social and political problems. With the 
 gradual development of the middle class, with 
 the introduction among the laboring people of a 
 new consciousness of their own rights, and with 
 a new appreciation of social problems by the edu- 
 cated classes,—most of which came about during 
 and after the World War,—there is a breaking up 
 of the old fixed castes and today the social system 
 of South America is in the process of solution. 
 Among university students,—a class which for- 
 merly consisted chiefly of sons of government 
 officials and members of privileged classes pre- 
 paring themselves to continue the ruling and ex- 
 ploiting of the great mass of peon labor,—many 
 have recently changed their attitude and are now 
 
 1 This Challenge is printed in Bulletin Number 2 of the Con- 
 gress on Christian Work in South America, published by the 
 Committee on Cooperation in Latin America. 
 
 50 
 
 
 
Today's Latin America 
 
 giving themselves to the education of the laborers 
 and to the working out with them of a new demo- 
 cratic conception of national life. 
 
 ‘“‘Large numbers of women heretofore pro- 
 hibitea from participating in the solution of great 
 social and educational problems because of their 
 seclusive limitation to their own family circles 
 have begun to take a part in the discussion of 
 the great surging questions that are stirring their 
 nations. Many women have entered industry. 
 Even the lower-class women in some of these 
 countries have come into a class consciousness 
 and are now educating themselves—often with 
 the help of their more fortunate sisters.’’ 
 
 In effect this report goes on to say: 
 
 Most significant of all is the new spiritual move- 
 ment. In the beginning of the history of these 
 republics all of them recognized a union between 
 Church and State. In other words, the Roman 
 Catholic Church was the state church, supported 
 officially and endowed with political power and 
 privilege. The antagonism of the official church, 
 in many places, to universal public education and 
 to many of the democratic ideas that are making 
 headway in several of these countries has brought 
 about a separation of large numbers of the more 
 intelligent class from the church. This so-called 
 intellectual group, because its program of democ- 
 racy is so frequently fought by the state church, 
 
 51 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 has often developed a spirit of hostility to all 
 religion. 
 
 A few years ago it looked as though these in- 
 tellectuals were turning Latin America toward a 
 materialistic view of life. Religion was scoffed 
 at. At present, however, there is a marked re- 
 vival of interest in spiritual things. It is more 
 widely recognized that all life cannot be explained 
 in terms of what we can see, and that back of 
 the universe there is a guiding, directing force 
 which men call God. Many of the great leaders 
 among government officials, heads of universities, 
 and distinguished publicists are now urging the 
 necessity of finding a spiritual basis for national 
 and personal life. 
 
 It must be said, right here, that Evangelical 
 Christianity, seeking to bring this spiritual life, 
 is confronted with a situation in Latin America 
 different from that which exists in many other 
 sections of the world. Evangelical Christianity 
 cannot go to Latin America as though bringing 
 with it a wholly new truth. The name of Christ 
 is not unfamiliar to the peoples of Latin America, 
 however much we may disagree with the manner 
 in which, often, His message has been presented. 
 The Roman Catholic Church, though it has failed, 
 doubtless, in many things, has, nevertheless, 
 helped to prepare the way for the additional mes- 
 
 52 
 
 ESS 
 
Today's Latin America 
 
 sage of a personal Christ which the Evangelicals 
 seek to bring. 
 
 The work of the Evangelical churches in Latin 
 America had very insignificant beginnings. There 
 were repeated failures. Schools were opened and 
 then closed. Missionaries went out in twos and 
 threes and progress was almost negligible. But 
 from these insignificant beginnings during the 
 last century, a really vital movement for higher 
 standards of life has grown. This movement does 
 not—probably never will—include the whole of 
 Latin America. But it is helping to change the 
 ‘‘moral climate.’’ It is bringing added richness 
 to the Christian message planted there several 
 centuries ago by the Spaniards. 
 
 Meanwhile the Evangelical work itself is grow- 
 ing. In Brazil there are, among six leading Prot- 
 estant denominations, 653 organized congrega- 
 tions; 65,705 members in full communion; 106,000 
 catechumens; 528 church buildings; 608 national 
 ministers and evangelists; 190 candidates for the 
 ministry; 800 lay officers in the Church; 167 for- 
 eign missionaries; 7 theological seminaries with 
 35 professors; 5,000 pupils in the mission schools; 
 898 Sunday schools with 3,111 teachers and 53,107 
 pupils. 
 
 In some other countries, such as Ecuador, Co- 
 lombia, and Central America, there has been no 
 such significant growth. But even in those coun- 
 
 53 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 tries a definite Evangelical program is being car- 
 ried forward through churches, schools, and Bible 
 distribution. 
 
 In this book we shall have a good deal to say 
 about the problems which constitute the challenge 
 of the new day in Latin America. They represent 
 the task of the Evangelical forces now at work 
 there. It is necessary at this point that we should 
 face a few of the general questions growing out 
 of these problems, for which later we shall seek 
 to find solutions. 
 
 First, there are the economic problems. The 
 wealth of Latin America—how will it be ex- 
 ploited? Will the land continue to be held by the 
 few or become the property of the many? Will 
 an industrialism arise in these southern countries 
 to condemn the man-power of the masses to the 
 building of fortunes for the few? Will material- 
 ism dominate the economic life and will labor be- 
 come the slave of profit? Or, will the principle 
 of service in industry be established? Will in- 
 dustry become the agency of happiness and en- 
 lightenment? Will wealth, widely distributed, be 
 made a part of the foundation of human progress? 
 
 Then, there are political problems. Factional 
 strife, partisanship, and selfish ambitions have 
 too frequently obstructed the development of 
 democratic institutions in Latin America, as else- 
 
 54 
 
 
 
Today's Latin America 
 
 where. Leaders are needed who can look beyond 
 the day into the future. Are these leaders in the 
 making? Are forces at work to lift the govern- 
 ments out of the morasses of petty politics to the 
 plane of ordered progress? Are these same 
 forces working in the international field? Is 
 coercion or conciliation to be the dominant factor 
 in the relationships between the states of the 
 South? Are armies or courts to rule the future? 
 Will bloodshed or the council table determine in- 
 ternational issues? 
 
 There are also social problems. What of the 
 progress of education in South America? Is the 
 caste system breaking down? Do the masses be- 
 gin to share in the privileges of the aristocracy? 
 What of the seventeen million Indians of Latin 
 America and the thirty million people of mixed 
 blood? Are there schools for them? Is society 
 progressing towards a recognition of the princi- 
 ples of equal opportunity, or are the doors of 
 hope closed in the face of those who are not of 
 the higher social classes? 
 
 Finally, there are the religious problems. Su- 
 perstition lies like a pall over many parts of 
 Latin America. Religion, too often, has meant 
 idolatry, ignorance, spiritual squalor, darkness. 
 Is there a new religious outlook? Would it be 
 better for Latin America if religion were done 
 away with altogether? What part is religion 
 
 55 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 playing in the new conquest of Latin America? 
 What part can it play? 
 
 Involved in all of these problems there is the 
 question of the relation between Latin America 
 and the United States. At present, in certain 
 countries, the United States is widely looked upon 
 as a friend. In some of the other republics, how- 
 ever, this is not the case. A century ago, when 
 James Monroe proclaimed the doctrine that has 
 since borne his name, the United States was 
 looked to by the peoples of the South as a counselor 
 and friend. The institutions of South American 
 states were modeled, many of them, after the 
 fashion of the United States. The Northern Re- 
 public had pioneered the way to independence and 
 was reverenced because of that fact. 
 
 The Monroe Doctrine, clearly enough, was pro- 
 claimed as a means of self-protection for the 
 United States. The encroachments of European 
 powers in the Western Hemisphere, which threat- 
 ened at the time, could only serve to menace the 
 security of the United States. As a consequence, 
 the nations of Europe were warned that any 
 effort to secure territory in either of the Americas 
 would be looked upon, by the United States, as 
 an unfriendly act. For over a century, now, that 
 doctrine, although it has not hampered the ex- 
 pansion of the United States, has kept the two 
 
 56 
 
Today's Latin America 
 
 Western continents free from the imperial ad- 
 vances of Kurope. 
 
 Now—whether or not the facts justify the con- 
 clusion—the peoples of Latin America have come 
 to scoff at the Monroe Doctrine and regard with 
 a good deal of suspicion the nation that sponsors 
 it. In Central America and in our relationships 
 with Mexico, the people of the United States have 
 revealed less of the spirit of the ‘‘Big Brother’’ 
 than of the ‘‘Big Stick.’’ The special interests 
 of the United States—interests in oil and fruit 
 and wealth in many forms—have appeared to call 
 for first protection and the rights of smaller states 
 receive only a secondary thought. Rightly or 
 wrongly, cruisers and marines have come to sym- 
 bolize to the average Latin American the interest 
 of the United States in affairs south of the Rio 
 Grande. 
 
 No other problem before the Americas is more 
 serious than this. The question of good-will— 
 above all others—begins at home. No nation can 
 safely go far abroad preaching international 
 friendship unless it is able to live in friendliness 
 with its own neighbors. Just what does the fu- 
 ture hold in the relationship of the republics of 
 the New World? They are the exponents of peace 
 and democracy. Can they give proof, in their own 
 associations, that the ideal of peace will work? 
 That proof can only be found in practise. 
 
 57 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 These, then, are some of the problems of Latin 
 America. They are problems of the Americas 
 and of the world. Here in the West is the great 
 laboratory in which the experiment of free gov- 
 ernments and equal social opportunity will be 
 worked out. That experiment—probably the 
 greatest ever undertaken in history—will require 
 for its working new adventurers and will lead 
 to new achievements—achievements no less thrill- 
 ing and even more significant than those of 
 Miranda and Bolivar. But there will be no final 
 victory until together in the common enterprise 
 the two Americas stand shoulder to shoulder. 
 
 58 
 
IT 
 Building a New Mexico 
 
 Soutna of the Rio Grande,—from north of it, 
 —‘‘greasers’’ and cactus; sand and shale-covered 
 mountains; dirty villages and children; squatty, 
 whitewashed houses; men on horseback, wide 
 sombreros, clouds of dust; bandits; tarantulas. 
 
 North of the Rio Grande,—from south of dt, 
 —soldiers and skyscrapers; divorce, suicide; riots, 
 
 gold; section-bosses; a tree, a rope, and something 
 - swinging in the wind. 
 
 And one picture is as accurate as the other! 
 
 All of Mexico is no more to be pictured in terms 
 of what one sees looking across the Rio Grande 
 from El Paso, Texas, into Juarez, Chihuahua, 
 than the United States is to be described by the 
 accounts of it that one reads in certain news- 
 papers or sees portrayed in certain movie films. 
 
 In fact, the average intelligent young Mexican 
 suddenly transported into a Middle West com- 
 munity of the United States would probably have 
 fewer surprises in store for him than the average 
 intelligent young American, who suddenly found 
 himself set down in Mexico City in the famous 
 Valley of Mexico. The last day’s journey from 
 the American border to Mexico’s capital is 
 through a land of beauty and romance, Villages 
 
 59 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 overgrown with flowers fly past like a southern 
 California panorama. Before each house, how- 
 ever tiny, is a tinier garden fenced with organ 
 cactus, where red hibiscus and pink myrtle grow. 
 Atop each roof stand graceful Spanish urns. 
 And narrow, flower-banked balconies give hint of 
 many things—night, with the slice of a new moon 
 tipping the housetops, a dark-eyed maiden and a 
 black mantilla, a guitar and someone singing from 
 the street below. 
 
 And the City of Mexico is not a ‘‘Capital of 
 Revolutions.’? It is, rather, a modern city. Its 
 buildings and its broad avenues and beautiful 
 parks are a gracious mingling of French and 
 Spanish architectural design. In the newer sec- 
 tions of the city there are many small residences 
 built bungalow style, after the approved fashion 
 of California. Trolley lines—the cars made in 
 the United States—stretch out into the suburban 
 districts, and in the city itself Fords and Pack- 
 ards—and all the lot between—race as recklessly 
 as in the cities of the United States. With an 
 estimated population of 750,000, there are said to 
 be 40,000 automobiles in the City of Mexico, 
 alone. 
 
 It is the Valley of Mexico, where the capital 
 city is located, that provides the very center of 
 the history of Mexico. The Valley is a vast basin 
 about fifty miles long and forty miles wide with 
 
 60 
 
Building a New Mezaico 
 
 an average elevation of from 7,500 to 8,000 feet 
 above the sea. It is thought that, at one time, the 
 floor of this basin was the crater of a volcano 
 whose walls were the surrounding mountains. 
 Within this broad basin there were once five 
 great land-locked lakes on which the Aztecs raised 
 their famous ‘‘floating gardens.’’ Now the only 
 remaining lake of any appreciable size is Lake 
 T'excoco, near Mexico City. 
 
 The Valley is completely surrounded by moun- 
 tain ramparts that wall it in, snow-capped, to the 
 very clouds. Above the range stand Popocatepetl 
 and Iztaccihuatl—silent sentinels. 
 
 To this Valley of Mexico swept succeeding in- 
 vasions. Down from the mountains they came— 
 little-known peoples—centuries before the white 
 man came to this ancient territory to call it the 
 New World and claim it for himself. And each 
 succeeding invasion, apparently, arrived at this 
 garden basin and stopped. Here the ancient cap- 
 itals were built, altars were erected, and rulers 
 held imperial sway with all the pomp of barbar- 
 ism. Three of these invasions—the Toltec, the 
 Aztec, and the Spanish—are of particular interest. 
 
 Out of the shadows of history—shadows lighted 
 by many and fascinating traditions—come the 
 Toltecs to the Valley of Mexico. Some fifty miles 
 to the north of Mexico City, sometime about 
 700 a.p., they built their capital city of Tula, the 
 
 61 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 ruins of which still remain. These Toltecs—In- 
 dians, they were—are depicted in stories as gen- 
 tle-mannered, intelligent barbarians; wise im 
 peace, cunning and cruel in war. To the Toltecs, 
 when their golden age was dawning, came a white 
 man—so tradition runs—who stayed with them 
 for twenty years and brought prosperity to their 
 fields, wealth to their cities, and beauty to their 
 hills. At the end of twenty years this white god 
 sailed away on a raft of serpent skins, after tell- 
 ing loyal followers that at some distant day an- 
 other white man would come to the Valley of 
 Mexico.* 
 
 But in time the Toltee’s power waned. As the 
 tribe began to deteriorate, other Indians, the Chi- 
 chimecs,—a group of tribes much more barbaric 
 than the Toltecs,—invaded the realm. After a 
 prolonged conflict the Toltecs were forced to sur- 
 render. The Chichimecs began at once to adopt 
 some of the more advanced customs of their con- 
 quered enemies and to enjoy some of the results 
 of their higher civilization. 
 
 During this period, when the Chichimecs were 
 in power, other tribes of Indians were migrating 
 from the north toward the Valley of Mexico. 
 
 1 This story may or may not have foundation in fact. But true 
 or false, the belief in it among Indians of a later day helped 
 to make possible the conquest of Mexico by Cortez in the sixteenth 
 century, when with his handful of troops he marched against 
 the empire of the Aztecs. 
 
 62 
 
Building a New Mexico 
 
 Among these was one particularly despised. It 
 was driven about from one spot to another and 
 finally took refuge on the islands of Lake T'ex- 
 coco. These Indians lived chiefly on fish and in- 
 sects, and served the neighboring tribes ag slaves. 
 They were the Aztecs—destined to become the 
 rulers of Mexico and to give the country its name. 
 
 Before they had lived long in the Valley of 
 Mexico, the Aztecs proved their fighting ability. 
 Sometime about the year 1428, in a great battle, 
 they established their supremacy over the sur- 
 rounding tribes. From then until 1519—when 
 Cortez brought Spanish rule—they governed most 
 of the territory from the Valley of Mexico to the 
 Gulf, south to Yucatan, and north nearly to the 
 Rio Grande. 
 
 In this empire the Aztecs ruled and developed 
 a remarkable civilization. Their trade was thriv- 
 ing and widespread. The City of Mexico, their 
 capital, was an overflowing market where mer- 
 chandise from many places was bought and sold. 
 Beyond the city itself the land was well cultivated 
 for these Indians were, for their day, skilled agri- 
 culturists. At the time of Cortez, the govern- 
 ment, ruled by Moctezuma, was well ordered, havy- 
 ing written laws and a judicial system which was 
 modern in many respects. The religion of the 
 Aztecs was exceedingly repulsive, however, and 
 was characterized by human sacrifices. The Span- 
 
 63 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 iards spared no effort in their attempt to destroy 
 this worship. Many of their temples, however, 
 with their sacrificial stones decorated with hide- 
 ous carvings, remain as mute though eloquent wit- 
 nesses to this barbaric cult. 
 
 We have already followed Cortez in his ad- 
 vance through the empire of Moctezuma. It was 
 on November 8, 1519, that he first entered the City 
 of Mexico. His conquest did not last, however, 
 for the enraged natives soon drove the Spaniards 
 from the city. But two years later Cortez broke. 
 the last resistance of the Indians, entered the city, 
 made it his capital, and established the Spanish 
 rule that was to extend for three centuries. 
 
 In the year 1821 Mexico became independent 
 of Spain—but even now, after more than a cen- 
 tury of independence, the hand of Spanish influ- 
 ence still rests heavily upon the country. Fol- 
 lowing Cortez, there came from the Old Country 
 a long succession of Viceroys to govern Mexico. 
 These aristocrats, frequently ill-fitted for colonial 
 or any other sort of administration, hindered more 
 than they helped the progress of the great Span- 
 ish colony. With them came Spanish grandees 
 who transplanted the feudal system of Kurope’s 
 Middle Ages into the soil of the New World. 
 Wealth was amassed in vast quantities. Gal- 
 leons, loaded with gold, sailed from the mines of 
 Mexico to enrich the too often depleted treasuries 
 
 64 
 

 
 THe Harpor or Rio DE JANEIRO 
 
‘CTHYOM HHL NI SHONGAV TOAILAVAd LSOW AHL JO ANO UA OL GIVS SI ‘ONI 
 -C1IINd SSAYDNOO AHL SGNVLS HOIHM AO GVAH FHL LV OAV], AG VGINGAY VT 
 
 Sauly SONHNgG ‘ONIGIING SSAYNNOD 
 
 
 
Building a New Mexico 
 
 of the Spanish monarchs. Pirates infested the 
 Spanish Main and looted the cities of the coast. 
 Indifferent, cruel, loving gold, and the things. 
 which it brought more than justice or human prog- 
 ress, these Spanish overlords living in licentious 
 leisure left an indelible stamp upon the life of the 
 Mexican nation. 
 
 Among those who came to rule Mexico, there 
 were, of course, some who proved noble excep- 
 tions to this general type of selfish autocrat. The 
 first Viceroy, Mendoza, who was appointed in 
 1535, was one of these exceptions. During the 
 fifteen years that he ruled Mexico a great deal 
 was accomplished for the people by measures that 
 were both wise and kindly administered. The 
 second Viceroy, Don Luis de Velasco, was also a 
 just administrator. His action in bringing about 
 the liberation of 150,000 Indian slaves at work in 
 the mines won for him the title of Emancipator. 
 
 But toward the end of the sixteenth century 
 there descended upon Mexico the influence of the 
 Inquisition, and through two centuries and a half 
 the persecutions practised at the instigation of the 
 Dominicans stored up a reservoir of hatred that. 
 did much to bring about the downfall of Spanish 
 rule. 
 
 The Dominican priests had arrived together 
 with the gaily decorated autocrats who came out 
 to rule Mexico. A great army of them came, with 
 
 65 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 the avowed purpose of converting the country to 
 Christianity. There is no denying the beneficial 
 influence of those early Christian pioneers. Their 
 courage, their unselfish zeal for the Church, and 
 their ceaseless labors wrought much good among 
 the Indian population of the country. This must 
 be conceded. In fact, any other attitude is merely 
 an indication of that inter-Christian hostility 
 which today is a perilous obstacle to Christian 
 progress. An open-mindedness among Protes- 
 tants to the constructive, Christian achievements 
 of Roman Catholicism in Mexico or elsewhere, is 
 the only possible starting point for a fair criticism 
 of the influence of the Roman Church. And in the 
 early days in Mexico the priests sent out from 
 Spain achieved much that was good for the people. 
 
 But Roman Catholicism has not kept abreast of 
 the developments in Mexico. It is undeniable, in 
 fact, that almost every liberal movement—politi- 
 cal, economic, or social—that has arisen in recent 
 times in Mexico has been obliged to face the con- 
 eerted hostility of Roman Catholic influence. The 
 old land-owning aristocracy had the support of the 
 Church. When the Revolution sought to break 
 up the vast estates and return to the people what 
 was rightfully their own, the Church objected. 
 When the movement to strike the chains of peon- 
 age from the masses was begun, the Church op- 
 posed this reform. The efforts to popularize lib- 
 
 66 
 
Building a New Mezico 
 
 eral education likewise met with opposition from 
 the Church. Social reforms—such as the granting 
 of woman suffrage and the extensions of the rights 
 of labor unions—were bitterly fought by the 
 Church autocracy. 
 
 The power of the Church during the last cen- 
 tury has endeavored to block, wherever possible, 
 the advance of Democracy. This is not difficult to 
 understand. In the foundation stones of cathedral 
 and church in Mexico there is written the word 
 ‘*Autocracy.’’? And religious autocracy has scant 
 chance for survival in a community that revolts 
 against political autocracy. 
 
 Thus, one of the first facts that emerged after 
 the Independence of Mexico was declared in 1821 
 was that popular government would never stand a 
 chance so long as the Roman Catholic Church, 
 which claimed the spiritual allegiance of ninety- 
 five per cent of the Mexican people and controlled 
 two thirds of the productive wealth of the coun- 
 try, was allowed to hand down its dictates and 
 demand compliance with them. ‘The realization 
 of this fact precipitated a real struggle. Catho- 
 lic influence, moreover, was largely instrumental 
 in bringing about the intervention of Napoleon 
 IIT, who sought to extend the power of France 
 over Mexico. But in 1867 the liberal patriots 
 triumphed. Maximilian, sent out by France to 
 govern the land, fell before the firing squad at 
 
 67 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 Querétaro. From that day nineteenth-century 
 ideas—political, economic, and social—were to 
 have their first real chance in Mexico. 
 
 In our further study of Latin America we shall 
 frequently come into touch with the influence of 
 the Roman Catholic Church. It is needful that we 
 remember the constructive contributions of 
 Catholicism to these southern nations. It is even 
 more important, however, that we know that in 
 this twentieth century, in spite of the liberal ring 
 of Catholic believers, almost the whole weight of 
 the Church officially is thrown into the balance 
 against the rising tides of liberal thought and 
 democracy. 
 
 In addition to this religious opposition, Mexico 
 struggles against another enormous handicap. 
 The early Spanish grandees, whom we have seen 
 come out from Spain to line their pockets with 
 New World gold, were land-grabbers of the first 
 order. In every alluring valley of Mexico and 
 on every promising hilltop they sat them down 
 and claimed, in the name of Spain and the Church, 
 possession of all the land they looked upon that 
 it suited their fancy to annex. That the Indians 
 already occupied the territory was altogether too 
 simple a fact for serious consideration. Conse- 
 quently, most of the land of Mexico, even now, 
 is in the hands of a very few landowners. 
 
 It is no exaggeration to say that for four hun- 
 
 68 
 
Building a New Mezico 
 
 dred years less than ten thousand families have 
 owned Mexico. By this ‘‘ownership’’ is not meant 
 the ownership of the ward boss who, in our large 
 cities, dominates a great population by his influ- 
 ence and political machine. Ownership as applied 
 to Mexican land has been a personal, hand-me- 
 down possession. Land barons were the feudal 
 lords of the country. They not only kept the land 
 —they also kept, in virtual servitude, the vast 
 majority of peons who worked for them. 
 
 These haciendas, it must be understood, were not 
 little homestead plots. In size, they were states— 
 self-supporting states. There were some 300 of 
 them with an estimated area of 25,000 acres each; 
 116 had no less-than 62,500 acres; 51 had 75,000 
 acres; and 11 are said to have contained 250,000 
 acres each.t In the province of Chihuahua one 
 notorious character is said to have patched to- 
 gether in one estate over 6,000,000 acres, a terri- 
 tory that requires eight hours to cross by train, 
 and is equal in size to the republic of Costa Rica. 
 In Morelos, 33 people owned the entire state.’ 
 
 The measures introduced by Juarez, the ‘‘Pa- 
 triot President,’’ attempted to remedy this land 
 injustice. But, with the lapse of time, the fervor 
 of that period in the early nineteenth century was 
 forgotten, and when Porfirio Diaz was made Presi- 
 
 1 Land Systems of Mexico, The. George McCutcheon McBride. 
 
 2 Social Revolution in Mexico, The. HE. A. Ross. p. 82. 
 
 69 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 dent, in 1876, a reign of despotism began that 
 ended in 1910 with the land situation worse than 
 before. 
 
 Between 1910 and 1920 revolutions and counter- 
 revolutions kept the country in a state of constant 
 turmoil. Bandits infested certain districts; 
 scheming politicians, with armies to back them, 
 infested other districts. The decade was one of 
 strife and disorder, and there was little improve- 
 ment until 1920, when Obregon came to power. 
 
 But the tide has turned. Intelligent and patri- 
 otic Mexicans know well enough that the country 
 can never be great until the people own the land 
 themselves. Conditions under which the peons 
 were kept in illiteracy and bondage must be com- 
 pletely changed. And conditions are being 
 changed. The new constitution of 1917 provides 
 for the breaking up of these vast estates into 
 smaller farms, to be turned over to the people. 
 With this breaking up of estates, agricultural edu- 
 cation is being introduced. The owners of the old 
 haciendas did not live upon them and cared but 
 little whether or not they were well managed. 
 Medieval methods of agriculture were followed. 
 
 Under Obregon, agricultural education during 
 1922 alone was provided for more than 100,000 
 Mexican children. In the hacienda of Chapingo 
 an agricultural college has been established with 
 a six-year course along the most advanced lines. 
 
 70 
 
Building a New Mewico 
 
 Two paragraphs from the charter of this school 
 are significant: 
 
 ‘‘We are trying to form here a nucleus of peo- 
 ple that believe in work, considering it as the 
 sacred and only instrument for human coopera- 
 tion. From here there will go forth men, free and 
 sane, sons of the earth to which they owe all and 
 for which they believe they have the rugged and 
 silent devotion that only great things deserve. 
 
 ‘<This school holds forth a human ideal of sim- 
 ple cooperation and gentle comradeship among 
 those that work the land without trying to push 
 them toward the abyss of great agricultural ex- 
 ploitation which needs, to flower and prosper, the 
 suffering of enormous multitudes of hopeless 
 wage-slaves. What we want here is that the 
 farmer be his own master, that he be a friend to 
 his community, that he be the help and basis of 
 the peasant citizenry.’’ * 
 
 An important fact in regard to the land dis- 
 tribution must be added. This redistributed land 
 is held, not by individuals, but by the community, 
 in what is called the ejzdo. Thus, in Yucatan, an 
 individual can neither buy nor sell this com- 
 munal land. He has only the right to work the 
 land and enjoy the benefits of what he produces. 
 Up to a recent date more than one half of the vil- 
 lages of Yucatan (more than eighty) have re- 
 
 1The Survey Graphic. May, 1924. p. 152. 
 
 71 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 ceived communal land. About eighty thousand 
 heads of families will thus receive for farming 
 purposes a share of community land. This pro- 
 gram amounts, virtually, to the nationalization of 
 land. It is quite possible that it may not prove 
 wholly successful and that private ownership will 
 eventually be established, but nationalization of 
 the land has proved a mighty step forward from 
 the old system of land monopoly. 
 
 Along with this redistribution of land a more 
 adequate program of education has been intro- 
 duced. Education is the key to almost every- 
 thing in Mexico—as elsewhere. Until the mind of 
 the people—the masses of the people—is lifted 
 out of the morasses of superstition, enlightened 
 politics or sound economics or real religion cannot 
 be well established. Thus it is altogether impor- 
 tant to know that, since 1917, the leaders of the 
 new revolution in Masino have decreed a pr ogra 
 of education for all the people. 
 
 This is no easy undertaking. Aristocracy, 
 whether social or financial, does not breed a belief 
 in the possibilities of the masses. Many Amer- 
 icans who are in Mexico to exploit the country’s 
 resources argue against the education of the 
 peons. The great landowners who still remain 
 argue along the same lines. The reason for such 
 conidence in the belief that the unenlightened can- 
 
 72 
 
Building a New Mevwico 
 
 not be made to see is not far to seek. Educate 
 the peons and you will make them discontented 
 with their miserable lot. Make them discontented 
 and they will demand justice, decent wages, decent 
 living conditions, and a chance to advance. Once 
 such ‘‘impossible’’ concessions are made, the 
 day when fortunes can be plucked from the thorny 
 hands of the enslaved peons will be past. 
 
 But despite this opposition, educational reform 
 has made rapid progress since 1917 in Mexico. 
 There is a Department of Education in the na- 
 tional government, with representation in the Cab- 
 inet—a progressive step which the United States 
 has never taken. Into the most remote sections of 
 Mexico education is being carried by educational 
 **missionaries,’’ as they are called. The individ- 
 uals are sent out by the Government. They are the 
 pioneers of enlightenment. In some Indian hovel, 
 with no lamp, few books, and very little interest, 
 a government missionary begins to teach. The 
 walls of the hovel are pushed down until the il- 
 literate Indians begin to see something of the 
 world beyond. Their interest is aroused. They 
 want a school. Sometimes they are too poor to 
 build it themselves, and the Government, though 
 cramped by inadequate funds, builds the school. 
 Thus by painstaking, village-to-village work the 
 gospel of understanding is spread. 
 
 And in many small cities public libraries have 
 
 73 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 been opened. Day and night—but particularly 
 night—these places are thronged. During the last 
 three years the Department of Education has pur- 
 chased three hundred thousand books from Spain 
 for these libraries. And it is not jazz literature 
 that is distributed. Fifty thousand copies of Don 
 Quixote have been purchased; twenty-five thou- 
 sand of the classics printed; eight thousand copies 
 of Homer were sold in one year at one peso each. 
 In addition, over one million copies of a first 
 reader have been published. And the Minister of 
 Education recently secured a publication of a 
 special edition of the New Testament, which was 
 sent to every library in the country. 
 
 Another wave in this rising tide of Mexican 
 progress is the growth of the power of organized 
 labor. In the United States, too often, we have 
 been misled into thinking of labor unions as anti- 
 American institutions under the leadership of in- 
 dolent rascals whose sole purpose is to destroy the 
 comfort of the country’s capitalistic benefactors. 
 Nothing could be further from the truth. Labor 
 has blundered. But the blunders of labor can 
 hardly weigh so heavily in the scales of justice as 
 the blunders of the employers of labor. And 
 until labor took the field with an organization of 
 its own, industrial democracy was an idle dream. 
 The sons and daughters of the Mexican or the 
 
 74 
 
Building a New Mewico 
 
 American working-man look upon the labor union, 
 and rightly, as probably the most worth-while of 
 all social organizations. That is because the labor 
 unions, to the laboring man and his family, con- 
 stitute the power to secure justice. When labor 
 organizations are abandoned, we can be sure that 
 one of two things has happened—either capital 
 and labor have come into a state of such complete 
 harmony that the rights of both will be protected 
 without separate organization; or democracy will 
 be on the wane, the voice of the working classes 
 silenced, and industrial feudalism reestablished. 
 There are, at the present time, eight hundred 
 thousand workers in the organized labor move- 
 ment of Mexico. This includes farm workers as 
 well as city workers. Heretofore, with the excep- 
 tion of the Roman Catholic Church, the army con- 
 stituted the one great social organization of Mex- 
 ico. The rise of labor to a place of power has 
 brought a wholly new element into the social life 
 of the country. The influence of this element 
 is on the side of democracy and against the dicta- 
 tion of either religious or military autocracy. 
 Whether or not he made a good governor,—and I 
 have little doubt that he did,—it indicates a real 
 step in advance from the state of autocratic power 
 when a shoemaker, Gasca, not long ago was gov- 
 ernor of Mexico City. Labor organized as it is in 
 Mexico stands as a guarantee that peace and con- 
 75 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 ciliation, justice and democracy, will have a chance 
 in the affairs of the nation. 
 
 In the Alameda—the Central Park of the City 
 of Mexico—there stands a statue. Its title is 
 ‘‘Malgré tout.’’ Represented in this statue is a 
 woman lying upon the ground. Her feet are 
 shackled with heavy chains. Her hands are cru- 
 elly tied behind her back. She is crushed and 
 helpless. And yet, the figure is one of life. 
 Against those chains is thrown the whole force of 
 this woman’s body. She strains tensely. Her 
 knees bend as if to rise and cast off the iron that 
 binds her. There is nothing sullen in her eyes— 
 rather, the light of faith, a ight that finally will 
 triumph despite the heavy hand of the past and 
 the shackles of the present. 
 
 This statue is a picture of present-day Mexico. 
 A newly awakened people are rising from the slav- 
 ery of the past. They are shaking off the chains 
 which have bound them through four centuries. A 
 new nation is in the making south of the Rio 
 Grande. Into that nation there has gone the influ- 
 ence of Evangelical Christianity. This is not an 
 incidental fact. It is a vital factor—one of the 
 most vital—which will determine the Mexico of 
 tomorrow. In the United States the influence of 
 Christianity is taken for granted. The church is 
 just around the corner. Religion is heard—if not 
 practised—in every walk of life. Christianity pro- 
 
 76 
 
Building a New Mexico 
 
 vides the keystone in the temple of American 
 democracy. Most of us living in America never 
 stop to realize that without Christian pulpits and 
 Christian schools and Christian homes the United 
 States would be a vastly different, a vastly in- 
 ferior, place. 
 
 It is true as much in Mexico as in the United 
 States or any other part of the world that national 
 strength of the finer kind can never be found un- 
 less there is found also a religious strength that 
 meets the practical day-by-day needs of the peo- 
 ple. After all, most of us need some stronger 
 influence than money or home or patriotism to 
 keep our lives constantly true to the best. And 
 when one reads history with care and not with 
 prejudice, it becomes apparent that, despite its 
 frequent distortions, no other force in human 
 affairs has been so powerful as religion for the 
 maintaining of individuals and communities at 
 their best. So the new Mexico needs religion— 
 not religion that decrees certain ceremonies and 
 forms of worship and lets it go at that, but a re- 
 ligion that reaches out to the heart of the indi- 
 vidual; that enters that individual’s life; that 
 meets his intellectual doubts; and, at the same 
 time, gives him an inescapable responsibility for 
 helping those with whom he comes into contact. 
 
 Now many of the liberal leaders of the new 
 Mexico are fraukly irreligious. That, we may 
 
 77 
 
Looking Ahead wth Latin America 
 
 say, is unfortunate. But it is a fact that reflects 
 as much upon religion as upon the individuals. 
 For the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico has 
 represented the only type of religion that many 
 of these people know. It is a truth that cannot be 
 denied that the Catholic Church has consistently 
 opposed the liberal movements for the making of 
 a new Mexico which I have been describing. Com- 
 ing into contact with a church that has stood 
 against the spread of social justice, these leaders 
 have turned from religion in disgust. And if we 
 cannot bring to these leaders a faith that will prove 
 a source of strength for their task of rebuilding 
 Mexico, then we dare not criticize their unbelief. 
 A Protestantism that fails to link itself with 
 the forces making for a new Mexico has little busi- 
 ness expending its money and its energy in the 
 country. 
 
 But Protestantism is linking itself to the new 
 Mexico. Protestant influence has been and re- 
 mains a beacon to guide the leaders of enlighten- 
 ment who are seeking to transform the mind and 
 the spirit of the people. Let me quote one trained 
 observer. Edward A. Ross, professor of sociology 
 at the University of Wisconsin, declares: 
 
 ‘*As one goes about visiting the public elemen- 
 tary schools, the eye lights upon much that is 
 depressing. Rooms ill lighted, tiled floors broken 
 and full of holes, bare splotched walls, poor black- 
 
 78 
 
Building a New Mevico 
 
 boards, no charts or teaching apparatus, three 
 children crowded into old-fashioned seats meant 
 for two, no playgrounds save the diminutive 
 paved patio, from forty to sixty pupils for one 
 teacher, exercises disturbed by noises from the 
 narrow, dark street... . I wondered whether it 
 would not be better to let them play all day out 
 on the hillside in the sun even though they grew up 
 illiterate... . 
 
 ‘*As one passes from such a school to an Amer- 
 ican mission school with skylights, bright, pic- 
 ture-hung walls, fine blackboards, gay charts, 
 good wooden floors, one desk to a child, and only 
 twenty to thirty children to a teacher, it is borne 
 in upon one what a service the missions are ren- 
 dering in holding before the Mexican masses an 
 example of what a school should be.’ 2 
 
 The Protestant missionary, according to Charles 
 A. Thomson, ‘‘has made a distinct contribution 
 to the functioning of political democracy in Mex- 
 ico. . . . His schools have also rendered excellent 
 service. They have built up a group which, es- 
 caping from the intellectual straight of author- 
 ity, is set free to think for itself. . . . The Prot- 
 estants in their struggle for individual religious 
 freedom may have been led to a keener apprecia- 
 tion of social and political freedom. Anyway, in 
 Mexico’s recent social revolution, 1911-1921, they 
 
 * Social Revolution in Mexico, The. E. A. Ross. pp. 157-158. 
 
 79 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 played a part out of all proportion to their num- 
 bers. ... The stimulation of social conscience, 
 the recognition of social responsibility,’’ is noted 
 as a further achievement of the missionary. ‘‘He 
 has proclaimed the responsibility of the fortunate 
 for the unfortunate.’’* 
 
 With all these constructive achievements, the 
 Evangelical work in Mexico is very limited; but 
 in every center where the Evangelical Movement 
 is represented, one finds new light, a changed com- 
 munity spirit, an unwillingness to be content with 
 the old darkness, and a determination to begin, at 
 home, the big job of uplifting the nation. 
 
 It is no easy business being a Protestant in 
 Mexico. Persecutions are not uncommon even 
 now. Within the last year stories that can 
 scarcely be denied have come from Mexico of the 
 treatment of Protestants at the hands of Roman 
 Catholics whose anger has been lashed by the fury 
 of the priest against the ‘‘unbelievers.’’ A young 
 lad in a village north of Mexico City was stoned 
 to death before the Catholic church by a crowd 
 that had just come from worship there. Two 
 other young Protestants near Puebla at about the 
 same time narrowly escaped death at the hands of 
 a priest-incited mob. In each case freedom was 
 promised if these young men would profess the 
 
 1“The Missionary from the U. S. A.” ©. A. Thomson. 
 Survey Graphic. May, 1924. 
 
 80 
 
Building a New Mexico 
 
 Oatholic faith. But another faith burned too 
 strongly in their lives to be thus snuffed out by 
 the fear of death. They preferred martyrdom to 
 the betrayal of their convictions. 
 
 If we believe, as a study of the facts will lead us 
 to believe, that Mexico cannot be remade without 
 the help of a vital religious force, then we can see 
 clearly that the courage of these Protestant be- 
 lievers constitutes the hope of the nation. Their 
 courage, their unselfishness, their belief in the es- | 
 tablishment of God’s kingdom in this very Mexico 
 where they are living, are filling a reservoir of 
 strength upon which the country must rely for its 
 rebuilding. 
 
 Here in the United States we are seldom called 
 upon to give reasons for the faith that is in us. 
 Even less often are we forced to show the courage 
 of our convictions. The price we pay for our 
 faith is a paltry sum. South of the Rio Grande 
 are men and women who today are facing death 
 as Christian pioneers. Dangers of that sort do 
 not assail us. We are so secure that we become 
 indifferent. But can our own faith survive if, 
 having found religious freedom, we fail to put all 
 that we possess at the disposal of those who are 
 still engaged in that bitter struggle? 
 
 81 
 
IV 
 Youth and the New Latin America 
 
 Hava pe LA Torre is a Peruvian. But he is not, 
 at present, living in Peru. He is still a university 
 student. But he has been exiled from his native 
 land. He is not a criminal. But he is President 
 of the Peruvian Student Federation, and as Pres- 
 ident of an organization so powerful he is a force 
 to be reckoned with. When the Student Federa- 
 tion spoke out in no uncertain terms against cer- 
 tain measures the Government had introduced, 
 things were made too hot for Haya de la Torre 
 and he was driven from the country. 
 
 It happened this way. The Government of 
 Peru, being strongly under Roman Catholic in- 
 fluence, announced one day that it was planning a 
 great ceremony to dedicate the Republic to the 
 Sacred Heart of Jesus. The students got wind 
 of this proposal. They opposed it. The Church 
 was opposing liberalism and reform, and they re- 
 fused to see their country thus acknowledge its 
 servitude to such an organization. 
 
 So Haya de la Torre and his assistants wrote 
 pamphlets. They outlined the influence of the 
 Church in Peru. They proclaimed that this was 
 a time to do away with religious and all other 
 autocracy. These pamphlets they secretly printed. 
 
 82 
 
Youth and the New Latin America 
 
 They concealed them on their persons and, of a 
 sudden, in many Peruvian cities, the pamphlets 
 made their appearance. 
 
 The people read them. The Government was 
 alarmed. But Haya de la Torre was not dis- 
 turbed. He organized a huge mass-meeting at 
 the University. The working-men, in close sym- 
 pathy with the students, joined in the affair. 
 When it was over, they all trooped out together 
 —to face the government soldiers. The soldiers 
 fired on the crowd. A student, a laborer, and a 
 policeman were killed. The soldiers rushed the 
 crowd. Haya de la Torre was captured. The 
 Government bought him a ticket and placed him 
 aboard a ship bound for Hamburg. 
 
 But Haya de la Torre was not so easily de- 
 ported. Before reaching Panama he had enlisted 
 passengers in his support. He landed at Panama. 
 From there he made his way to Cuba, where the 
 students hailed him with enthusiasm and made 
 him honorary President of the Cuban Student 
 Federation. From Cuba he went to Mexico where 
 the Minister of Education, Dr. Vasconcelos, gave 
 him a royal welcome. Haya de la Torre today 
 is the spokesman for the embattled youth of Latin 
 America. | 
 
 The fact that the spirit of Latin American youth 
 is mobilizing for action on the serious problems 
 confronting the continent is of very great im- 
 
 83 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 portance. We have already seen that the con- 
 quest of the New World was begun and carried 
 through by the spirit of youth. A little study 
 of history will indicate that great Reformations 
 or Renaissance movements are not initiated by 
 men long past their youth. Young people are 
 scoffed at and consigned to the antechamber of 
 things worth while and told to wait until, in the 
 fulness of maturity, they can safely be admitted 
 to the council rooms where the world’s real prob- 
 lems are threshed out. But it is a fact that can- 
 not be controverted that the world’s great deci- 
 sions have been made and its great movements 
 begun when youth has broken out of that ante- 
 chamber and into the audience room and aggres- 
 sively asserted its presence. So it is a matter 
 of great significance that the student youth of 
 Latin America is standing shoulder to shoul- 
 der in the fight to establish enlightenment and 
 democracy. 
 
 But when you talk about the student youth of 
 Latin America you include only a very small frac- 
 tion of the youth of these countries. No chain 
 has been so great a drag upon the new life of 
 Latin America as that of illiteracy. No amount 
 of religious superstition can provide a substitute 
 for mental enlightenment. And superstition, too 
 often, has held the place in these southern coun- 
 tries that education should have occupied. Augus- 
 
 84 
 
Youth and the New Latin America 
 
 tin Alvarez says, ‘‘South America lives by light- 
 ing candles to the saints in order to see who are 
 the ones to work the miracles, while it does not 
 kindle lights in the minds of the children in order 
 to illuminate the way.’’ 
 
 From the days of Spanish rule down to the 
 present period of Independence, education has 
 been under the almost exclusive control of the 
 Church. The Church, however, made little effort 
 to bring education to the masses. Those who 
 were supposed to represent superior ability—who 
 too often were identified because of their social 
 position and wealth—were given the benefits of 
 learning. Popular education was unheard of and, 
 when there arose new governments with the in- 
 terests of the people at heart, the old forces that 
 had sponsored the policy of exclusive enlighten- 
 ment lined up against the spread of learning. 
 
 In every Latin American country, therefore, 
 most of the individuals whom one meets in the 
 rural communities can neither read nor write. 
 Exception must be made, however, for Uruguay 
 and Argentina, where persistent educational cam- 
 paigns have lifted the literacy of the people to 
 approximately fifty per cent. If one goes into 
 a home—say, for instance, in the republic of 
 Colombia—there may be eight members in the 
 family. Of those eight individuals, father and 
 mother and six children, it might be possible to 
 
 85 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 find one who could write. For that in many 
 countries is about the average of literacy, one 
 literate to every seven illiterates. 
 
 In 1912, through all Latin America, only one 
 person in twenty of the population was in school. 
 In Germany, at that time, one person in six was 
 in school, and in Japan one in seven. A census 
 recently taken in a certain section of Brazil in- 
 dicated that out of three thousand people only 
 thirteen could sign their names. In Heuador, for 
 every pupil in a primary school there are two 
 thousand people not in school. In the educational 
 system of Kcuador there are no girls’ high schools 
 and only two girls in the entire republic are in 
 the University. 
 
 According to the rector of an Argentine uni- 
 versity : ‘‘Ten thousand persons do all the think- 
 ing and directing for the eight or nine million 
 Argentines. Consumers of French novels may 
 number one hundred thousand, but the readers of 
 serious, non-technical books are between two 
 thousand and four thousand.’’? 
 
 The city of New York, alone, spends more 
 money on its schools than do all of the govern- 
 ments of Latin America combined. Detroit ex- 
 pends more, each year, for night schools and play- 
 ground work than does the republic of Haiti on 
 its entire educational program. And in Cuba, 
 
 1 South America Today. 8. G. Inman. p. 43. 
 
 86 
 
Youth and the New Latin America 
 
 where the United States, in 1902, left a centralized 
 educational system, there has been a great de- 
 terioration in educational standards and in the 
 work that is actually being accomplished. The 
 United States, of course, has been at the job 
 longer than these countries—but even considering 
 that fact the contrast is significant. 
 
 The most aggressive force for the wiping of 
 this blot of illiteracy from the map of Latin 
 America at the present time is that of the stu- 
 dents, themselves. This, of course, was not al- 
 ways the case. For generations the students have 
 been recruited, for the most part, from the upper 
 classes of Latin American society. They have 
 always exerted a considerable influence in local 
 and state affairs. But this influence, up to very 
 recent times, has been on the side of reaction. 
 Young men in the universities have merely echoed 
 the disdain of their elders for democracy and ‘‘the 
 masses.’’ In 1910, for instance, in the streets of 
 Buenos Aires, students and workmen came into 
 open conflict. Many of the institutions of higher 
 learning were nothing more nor less than the pre- 
 serves of reaction. So long as they maintained 
 that point of view their influence for worth-while 
 developments stood at zero. 
 
 The World War worked some transformations, 
 however. The Latin American countries were not 
 actively engaged. They viewed the conflict from 
 
 87 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 afar. But its ideas reached them. And the ideals 
 for which we believed the War was being fought 
 caught the imagination of the youth of Latin 
 America—as of many other lands. The result has 
 been a complete transformation of student out- 
 look. Instead of opposing progress and standing 
 with reaction, the students now are probably the 
 most effective force for liberalism. 
 
 The customary method of expressing student 
 displeasure has been, from time immemorial, the 
 student strike. These strikes are always accom- 
 panied by great student demonstrations. In the 
 old, pre-war days, when the hand of the unchang- 
 ing old order still rested heavily upon the youth 
 of Latin America, these demonstrations revealed 
 the hatreds and jealousies and prejudices which 
 are the inevitable reflection of reaction. Great 
 banners were carried, and there were shouts of: 
 ‘‘Down with the Priests!’? and ‘‘Death to the 
 Foreigners!’’ But a new spirit—not of hatred 
 —dominates these demonstrations. And now, 
 parading through the city streets, the student 
 banners proclaim ‘‘Luz! Mas Luz!’ It is a rev- 
 olution in youth-outlook that has led these stu- 
 dents to demand ‘‘Light! More Light!’ It indi- 
 cates that a revolution in the whole Latin Ameri- 
 can outlook is in the making. 
 
 Instead of advocating and practising class con- 
 flict, the students have become in many places the 
 
 88 
 
Youth and the New Latin America 
 
 spokesmen of the laboring groups. In Argentina, 
 in fact, there is a student-labor movement. In 
 almost every phase of Argentine life the effects 
 of this movement are apparent. There have been 
 riots and strikes and some unfortunate incidents 
 have occurred. But, without minimizing the 
 seriousness of these things, it must be said that 
 no great social advance was ever made without 
 running into the face of opposition which made 
 such unfortunate incidents inevitable. 
 
 In July, 1919, following a series of student- 
 labor Beonsiitione the Argentine University 
 Federation was formed and a convention assem- 
 bled to study student problems. As a result of 
 this study there has been a significant revision 
 of the university system. There was a well- 
 founded feeling that the university professors 
 were not adapting their courses to the present | 
 world situation. Now the students have the op- 
 portunity to help in the election of professors. 
 
 Something of the significance of this rising tide 
 of student thought in Latin America is indicated 
 in the reports printed for the Montevideo Con- 
 ference, which declared that ‘‘as a phase of the 
 almost universal post-war youth movement ap- 
 pearing in Europe, North America, and the Orient, 
 the organized uprising of South American stu- 
 dents is a picturesque and prophetic expression 
 of a new creative will.’’ 
 
 89 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 ‘‘To be a man,’’ writes Ricardo Rojas, ‘‘means 
 to be able to point out with reflective clearness 
 the evils of our time, . . . to transmute one’s own 
 discontent into constructive energy through a con- 
 crete ideal of better things, . . . to unite, with a 
 manly will to work, a wing of hope.”’ 
 
 And the report continues with the statement: 
 
 ‘‘Thousands of students in the universities 
 of Argentina, Chile, Peru, and in other republics 
 have joined in an ‘idealistic fraternity’ which, 
 though not without extravagances, has been fired 
 by what one of its leaders calls ‘a noble dream 
 of transformation.’ The movement has decried 
 ‘parchment scholarship’ and demanded a regener- 
 ation of the whole system of higher education— 
 militaristic, materialistic, and ultra-nationalistic 
 —upon which, it is said, the older civilization, in- 
 cluding American democracy, has hitherto re- 
 posed. It declares itself in revolt against the 
 nationalistic sophism that the interests of the na- 
 tion, right or wrong, are superior to all morality. 
 Awake to the danger of purely utilitarian educa- 
 tion that may ‘extinguish the sacred fire of souls,’ 
 it calls for the cultivation of the spirit. Its fur- 
 ther watchwords are peace, brotherhood, human- 
 ity, international solidarity, and service. 
 
 ‘‘Disclaiming against the ‘atavistic warrior 
 spirit,’ the university men of Chile have issued a 
 manifesto declaring that they would never take 
 
 90 
 
Youth and the New Latin America 
 
 up arms against their Peruvian fellow-students.’’ 
 
 This movement, spreading to Mexico, has be- 
 come an international organization hailed by many 
 as the hope of the future. 
 
 Along other lines the work of these students is 
 constructive. In Peru, for example, they have 
 organized night classes for the working-men. 
 Five nights out of every week representatives of 
 the student organization at San Marcos Univer- 
 sity go out to teach from three hundred to seven 
 hundred workers who have never had educational 
 advantages. Students have been most active 
 among the educational missionaries sent out by 
 the Mexican Government to carry education to 
 the remote sections of the country. No other 
 group is so potent an influence in the development 
 of better understanding, not only among Latin 
 American nations, but between Latin America 
 and the United States. 
 
 When, a short time ago, it was proposed. to 
 hold an international congress of students in Mex- 
 ico, there were many observers who declared that 
 such a convention could never meet. Prejudices 
 —national, racial, and religions—were said to be 
 too strong to allow any such gathering. 
 
 But the congress did convene. Representatives 
 of twenty-three nations gathered there to consider 
 the problems among the students of the world. 
 The first resolution passed favored a World Asso- 
 
 91 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 ciation of Nations. Other resolutions looked to 
 ‘‘(1) the abolition of the present conception of 
 the state where the few rule the many; (2) the 
 destruction of the exploitation of man by man; 
 (3) the replacing of nationalism by international- 
 ism; (4) a continual optimism in regard to the 
 solution of the spiritual problems of the world 
 in spite of present difficulties.’? 2 
 
 According to a recent issue of the student mag- 
 azine of Uruguay, another student conference was 
 recently held in Piriapolis, which was attended 
 by youth representatives from Argentina, Bo- 
 livia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay. The 
 manifesto adopted by the conference declared, in 
 part: ‘‘Let us _revive the spirit of association 
 brought out in the previous conferences of Lima, 
 Santiago, Buenos Aires, and Montevideo, which 
 radiated the hope for a new era of progress; let 
 us work together more and more so that youth, 
 animated by the same principles, fortified by sim- 
 ilar ideals, and embracing a common cause, may 
 carry to our people a sane, noble, disinterested, 
 and altruistic message impelled by love for public 
 welfare and justice.’’ ? 
 
 Now it is very important to ask about the re- 
 ligious situation among these youthful leaders. 
 
 1 Quoted by 8. G. Inman in The Revolt of Youth. Stanley High. 
 . 106. 
 
 2 “The Mission of Pan-American Youth.” Philip Leonard Green. | 
 The World Tomorrow. November, 1924. 
 
 92 
 
f Youth and the New Ban America 
 
 And it is significant to know that, for the most 
 part, the intellectual younger generation of Latin’ 
 America is indifferent to religion or frankly athe- 
 istic. If these young people are atheistic or in- 
 different to religion, we can say that this attitude 
 has been forced upon them by the religion with 
 which they have been in contact. The Roman 
 Catholic Church, as I have already pointed out, 
 has consistently opposed political and social prog- 
 ress. Those among the younger leaders who have 
 stood for political and social progress have, of 
 course, incurred the most bitter opposition from 
 the powerful Church faction. Consequently, in 
 the minds of these young intellectuals, religion has 
 come to be synonymous with reaction, with the 
 hopeless old order, with the pall of superstition 
 and ignorance and injustice that it upheld. To 
 combat the Church has been the obligation of these 
 democratic leaders—if they ever expected their 
 democracy to triumph. That combat, it is only 
 fair to say, has been carried forward with a good 
 deal of intolerance. But, despite that intolerance, 
 one wonders how a liberal young Latin-American 
 could follow any course other than one of opposi- 
 tion to the old religious leadership. 
 Protestantism, not only in Latin America, but 
 around the world, is confronted with no more 
 serious problem than that of determining whether 
 its faith is to prove a source of spiritual strength 
 93 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 to the leaders of the new movements for social 
 and international justice; or whether it will pro- 
 vide merely a differently named, but no more 
 transforming set of dogmatisms than that which 
 went by the name of Christianity before the Ref- 
 ormation. It may appear, at first glance, that this 
 problem has been solved; that Protestantism al- 
 ready has declared itself, in unmistakable terms, 
 for a gospel that, while spiritually satisfying, can 
 be intellectually respectable and socially applied. 
 It is true that many leaders and groups of Protes- 
 tantism have so declared themselves on many spe- 
 cific questions. But, for the influence of religion 
 throughout the world, it would be a tragic blunder 
 to underestimate the power of those Protestant 
 agencies that even now devote themselves unceas- 
 ingly to the preaching, not of a way of life, but 
 of a certain set of absolutist doctrines. Such 
 agencies give confirmation to those atheistic and 
 religiously indifferent prophets of a new world 
 order who maintain that religion must be stamped 
 out before the world can be saved. 
 
 In Latin America, however, as well as in every 
 other country where Protestant work is being car- 
 ried on, greater proof is constantly being given 
 of the fact that religion can prove a bulwark for 
 the new structure of enlightenment that liberal 
 leaders are seeking to erect. To large numbers 
 of students, Protestantism presents an altogether 
 
 94 
 
Youth and the New Latin America 
 
 new religious phenomenon. Religion in terms of 
 spiritual experience, education, and social service, 
 as well as in terms of individual conduct, is not 
 religion as they have known it. Protestantism, 
 by virtue of standing for these things, is coming 
 to exert a rapidly increasing influence in the life 
 of Latin America—an influence greater than could 
 be ascertained by a statistical study of Protestant 
 strength. 
 
 It was in the middle of the last century that 
 Protestant mission schools were started in Latin 
 America. This was before belief in popular edu- 
 cation had made headway among Latin American 
 peoples. The masses were believed to have been 
 destined for permanent exclusion from all the op- 
 portunities which education opens up. But the 
 missionaries came combating this belief. They 
 proved that it was unfounded. Small mission 
 schools, established in the face of the most bitter 
 opposition, reached out for and found the common 
 people. 
 
 Yor the first time in recent history religion was 
 seen in terms of education. And the educational 
 work which the missionaries introduced was 
 aimed not only against illiteracy. Lessons in hy- 
 giene were given; domestic science was taught; 
 on a small seale agricultural sciences and manual 
 training were introduced. Christianity out of a 
 real religiots experience began to be a matter of 
 
 95 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 cleaner homes, better farms, happier and more 
 intelligent Families, 
 
 Now if you were to travel through Latin Ahew 
 ica you would find this work of Christian educa- 
 tional pioneering still going forward. There are 
 great schools—many of them—in the cities of the 
 South. No finer school, perhaps, exists in Latin 
 America than MacKenzie College in the Brazilian 
 city of Sao Paulo. MacKenzie College is inter- 
 denominational. The faculty is made up of men 
 and women of many nationalities. There are arts 
 courses, and there are technical schools. There 
 is a school of engineering, and a school of com- 
 merce, as well as a preparatory school. The Bra- 
 zilian Government looks to MacKenzie College 
 for engineers in its great building and mining 
 enterprises. Business men of Brazil have a con- 
 fidence in the graduates from the MacKenzie Col- 
 lege school of commerce. And out from all the 
 branches of the college are going young men and 
 young women with a new life outlook, fitted by 
 their Christian training to be the leaders of the 
 new Brazil. 
 
 A new standard of education for women has 
 been established largely through the efforts of 
 these Evangelical workers. Education, as I have 
 pointed out, was not considered of any avail for 
 the masses in the old predemocratic days of Latin 
 America. And, most positive of all, was the con- 
 
 96 
 
 ee ns 
 

 
 
 
 Courtesy Board of Foreign Missions, Methodist Episcopal Church 
 
 &» 
 SoutH AMERICAN INDUSTRIES 
 
 ABOVE, IS A GLIMPSE OF GRAIN ELEVATORS WHERE TONS OF 
 
 WHEAT ARE STORED AWAITING SHIPMENT TO ALL PARTS OF THE 
 
 WORLD. BELOW, ARE BAGS OF COFFEE PILED ON A BRAZILIAN 
 DOCK READY TO BE LOADED ONTO OUTGOING STEAMERS. 
 
‘VOIHANV HLOAOS NI DNIACTING ALISHAAINA ; 
 ALVIS V JO ALOVAd GNV AZIS AHL JO AIA WVXH GOOD V ST SINL 
 
 ODVILNVS ‘ATIHO HO ALISUMAIN() 
 
 ensetiRepeneenc ie 
 
 0! 
 
 
 
Youth and the New Latin America 
 
 viction that education for women was both un- 
 desirable and futile. The Evangelical missionaries 
 came bringing a new gospel of the place of woman- 
 hood. And they gave demonstration of that new 
 gospel by establishing girls’ schools—where the 
 girls more than proved their fitness for education. 
 
 Schools for girls are now scattered throughout 
 Latin America. And a new womanhood is aris- 
 ing. If you were to visit Crandon Institute in 
 Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, you would 
 find there under the influence of Evangelical mis- 
 sionaries the daughters of many of the most prom- 
 inent families of the country. Last year, for ex- 
 ample, among the students were the nieces of the 
 President of Uruguay, the daughters of senators 
 and leading professional and business men. 
 
 At Lavras, Brazil, the Escuela Agricola reaches 
 a different type of young people. As at all these 
 schools, religion is a distinctly seven-days-a-week 
 proposition. It is tied up to industrial training. 
 There is a fair-sized school farm and many stu- 
 dents who are unable to pay for their schooling 
 work out their tuition in this industrial-agricultu- 
 ral way. Such work on the school farm not only 
 helps to meet the expenses of the student, but 
 when he has finished his course of study he is 
 fitted with a general education and also has been 
 prepared to take his place more successfully in 
 the community where he will earn his living. 
 
 O7 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 And the people of Latin America—particularly 
 the common people—realize that this new gospel 
 of enlightenment is for them; that its purpose 
 is to strike off the chains which, for centuries, 
 have bound them. 
 
 Teotlalcingo is a little Mexican village, with a 
 Protestant church and a native Mexican preacher. 
 Along with the church, of course, there was a 
 school. But the number of pupils in attendance 
 soon outgrew the room provided, and the pastor 
 realized that a new schoolroom would have to be 
 built. He called the men of the community to- 
 gether and they agreed that in some way they 
 must get a new schoolroom. 
 
 ‘‘T shall write to the Mission Board for funds,’’ 
 said the pastor. 
 
 But the men of the church declared: ‘‘No, we 
 are children no longer. We have learned to do 
 things for ourselves. We can build our own 
 school.’’ 
 
 And build it they did. So now at Teotlalcingo 
 a beautiful new schoolroom stands as a monument 
 to the devotion of that little community to the 
 ideals for which the missionary stands. 
 
 This Mexican village school is no longer an 
 unusual institution. Up and down through Latin 
 America, wherever the missionary has gone, there 
 have sprung up kindergartens, schools, dispen- 
 
 98 
 
Youth and the New Latin America 
 
 Saries, industrial missions, churches. Men and 
 women and boys and girls have caught a vision 
 of the light that shines in the missionary’s eyes; 
 they have learned of a Great Master whom he 
 follows. And from the day the missionary passed 
 along, a new world of hope and happiness has 
 come to supplant the misery and superstition and 
 the dull ignorance from which, before, there 
 seemed no avenue of escape. 
 
 No other influence introduced by the Evangeli- 
 cals into Latin America has a more important 
 bearing upon the youth of Latin America’s next 
 generation than the Sunday school. Now a Sun- 
 day school in Latin America may mean anything 
 from a group of eight or ten children gathered 
 in a corner of an open courtyard or squatting on 
 the dirt floor of some peon’s hut, to a well-organ- 
 ized school of as many as a thousand children, 
 youth, and adults divided into departments and 
 efficiently administered and instructed. The far 
 greater number of the schools are of the more 
 primitive type. But in all of them the purpose is 
 the same—the instruction of the young in those 
 ideals whick Christ represented, in order that to- 
 morrow, when they constitute the leaders of the 
 nation, the Christ message will be made supreme. 
 
 And out of these Sunday schools consecrated 
 boys and girls are going—who are still of high- 
 
 99 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 school age—as young pioneers to open up new 
 schools and begin the work of educating a Chris- 
 tian generation of youth. 
 
 Not only in the Sunday schools but also in the 
 young people’s societies throughout Latin Amer- 
 ica, youth is finding an opportunity to give prac- 
 tical expression to its vision. The weekly young 
 people’s meetings do not end with Bible study. 
 Very often they constitute planning centers from 
 which a very definite social work may be carried 
 on. Bible study-rooms are maintained; there are 
 hospital and jail visitations; Christmas dinners 
 for the poor; night classes for those who cannot 
 attend day-school. In a great number of ways 
 the young people, in the church, are demonstrat- 
 ing their determination—with those outside the 
 church—to work for the upbuilding of Latin 
 America. And with this church group, the center 
 and organizing power of their work is found in 
 the person of Christ. 
 
 Only a small fraction of the people of Latin 
 America have professed the Evangelical faith. 
 But from a numerically insignificant minority an 
 influence has gone forth that alone furnishes a 
 basis for the conviction that the new democracies 
 of the South will build into their foundations a 
 spiritual strength without which the building it- 
 self will have been in vain. Latin American youth 
 —assaulting the ramparts of reaction and selfish 
 
 100 
 
Youth and the New Latin America 
 
 prejudice—are the heroes of a great crusade. 
 The force of Protestantism is engaged in the same 
 crusade. Soon or late, their victory is certain. 
 Over the ruined walls of the old order the banners 
 of ‘Lue! Mas Luz!’’ will be unfurled. It is the 
 Protestant opportunity to stand finally in the 
 council of the victors as representative of the 
 spiritual rebirth of Latin America. 
 
 101 
 
V 
 Sevioras and Seforitas of the South 
 
 Ir you were to travel up through the gardens 
 of yellow poppies that furnish a golden border to 
 the Chilean city of Valparaiso, up through fra- 
 grant peach orchards toward the Andes, to the city 
 of Santiago, you would find unmistakable evidence 
 of a woman-run revolution. Santiago is an old 
 city. It is a conservative city—or was, until the 
 women took a hand. Its Spanish buildings dat- 
 ing from the days of conquest three centuries ago 
 have an Old World beauty. The women of San- 
 tiago, too, are beautiful. And they do things 
 after their own fashion. 
 
 One story will illustrate what I mean. An 
 American woman who knew well the conventional 
 ways of the women of Latin America was visit- 
 ing in Santiago. She paused one day at the cor- 
 ner of Compania and Ahumada, two busy streets, 
 to admire the beauty of the women who passed. 
 
 ‘‘A queenly matron,’’ so the story goes, ‘‘who 
 might have been thirty, faultlessly gowned, came 
 towards us. I watched her as she neared the cor- 
 ner, where men occupied every inch of the side- 
 walk. I waited to see if she would step aside. 
 She did not. When she reached the blockade, 
 she flashed alluring eyes and with a smile said, 
 
 102 
 
Senoras and Senoritas of the South 
 
 ‘Permiso!’ The men fell to right and left, and 
 she strode majestically past. This performance 
 was repeated many times. The magic word ‘Per- 
 miso’ gave woman the right of way on the narrow 
 sidewalks. There was nothing humble about the 
 Chilean woman.’’ * 
 
 So many things are done differently in Latin 
 America from what we are accustomed to. By 
 that it is not meant, necessarily, that they are less 
 well done. For example, if you were a young 
 person—say from sixteen to twenty-three years 
 of age—and had lived all your life in the North 
 and suddenly found yourself transported to one 
 of these southern republics, what would be some 
 of these differences that would be difficult to ac- 
 custom yourself to? You would find it perplexing 
 to stumble from English into Spanish. The food, 
 perhaps, would not all be to your cereal-for-break- 
 fast iking. Neckties with the right stripes might 
 be hard to find. And the barbers might not know 
 the intricate art of shingle bobbing. 
 
 But of all the differing customs in the way of 
 living none would be so noticeable as those which 
 relate to home life. If, as an exuberant American 
 youth, you should set forth to make the acquaint- 
 ance of some attractive Latin American young 
 lady, obstacles many and difficult would be thrown 
 
 1 Men, Maidens and Mantillas. Stella Burke May. 
 
 103 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 into your path. Here in the North, of course, 
 there are introductions and introductions. No- 
 where is American democracy more apparent than 
 in the manner in which young men become ac- 
 quainted with young women, or vice versa. That, 
 perhaps, is as it should be. But it cannot be denied 
 that both our system and that of our Latin Ameri- 
 can neighbors have their dangers. The greater 
 freedom between young men and young women 
 may lead to the excesses of jazzmania, as it fre- 
 quently does in the North. But what good friend- 
 ships would be lost if, every time we were on 
 the verge of an acquaintance, custom would step 
 in and decree that—before a word is spoken— 
 we must rush home, forthwith, produce the fam- 
 ily credentials, get them properly viséed by 
 the proper family officials and—after intermina- 
 ble negotiations between the family diplomats— 
 finally, with proper chaperonage, be ushered into 
 each other’s presence, there to bow and curtsy 
 like a couple of figures in a medieval painting! 
 With some modifications, however, that is pre- 
 cisely the process through which we would be 
 obliged to go if we lived in Latin America. Tt 
 is a necessity to have always on hand a good 
 family and a birth certificate. As soon as a girl 
 is born, a hedge is built about her and ghe is 
 reared to womanhood behind it. The boys are not 
 so unfortunate. They are allowed the freedom 
 104 
 
Senoras and Sefioritas of the South 
 
 of the city—so to speak. But not the girls. For- 
 bidding iron gratings guard the windows of the 
 old homes in many Latin American countries. 
 These gratings are symbolic of the seclusion in 
 which, from time immemorial, the women of Latin 
 America have been kept. Young ladies seldom 
 venture on the streets alone. When they go forth, 
 they are under careful chaperonage. Even though 
 a young lady is betrothed, she never appears on 
 the street in company with her fiancé unless an 
 elder guardian is along as well. 
 
 Imagine the young men and women of the North 
 under such handicaps! 
 
 Men rule supreme in the social life of Latin 
 America. The world, including woman, was built 
 for man, if one were to judge by these customs. 
 Men are the masters of all of life. And whenever 
 a woman of these southern nations ventures out 
 from behind the hedges of convention to assert 
 her rights, she realizes, in advance, that she must 
 _ face the ridicule and the persecution of those who 
 believe in the maintenance of a permanent male 
 supremacy. 
 
 The womanhood of Latin America, of course, 
 has her great realm within the home. And beau- 
 tiful homes these women build around their own 
 faith, self-sacrifice, and devotion. Hiveryone takes 
 it for granted that the mother will be the em- 
 bodiment of all the high virtues associated with 
 
 105 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 family life. But there are few who dare question 
 the man of the household regarding the virtues 
 that he embodies. And as for equal rights and 
 obligations between men and women, there have 
 been, up to the most recent times, but very few 
 to assert them. 
 
 This seclusion of womanhood in Latin America 
 has resulted in serious evils, just as the freedom 
 in the North has resulted in evils. But it is an 
 undeniable fact that when men are left alone and 
 their acts are not subjected to feminine criticism, 
 they are quite likely to fall into habits of living 
 and attitudes toward life that are not of the best. 
 Thus, in Latin America, when a man steps be- 
 yond the threshold of his own home, he enters 
 a different world—one in which he is the supreme 
 dictator. As a result, in that outer world, be- 
 yond all feminine influence, standards—political, 
 economic, and social—have been set up that could 
 never have been established had women been given 
 a voice in the direction of affairs. 
 
 It is easy enough, of course, for us to criticize 
 Latin Americans because of this double standard. 
 It is not so easy to prove that even in the United 
 States and in Canada we are not living, in re- 
 gard to many matters, under a similar double 
 standard. No questions may be asked about the 
 infidelity of a man toward his wife and family, 
 in many places in Latin America. The infidelity 
 
 106 
 
Seftoras and Sentioritas of the South 
 
 of a wife to her husband and family—that is al- 
 Ways punished. Precisely the same situation is 
 widespread in the United States. How many men 
 there are who, unhesitatingly, criticize a woman, 
 but never submit to criticism for their own similar 
 actions and never realize the hypocrisy of their 
 point of view! 
 
 But, while recognizing that double-standard im- 
 morality is not by any means confined to any 
 single country, the fact of widespread licentious- 
 ness and loose living in Latin America cannot 
 be overlooked. The most superficial contact with 
 the men of these countries brings one face to face 
 with the realization that they are governed by 
 different ideas of morality from those accepted 
 as the North American basis of decency. It is 
 not that we can afford to assume a holier-than- 
 thou attitude. We cannot. America’s sinning is 
 too widespread and it is too grievous to allow 
 that. 
 
 But to enter a South American city and, of an 
 afternoon, walk down the boulevards, or to stand 
 at evening and watch the surface life of the city 
 is to be impressed with a languid looseness that, 
 too often, is confirmed when one penetrates deeper 
 into actual conditions. Men who isolate their 
 wives and daughters from all free contact with 
 the world do not deny their own immorality. 
 While they talk about the sanctity of womanhood, 
 
 107 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 many of them live in a manner that gives the lie 
 to their chivalrous prattle. 
 
 The result of all this has been accentuated by 
 the fact that, in many places, the Roman Catholic 
 Church puts almost impossible economic barriers 
 in the way of those among the poorer classes who 
 would marry. A legal marriage—sanctioned by 
 the Church—is frequently made almost prohibi- 
 tively expensive. Consequently, many of those 
 whose incomes are limited make no pretense about 
 marriage at all. Under these conditions illegiti- 
 mate children are born; little responsibility is felt 
 for their care; the fundamental ideals of the home 
 are shaken; and the community itself suffers a 
 degree of degradation. 
 
 This situation exists today as a hang-over from 
 the past. But there is a real promise for a differ- 
 ent sort of tomorrow. There are revolutions in 
 process in Latin America—many of them. And 
 one of the most startling is the feminist move- 
 ment. Because it is working to tear down the 
 superficial hedges around womanhood and build 
 up new standards of living for both men and 
 women, this is one of the most significant of these 
 revolutions. 
 
 In Chile, to be sure, women have been admitted 
 to the universities for fifty years. There are some 
 forty-nine schools, or Liceos, for girls, under the 
 exclusive jurisdiction of women. There are, more- 
 
 108 
 
Sefioras and Seforitas of the South 
 
 over, two professional girls’ schools in Santiago 
 and one in each province. At the present time 
 there are over a thousand girls attending the 
 University of Chile. And a keener, more wide- 
 awake crowd it would be difficult to find in any 
 eity of the world. 
 
 Sharing these educational advantages has de- 
 veloped self-reliance in the women of Chile—as 
 it is developing self-reliance in the women of all 
 Latin America. The mere fact that a man is a 
 man proves nothing to these women of Latin 
 America’s new day. And it is becoming increas- 
 ingly true there, as in other parts of the world, 
 that no public question—certainly no private one 
 —is ever settled until the voice of woman has 
 been heard upon it. 
 
 A visit to the Club de Sefioras in Santiago 
 would serve to make that fact very clear. The 
 Club de Sefioras is an organization similar to a 
 woman’s club in a North American city. But 
 when this club was started in Santiago, woman’s 
 rights—outside the home—were unheard of. 
 There was plenty of opposition to the idea of 
 this expression of woman’s independence. The 
 men, of course, were dumfounded at the proposal. 
 The newspapers, many of them, openly fought 
 the undertaking. 
 
 ‘‘You are attacking the foundations of the 
 home,’’ said the papers. 
 
 109 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 ‘<The foundations of the home will be stronger 
 if women broaden their own foundations of in- 
 terest,’’ replied the women. 
 
 The opposition continued. So did the women. 
 A. clubroom was secured. Invitations to an open 
 meeting were issued. The men came with the 
 women. And both men and women have been 
 coming ever since. Art, literature, science, the 
 problems of politics and of economics—all of these 
 things come in for serious study at the Club de 
 Senoras. And as a result, the cultured women of 
 the higher class in Santiago have become a potent 
 influence for good. 
 
 Another woman’s organization in Santiago is 
 the Centro Feminino de Estudio. This is a club 
 of amore practical sort. Girls are taught sewing, 
 millinery, and cooking. Other clubs, with mem- 
 berships drawn from various social groups, have 
 been established, and in all of them the voice 
 of a new womanhood is speaking. And, to revert 
 to the story at the beginning of this chapter, 
 Chilean women can walk down the busiest streets, 
 refuse to be pushed from the sidewalk by self- 
 centered men, and maintain their dignity with a 
 kind but convincing ‘‘Permiso!’’ 
 
 It is not alone in Chile that the women have 
 spoken out in meeting and made their influence 
 felt. Throughout all Latin America there is a 
 
 110 
 
Senoras and Senoritas of the Sowth 
 
 restless stirring; a discontent with the code that 
 consigns women to a position of domestic servi- 
 tude. Particularly is this movement having an 
 effect upon those women who are obliged to work 
 in industry. In Latin America, as in many other 
 countries, the United States and Canada included, 
 it has been difficult for women to secure equal 
 wages with men for the same work. In the Ar- 
 Ae MEN where there is a powerful Socialist work- 
 ers’ party, the women are openly agitating a pro- 
 gram that calls for: 
 
 1. The repeal of all laws which establish a 
 difference between the two sexes and legislate 
 against woman, in order that the latter be no 
 longer the weakling which she is today before the 
 law. 
 
 2. The right of woman to hold public office and 
 especially to be a member of any National and 
 Regional Council on Education. 
 
 3. The establishment of special courts for chil- 
 dren and women. 
 
 4, The passing of laws for the protection of 
 maternity and for making legitimate all the chil- 
 dren that are born. 
 
 5. The abolition of legal prostitution and the 
 establishment of the white life for both. 
 
 6. An equality of wages. 
 
 7. HKqual political rights.* 
 
 1South America Today. 8S. G. Inman. p. 31. 
 
 111 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 For a unique piece of constructive work I com- 
 mend the achievements of the Consejo Nacional 
 de Mujeres in Buenos Aires. Its representatives 
 attended a conference of the International Coun- 
 cil of Women in the United States in 1925. They 
 have been doing pioneer work for world peace 
 and this they presented at the convention. This 
 organization has undertaken a study of the work 
 of women in other lands with a view to adapting 
 that work to the needs of the Argentine. But 
 that is not all. Buenos Aires is a very popular 
 city. Everybody in Argentina wants to live in 
 the capital city. And a good many do. Conse- 
 quently, the city is overcrowded and rents are 
 atrociously high. The women of the Consejo 
 Nacional de Mujeres are undertaking to better 
 this situation. Further than that, they are open- 
 ing up to women work formerly done by men. 
 Imagine a city where typists, secretaries, libra- 
 rians, school-teachers were almost entirely men. 
 And if you go into a store in Buenos Aires and 
 seek to buy women’s wear—veils, lingerie, stock- 
 ings—you will doubtless be obliged to buy from 
 a man. 
 
 These are women’s jobs, it is now maintained. 
 An organized drive is being made to get the men 
 into masculine occupations and to find for the 
 women work for which they are suited. This 
 may sound like a very trivial undertaking. But 
 
 112 
 
GDaTION NOISSIPL V JO ANID ANVNALIT STUN - 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 ie a 
 
 
 
 COLLEGE ATHLETICS 
 
 ABOVE, IS THE START OF THE 400-YARD DASH AT THE TRACK 
 MEET CF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE, BUENOS AIRES. BELOW, IS 
 Tk FOOTBALL TEAM OF GRANBERY COLLEGE, BRAZIL. 
 
 
 
Senoras and Sefioritas of the South 
 
 there is nothing trivial about it. The fundamental 
 question of woman’s rights and the even more 
 important question of woman’s opportunity are 
 at stake in this attempt to fit the women who must 
 work into their rightful places in the economic 
 organization of the community. 
 
 And when you realize that in Argentina, accord- 
 ing to a report in 1914, out of every eight children 
 who are born, one does not live to be two years 
 of age,—or, in other words, that 43,800 children 
 less than two years of age die every year,—it be- 
 comes clear enough that the job which these 
 women reformers have cut out for themselves is 
 a big one. It should be pointed out, however, that 
 this infant mortality is due almost exclusively to 
 rural and not to urban conditions. In the city 
 of Buenos Aires, for instance, in 1919 fewer 
 babies under one year of age died than in the 
 city of Chicago. In Buenos Aires, recently, the 
 fourth annual Baby Week was held under the 
 auspices of the Club de Madres. The Government 
 and the leading merchants of the city cooperated. 
 Charts, photographs, lectures, and clinics all com- 
 bined to bring before the motherhood of the city 
 its responsibility and to demonstrate intelligent 
 methods for meeting this adequately. 
 
 It is among the women, also, that the temper- 
 ance movement in Latin America has made the 
 most rapid headway. There is no question about 
 
 113 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 the need for a strong temperance movement. 
 Alcohol exacts a heavy toll from the life of Latin 
 American peoples every year. No curse rests 
 more heavily upon them than that of strong 
 drink. Asin every other country where the move- 
 ment toward prohibition has made headway, the 
 women are in the vanguard. 
 
 So important has the work for temperance be- 
 come among the women of Buenos Aires that, 
 with the aid of some organization of North 
 America, a temperance building is soon to be 
 erected in the center of the city. The head- 
 quarters of the Continental Temperance Society 
 is in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. The 
 headway that this movement is making is indi- 
 cated by the recent visit to Latin America of 
 Miss Anna Gordon, President of the Woman’s 
 Christian Temperance Union of North America. 
 Not only did the most prominent women join in 
 the reception to Miss Gordon, but also the most 
 prominent men, including the President of almost 
 every country she visited. In the great mass 
 meeting in Buenos Aires the Bishops of the 
 Roman Catholic Church and the Methodist Hpis- 
 copal Church united on the same platform in a 
 pledge of support to the cause of temperance. 
 
 In addition to these economic and social ad- 
 vances, women are entering the field of sport. It 
 is not recorded that they have as yet become so 
 
 114 
 
Seforas and Seforitas of the South 
 
 active as their sisters in the communities of the 
 North, but their handicap was very great. For 
 a long time any participation by women in games 
 was viewed with scorn. Then, during another 
 period, only the daughters of the wealthy could 
 afford the leisure and the trappings necessary for 
 these pleasures. Of late, however, playgrounds 
 have been established in many cities. Y.W.C.A. 
 gymnasiums have been opened. Some of the more 
 courageous young women have taken part, pub- 
 licly, in sporting events. All of this indicates, 
 merely, that a beginning has been made. It is 
 as yet no more than a beginning. 
 
 I have described the activities of the most ad- 
 vanced among the women. The vast majority, 
 however, are still under the pall of superstition 
 and of a medieval social code. South America 
 is the only continent on which not a single woman 
 enjoys the right to vote. A long, hard road lies 
 ahead of these pioneers who are determined to 
 advance until the womanhood of Latin America 
 can stand abreast of the womanhood of the 
 North. 
 
 With these advancing hosts of Latin American 
 women, there march a great many members of 
 Evangelical churches. The influence of the Evan- 
 gelicals is on the side of enlightenment, of equal 
 standards of morality, and of those democratic 
 developments for which the most far-sighted 
 
 115 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 women are working. Thus Protestantism is one 
 of the mighty forces in Latin America for the 
 emancipation of womanhood. 
 
 To enter into the average Y.W.C.A. building 
 in any of the countries of the South is to cross 
 the portals into a new kingdom—a kingdom where 
 woman is supreme, and where the finest qualities 
 of womanhood are given first consideration. In 
 1920 the Y.W.C.A. opened its headquarters in 
 Rio de Janeiro. Before the building was fully 
 ready, eight hundred members were enroled. By 
 the end of 1922 membership had reached about 
 a thousand, representing young women of twenty- 
 seven nationalities, of nineteen religious beliefs, 
 and of forty occupations. Camp Fire girls, Bible 
 study groups, vocational courses, gymnasium 
 classes—through these and many other channels 
 of approach the Y.W.C.A. in Rio—as in other 
 Latin American cities—is helping young women 
 toward gaining a new outlook and a new life 
 usefulness. 
 
 One of the most astonishing things about this 
 work among women is the fact that all of the 
 schools for young women are crowded to capacity. 
 On every hand the women are demanding educa- 
 tion. At Crandon Institute, for instance, it was 
 thought that the new buildings provided for the 
 future. But they were quickly filled. Almost 
 every girls’ school in Latin America turns away 
 
 116 
 
Sefioras and Seiioritas of the South 
 
 applicants every year. Parents who are not Prot- 
 estant send their girls to the missionary schools 
 because of the kind of ideals that these schools 
 are known to represent. 
 
 This interest in education extends to the field 
 of sports. In Lima, recently, the girls of some 
 of the most aristocratic families put on an open- 
 air demonstration of gymnasium work that as- 
 tonished the exponents of social reaction. Women 
 are taking an active interest in golf and tennis 
 and are competing for places on the women’s 
 Olympic teams. 
 
 The report of one young American woman sent 
 out to work with the girls of Latin America in- 
 dicates how this seed of new understanding is 
 being sown. ‘This particular young lady was 
 asked to deliver a series of lectures on sociologi- 
 cal questions to the students of a certain univer- 
 sity. The themes were chosen and the dates set. 
 When the first lecture was to begin, however, 
 there were no lights for the auditorium, and no 
 lights could be found. The lecture and the series 
 were called off. Roman Catholic political influ- 
 ence was said to have intervened to block the 
 presentation to the young college girls of the ad- 
 vanced ideas of this young Protestant. 
 
 A little later this same young lady was asked 
 to speak to two hundred girls of the Normal 
 School but, to avoid difficulties, the woman in 
 
 117 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 charge of the meeting declared that she would 
 not tell the students who she was. 
 
 The report continues: ‘‘During August I had 
 a weekly Bible class at the Y.W.C.A. on the fun- 
 damentals of faith. We used Catholic Bibles, © 
 and the discussions were most interesting and 
 illuminating. Request has been made that these 
 classes be continued as regular Bible study in © 
 October. For six weeks in July and August I 
 taught the Book of Hebrews to a group at the 
 Bible Institute.... Since July I have had 
 charge of the Infant Department in the Redemp- 
 tor Sunday school. I have acted as President of 
 the Presbyterian Woman’s National League and 
 of the Spanish Club.’’ 
 
 So it goes. A consecrated woman in a great 
 city gathers about her a little group of girls, in- 
 structing them, understanding them, leading them 
 out, until they are fitted to enter other communi- 
 ties and there become the radiating centers for a 
 wholly new life for young and old alike. When 
 one considers how wide the field is, it is apparent 
 that Christian workers are tragically few. But 
 one consecrated woman, touching the lives with 
 whom she comes into daily contact can multiply 
 her influence until, with an increasing force, the 
 ideals represented by the gospel of Christ will 
 advance to find acceptance in the individual and 
 community life of these southern countries. 
 
 118 
 
Sefioras and Seforitas of the South 
 
 In other ways the influence of Protestantism is 
 touching the life of South American womanhood. 
 In the Campanito district of Chile, Mrs. John F. 
 Jarrett, for twelve years, has carried on with her 
 medical skill, in the name of Christian service. 
 Her story is one of conquest—a conquest even 
 more inspiring, perhaps, than that on which 
 Columbus and Martino Sanchez embarked at the 
 end of the fifteenth century. 
 
 ‘‘H'rom the early beginnings of the work in the 
 Campanito district,’? Mrs. Jarrett writes, ‘‘when 
 people came in every Sunday from miles around, 
 some on foot, some on burros, some on the shoul- 
 ders of friends and relatives, I feel confident that 
 fruit has been borne, even though tradition and 
 age-long habit of mind have not permitted the 
 people to make open and united acknowledgment 
 of their Savior.’’ 
 
 Many stories have been told of this Christian 
 work for the women of Latin America. One more 
 needs to be told here. This is a very common- 
 place sort of story. Its scene is in Peru—in a 
 girls’ school in Lima. The Lima High School 
 is not particularly distinctive, perhaps, among 
 missionary schools for girls. There are many 
 such institutions in Latin America. So when you 
 read this story, as it is told by another, just 
 realize that, in other countries of the South, 
 other schools are training girls like Hudosia to 
 
 119 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 Christian womanhood. So the story reaches us: 
 ‘‘Saturday morning in the Lima High School 
 —Saturday morning filled with the tasks of home 
 and non-academic duties and in the internado 
 of twelve laughing girls, each one had her special 
 chore. While I sat at my desk writing, I smiled 
 in amusement as I caught snatches of their girl- 
 ish bantering. Presently above the trill of laugh- 
 ter and the clatter of porcelain pitchers and bowls 
 in the adjoining bathroom, there came a song, 
 ‘Thou my everlasting portion, more than friend 
 or life to me.’ It was Eudosia who sang. A 
 child happy and beautiful, filled by a love beyond 
 her dreaming, Hudosia with a voice of youth and 
 springtime sang with notes of clearness and in- 
 effable tenderness to the end, ‘Then the gate of 
 life eternal, may I enter, Lord, with thee.’ 
 ‘“T'wo years ago, Eudosia and her sister, Ama- 
 bilia, came to us from their father’s large ha- 
 cienda. There many Indians and slave-girls had 
 answered their every whim. The contrast was 
 great and the adjustment rather difficult when the 
 heiresses of vast haciendas and rich silver mines 
 were placed without maid or servant in a school 
 where daily chores of bed-making, sweeping, dust- 
 ing, and care of the dormitories and bathroom 
 were a part of the daily curriculum. At first, 
 there were storms of passion with the stamping 
 of small feet and bursts of uncontrolled weep- 
 120 
 
Senoras and Seforitas of the South 
 
 ing; then, fits of sulkiness when the set of the 
 pretty mouth and toss of the head said only too 
 plainly, ‘I won’t do it!’ But time and associa- 
 tion alleviated the horrors, and today Eudosia 
 with a smile on her lips and a song in her heart 
 wants to do her part. | 
 
 ‘“While I have been recounting this little meas- 
 ure of progress, she has passed from one grand 
 old hymn to another without a false note or fal- 
 tering word—‘ Jesus calls us o’er the tumult’ and 
 ‘Glorious things of thee are spoken.’ Then it was, 
 ‘O Jesus, I have promised,’ and ‘O Master, let 
 me walk with Thee.’ Now, above the intensity 
 of her scouring, the faintest whisper sounds, and 
 like an echo transmuted in super-air the message 
 of her new life bursts forth—‘There is sunshine 
 in my soul today!’ ’’? 
 
 Thus a new womanhood is coming to these south- 
 ern republics. It is coming because the spirit of 
 the Man who was the Son of God is finding rep- 
 resentatives among courageous men and women 
 who are giving of themselves—ag He gave Him- 
 self—in order that darkened streets may be made 
 light; and filthy homes made pure; and wretched 
 people shown the light; and selfish people, who 
 have wealth and power, brought to know the obli- 
 gation and the joy of Christian service. 
 
 1“A Bit of Spanish Shawl.” Martha C. Hartman. A leaflet 
 published by the Woman’s Foreign Mission Society of the Meth-. 
 odist Episcopal Church, Boston. Price, 8 cents. 
 
 121 
 
VI 
 Indians of Latin America 
 
 We have seen a good bit of Latin America along 
 the boulevards. We have gone through the wide 
 thoroughfares of the hustling, crowded cities of 
 the South and out into quiet roads to the gar- 
 dened countrysides surrounding them. We have 
 found our way to a vantage point from which 
 we have watched the new tides of life and thought 
 that are flowing along the streets of these south- 
 ern nations. While we looked on, the walls of 
 prejudice and caste that surrounded the old uni- 
 versities have begun to crumble away under the 
 assaults of youthful crusaders out to make learn- 
 ing not a tool of indolent aristocracy but a means 
 for social service. From the homes of Latin 
 America we have seen a new womanhood emerge 
 —disdainful of the superficial hedges of conven- 
 tion and determined that the voice of woman- 
 hood shall be heard for the building of a new 
 order of home and community life. As we have 
 watched, something of the new life of Latin Amer- 
 ica has passed in review before us. And in all 
 this that we have seen Christianity is playing 
 an increasing part. 
 
 But Latin America is more than this vital mov- 
 ing picture that one sees along its boulevards. 
 
 122 
 
Indians of Latin America 
 
 There is another—a more ancient—Latin Amer- 
 ica. We may perhaps have noticed the repre- 
 sentatives of this other Latin America in the 
 market-places of the cities we visited. They come 
 there to sell strange hand-woven cloths, or pot- 
 tery made on a wheel as in the time of Jeremiah. 
 We may, too, have seen these Indians—the other 
 Latin Americans—doing the day labor of city 
 communities. Much of the work, skilled and un- 
 skilled, is performed by Indians. Their hands 
 till the fields and their sickles reap the harvests. 
 Hovels and paoaces are built with the sun-dried 
 brick that the Indians mold. The wealth that 
 comes from the mine is of their digging; the 
 highways, the bridges, the railroads, are of their 
 building. In the homes of the South it is, usually, 
 an Indian who collects the fuel, cooks the food, 
 carries the water, and performs most other domes- 
 tic services. But, though we have come into con- 
 tact with the Indians in the great cities of the 
 South where they are so essential a part of the 
 industrial life, we have not really learned of them 
 unless we have visited their villages in the little- 
 known interior of the continent. 
 
 So scattered are the Indians, so inaccessible 
 are their villages, and so unimportant have they 
 been considered by their Spanish overlords that 
 no census has been taken of them. It is said, how- 
 ever, that there are nearly ten millions of these 
 
 123 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 first South Americans. They are found, most of 
 them, in remote districts along that line of moun- 
 tain range that extends from northern Mexico, 
 south along the Pacific seaboard, down to the tip 
 of Patagonia, and also in the forest lowlands. 
 
 We make a serious mistake if we consider that 
 these Indians are, uniformly, unintelligent sav- 
 ages living in squalor and in superstition. Many 
 of the leading statesmen of Latin America, many 
 of the continent’s greatest poets and artists have 
 been of Indian blood. They have gloried in this 
 fact. To them, the blood of the Indians is a link 
 with ancient glories and ancient civilizations that 
 rose long before the Spanish conquistadores in- 
 vaded the New World. As Indians, they look with 
 disdain upon the superficial and supercilious atti- 
 tude of those who, in more recent times, came to 
 rule and to oppress. 
 
 Even aside from these distinguished Indians 
 who have risen to fame in Latin America, the 
 Indians, in general, represent a very high order 
 of human being. The Incas in Peru and the 
 Mayas in Mexico built up a civilization equal, in 
 most respects, to that of the Spaniards who de- 
 stroyed it. In fact, the tremendous advantage of 
 the Spaniards because of their knowledge of fire- 
 arms and the use of horses, constituted, perhaps, 
 their chief point of superiority over the Indians. 
 And now, in this twentieth century, knowledge of 
 
 124 
 
Indians of Latin America 
 
 the use of firearms can hardly be called one of 
 the worthy attributes of civilization. 
 
 But to the Spaniard—as to other conquering 
 races—the native is an inferior. The Indian of 
 Latin America is either spurned or enslaved by 
 the Spanish-speaking peoples. When the white 
 man came to the New World he quickly enslaved 
 the Indians. They were made the hewers of wood 
 and the drawers of water for the invaders. They 
 were herded like cattle, and driven like cattle, 
 and given an animal status in the social scale. 
 Four centuries of such oppression broke the high 
 spirit of the Indians. Even those races that, of 
 their own strength, had built civilizations, reared 
 great cities, cut highways through the mountains, 
 and woven together a great fabric of culture 
 and commerce were broken under this tyranny. 
 In their own land, and in the midst of the crum- 
 bled ruins of their own greatness, they became 
 _ wretched, outcast, and the tools of their exploiters. 
 
 Today one may go into a Latin American vil- 
 lage and ask a Ladino—one of the Spanish-speak- 
 ing class—how many people live there and the 
 reply, doubtless, will be, ‘‘Oh, about so many 
 people.’’ And then, as a second thought, ‘‘Of 
 course there are a certain number of Indians in 
 addition to the people.’’ 
 
 Indians, in other words, are not really people. 
 They represent a lower order of creation. They 
 
 125 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 are often called Indio bruto (low down Indian). 
 
 Before we accept this point of view—which is 
 the characteristic point of view of a conquering 
 race toward those whom it has conquered—let us 
 recall the two facts to which I have already re- 
 ferred. First, the Indians at one time were great 
 enough to develop a high civilization of their own. 
 Second, their decline from greatness has come 
 about less because of their own inferiority than 
 because of the superior force represented by those 
 who overcame them and the measures by which 
 - the conquerors kept them in servitude. 
 
 And today, in the centers of the old Inca and 
 Maya culture, and in sections of Latin America 
 where they never made such progress, the Indians 
 are a neglected and backward people. The high- 
 land Indians, of course, are much more advanced 
 and much more easily reached and helped than 
 the lowland. It was among the highland Indians 
 that the old civilizations grew. The lowland In- 
 dians, on the other hand, are largely uncivilized. 
 They inhabit those unknown empires of forest 
 and grass lands around the headwaters of the 
 Amazon and La Plata rivers, the coastal regions 
 of the Caribbean and the extreme southern end 
 of the continent, as well as the humid sections 
 of Ecuador and Colombia.’ 
 
 1“Tndians of Latin America.” Committee on Cooperation in 
 Latin America. 
 
 126 
 
Indians of Latin America 
 
 The Indians of Latin America are very differ- 
 ent from those of North America. Originally the 
 North American Indian, very often, was indolent 
 and warlike. He proceeded on the assumption 
 that work was not for men, and, therefore, he 
 allowed the women to do it. The Latin American 
 Indian, on the other hand, aside from the indus- 
 trial work already mentioned, is an agriculturist. 
 In many sections of the South these Indians are 
 maintained practically as serfs on large estates. 
 Elsewhere they live in independent communities. 
 Both men and women are hard workers. The 
 men work in the fields, and the women grind the 
 corn and care for the home and children. They 
 are pacific and cannot be made to fight except un- 
 der the greatest provocation. Latin America is 
 known in North America as a territory of many 
 wars and revolutions. But it is significant that 
 these disturbances, with very few exceptions, have 
 been brought about by the Spanish-speaking 
 invaders. 
 
 The social life of the average Indian com- 
 munity is but little changed from the days before 
 the white man came. With the military, there 
 came, as we have seen, the religious invasion of 
 Latin America. The Indians were allowed to 
 choose between Christianity and slavery. Many 
 of them refused to abandon their old beliefs for 
 the faith of their conquerors and, as a conse- 
 
 127 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 quence, they were branded and sold. Those who 
 accepted the faith and the baptism of the Roman 
 Catholics were little disturbed in the form of their 
 life. Their social organization—largely com- 
 munal in nature—was maintained. Frequently 
 the Spanish governors aided them in the forma- 
 tion of a more effective organization. This, ob- 
 viously, was good business. The more prosper- 
 ous the community, the more taxes could be levied 
 against it and the more indolent overlords it could 
 support. 
 
 At the basis of the social organization among 
 the Indians is the family unit. Family life, in 
 many respects, is very stable among the Indians. 
 Their customs are as unusual as they are ancient. 
 Dr. Paul Burgess, who knows intimately the life 
 among the Indians, describes one custom preva- 
 lent in a certain tribe relating to the winning— 
 the ‘‘roping’’ would be better—of a wife. 
 
 When a young man falls in love, the manner 
 of his proposal is something like this. He hides 
 in the bushes along the path that leads from the 
 home of his sweetheart to the village fountain. 
 When she passes by,—the water-jar on her head, 
 —he throws a lasso, catches her water jar, and 
 brings it crashing to the ground. 
 
 The father of the young girl is immediately 
 notified. He, in great anger, at once calls the 
 father of the young man. Her father demands 
 
 128 
 
Indians of Latin America 
 
 of his father an explanation of the broken water- 
 jar. The young man, thereupon, is called into the 
 conference. The reason for the broken water-jar 
 is demanded of him. He then confesses his love. 
 His father supports the son and gives him a 
 strong parental recommendation. The girl’s 
 father, however, begins to relate the difficulties 
 and the expenses—particularly the expenses—in- 
 volved in bringing up so fine a daughter as his. 
 Though he professes no willingness to oppose a 
 real affair of love, he is insistent that some re- 
 turn be made on his investment. Terms are 
 arranged. The young man agrees to serve his 
 father-in-law for a period of months; or to cut 
 him a certain measure of wood; or, perhaps, pay 
 him a certain amount in sheep or hogs or actual 
 cash. | 
 
 After the marriage, the new couple—daring all 
 perils—live with the parents of the bridegroom. 
 Later in life they establish their own home. 
 While living with the parents-in-law, however, the 
 bride is made strictly accountable to her mother- 
 in-law. And the whole life of the family is or- 
 ganized around its head—the father, who is guide 
 and counselor, judge and tyrant. 
 
 Above the family there stands the commune. 
 The commune is organized on the general prin- 
 ciple of the ejido, which we referred to in dis- 
 cussing Mexico. The community owns a certain 
 
 129 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 tract of land and this is distributed for the use, 
 not the ownership, of certain families. Redis- 
 tribution takes place every few years in order to 
 prevent the acquisition, by any family, of any 
 particularly valuable section of the communal 
 territory. 
 
 Very often the increase of population in a com- 
 mune makes support impossible on the amount 
 of land that is owned and, as a consequence, cer- 
 tain members of the community are obliged to 
 hire themselves out to the Spanish overlords. 
 This is the way in which the peonage system 
 originated. The Indians receive pay in advance 
 for the work they are to do. The rate of pay 
 is so low that the Indian, once the debt he in- 
 curred when he started working is paid off, is 
 confronted with a larger debt, which is a result 
 of the amount expended by the landlord for his 
 support, or the amount borrowed to buy from 
 the landlord’s store. Since, with very few ex- 
 ceptions, the Indian is unable to pay his debt, 
 he becomes the property of his master. If the 
 landlord wishes to dispose of him, he merely sells 
 the debt to some other landlord and the Indian 
 is thus sold back and forth as any other live stock. 
 
 Within the independent, land-holding com- 
 munes, however, government is left, at least in 
 its smaller and local details, to the members of 
 the commune. The governing body is made up 
 
 130 
 
Indians of Latin America 
 
 of the ‘‘Principal Men’’—a sort of Council of 
 Elders. These men are elected by popular vote 
 —all males being eligible to participate. The 
 Principal Men group carries on the general affairs 
 of the communities, settles disputes, and appoints 
 judges. 
 
 Economic life in these communes is In a very 
 erude state of development. The customary 
 machinery for cultivation of the fields is the 
 azadon, a large and exceedingly awkward hoe. 
 The customary machinery for harvesting is the 
 hand sickle. Dr. Burgess tells of a friend who 
 secured a large tract of land—some three or four 
 hundred acres—and proceeded to grow wheat 
 upon it. He proposed, moreover, to cultivate the 
 tract with modern machinery. Consequently he 
 invaded the territory with mules, a McCormick 
 reaper and binder, and a threshing machine. 
 
 Some three or four years later Dr. Burgess 
 traveled through this territory at harvest time. 
 The reaper and the binder, he discovered, were 
 standing, rusting, in the shed and the fields were 
 being cut by Indian women using hand sickles. 
 When Dr. Burgess requested an explanation from 
 his friend he was told that it had been found 
 cheaper to pay Indian women to harvest the grain 
 with sickles than to purchase twine for the 
 reaper and binder, and in addition the cost of 
 the upkeep of the mules was also saved. 
 
 131 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 Transportation, among the Indians, is as crude 
 as their methods of farming. The Indians’ back 
 provides the only available freight car. And atop 
 this vehicle the average Indian can transport 
 more than the average load. Dr. Burgess relates 
 that on one occasion he arrived at the end of a 
 railroad line some thirty miles distant from his 
 destination. He had a trunk that weighed at 
 least two hundred pounds. He hired an Indian. 
 The Indian hoisted the trunk to his back, carried 
 it for those thirty miles, rising, in that distance, 
 some six thousand feet above the starting point, 
 and delivered it at the end of the journey for a 
 sum of about one and one-half dollars. 
 
 Throughout the interior of the southern con- 
 tinent, wherever there is an Indian population, it 
 is a common sight to see the Indian traveling 
 salesman, his pack upon his back, making his way 
 from village to village. Every conceivable thing 
 is carried in these loads—from pottery and home- 
 spun clothes to eggs and live stock. And in every 
 Indian market-place these drummers barter and 
 exchange, using very little cash but dealing al- 
 most altogether by trades. 
 
 It is in regard to religion, perhaps, that the 
 Indians of Latin America are most degraded. 
 Outwardly most of them have been baptized into 
 the Roman Catholic Church. They have Chris- 
 tian names. They are married by the Church 
 
 132 
 
Indians of Latin America 
 
 and buried by the Church. In some place in al- 
 most every village symbols of the Roman Catho- 
 lic faith are kept. But few, if any, Indian villages 
 have resident priests. Once or twice a year a 
 traveling priest comes to the town. During his 
 stay of two or three days the Indians are nomi- 
 nally Christian and orthodox. There is a great 
 orgy of drinking and carousing. The priest holds 
 a mass—in Latin. He may, perhaps, preach a 
 sermon—in Spanish. Neither mass nor sermon 
 is understood. Then, at the end of the two or 
 three days, the priest rides away and the Indians 
 turn back to their paganism until, some months 
 or a year hence, the priest may return. 
 Overlooking the city of La Paz, the capital of 
 Bolivia, there stands a high mountain. Near the 
 summit of this mountain is a little shrine called 
 Calvaria. On it the crucifix and the Virgin’s pic- 
 ture have been erected. At this shrine one may 
 see the Indians come to worship. They kneel 
 there—but with their backs to the Christian sym- 
 bols. Holding their eups of incense, they face 
 toward the great valley and, forgetful that they 
 are Christian, mutter strange incantations to 
 stranger gods in their deep Aymara dialect. 
 Even when the Indians are engaged in what 
 some call Christian ceremonies, the manner of 
 their worship is decidedly pagan. The average 
 Indian, month after month, is a quiet, hard-work- 
 133 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 ing, frugal individual. But when the time for 
 the Christian feasts comes round his character 
 transforms. The entire family—done out in the 
 brightest homespun—repairs to the church. The 
 father, with a tiger skin and a hideous mask and 
 a festive headdress of feathers, leads the little 
 group with notes from a shrill reed pipe. On foot 
 the little company starts out in the early morn- 
 ing for the church. There other family groups 
 have gathered, and the festivalis begun. Venders 
 of alcoholic drinks are there, and they do a thriv- 
 ing business. To the music of pipe and drum, 
 and stimulated by more and more alcohol, they 
 dance in wild riot about the little church. Occa- 
 sionally the dance is carried on before the altar 
 itself. Fights are frequent. 
 
 In the midst of the celebration the priest ar- 
 rives. Mass is said. The priest then collects the 
 tithe of chickens and silver, grain and sheep, and 
 rides off to the next celebration. The supply of 
 liquor and of funds running low, the Indians, one 
 by one, slink back to their homes—as pagan as 
 when they came. 
 
 Pagan worship is not abandoned. Along the 
 mountain roads at every summit one sees heaps 
 of stones where the passer-by, if paganly devout, 
 will build a little house to enclose some dangerous 
 spirit. At perilous places along the trail the 
 Indian will make offerings to the spirits who hide 
 
 134 
 
Indians of Latin America 
 
 in the hills). When an animal is killed for meat, 
 they catch the blood and, as their ancestors from 
 time immemorial have done, dash it against the 
 end of their crude adobe houses. 
 
 Dr. Burgess relates how alcohol, paganism, and 
 Christianity are mixed in most Indian communi- 
 ties. ‘‘On a recent occasion,’’ he says, ‘‘I entered. 
 a Roman Catholic church in a little mountain 
 village just south of Chiapas, Huitan, among the 
 Mam Indians. I was desirous of showing a friend 
 the image of the sun over the main altar. As 
 soon as we had entered the church, one of the 
 Indians came up to inquire what we desired. My 
 answer was:‘ We have just come in to look around. 
 I hope we are in no sense offending you.’ 
 
 ‘< ‘No,’ answered the Indian, ‘but we know that 
 you have come to teach us a new religion. We 
 are only ignorant Indians, and we want to ask 
 you some questions. Please tell us what St. Peter 
 has left us.’ | 
 
 “‘T answered, taking out my New Testament 
 from my pocket: ‘St. Peter has left us two very 
 precious Epistles which form part of the New 
 Testament—the book which I hold in my hand. 
 Listen and you will hear what he has to say to 
 you and to all men.’ And I began to read. 
 
 ‘<The Indian who had asked the question was 
 taken by surprise and felt that he was being hu- 
 miliated as I read the words of St. Peter. He 
 
 135 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 soon interrupted with a question which I have 
 found it difficult to answer; namely, ‘How old are 
 you?’ 
 
 ‘*¢*T am thirty-eight.’ 
 
 ‘‘The Indian, drawing himself to his full height, 
 declared himself to be fifty-four years old and 
 he asked to know whether a man of fifty-four 
 could be taught anything by a man of thirty- 
 eight. His companions agreed that such a thing 
 was impossible. 
 
 ‘¢ «he sun has shone on the man who is fifty- 
 four years old many more times than on the 
 man who is thirty-eight. Of course he can learn 
 nothing from such an infant,’ they declared. 
 
 ‘‘Then the Indian spokesman said, ‘Now I will 
 tell you what St. Peter left us,’ and drawing 
 from under his blanket a bottle of so-called guaro 
 [ West Indian rum], he shouted, ‘This is what St. 
 Peter has left us,’ and all of his companions 
 chimed in, declaring that he was right.’’ 
 
 Thus, after four centuries of priestly super- 
 vision, the Indian—underneath a so-called Chris- 
 tian veneer—is still a pagan as he was in the 
 days before the Spaniards invaded his country. 
 
 As I have already indicated, there are, prob- 
 ably, about 10,000,000 people of Indian blood 
 in Latin America. The number of the non-Span- 
 ish-speaking Indians, however, is only about 
 2,050,000. These Indians are scattered in tribes, 
 
 136 
 
Indians of Latin America 
 
 large and small. There are, for instance, one 
 tribe of 500,000 members; three of between 
 200,000 and 300,000; one of between 150,000 and 
 200,000 ; seventeen over 20,000; five between 10,000 
 and 20,000; six between 5,000 and 10,000; and 
 seven having less than 1,000. These, of course, 
 are only government estimates. They probably 
 understate rather than overstate the totals. 
 
 It is significant that in the United States there 
 are small Indian tribes of less than 2,000 mem- 
 bers in which three foreign missionary boards 
 are at work. There is not one missionary to 
 the more than 2,000,000 Indians of Mexico. Yet 
 there are 444 ordained Protestant ministers, 202 
 Catholic priests, and more than 800 Protestant 
 assistants for the 340,000 people with Indian 
 blood in the United States. Clearly, the field of 
 Christian work among the Indians of Latin Amer- 
 ica is but barely entered. 
 
 In the early days of the Spanish conquest one 
 man—Las Casas by name—stands out as the first 
 exponent of the rights of the Indians and the 
 first Christian missionary to them. Las Casas 
 had been a planter. But the injustices and ex- 
 ploitation to which the Indians were subjected 
 in the name of Christianity aroused Las Casas. 
 He became a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. 
 He gave up his plantation and appeared as the 
 champion of the rights of the Indians particu- 
 
 137 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 larly in Mexico and Central America. His work 
 made headway. The King of Spain granted him 
 concessions. Many Indians were won by his 
 peaceful policy. But later missionaries were less 
 pacific, and much of the work of Las Casas was 
 destroyed. 
 
 About a century ago another group of mis- 
 sionaries entered Central America. They were 
 German Moravians and established a mission in 
 Nicaragua. ‘They translated the Bible into the 
 tribal language and established churches and 
 schools. At the present time they have a com- 
 munity of several thousand Protestant Indians. 
 
 In the last fifty years a widespread Evangeli- 
 cal movement has developed in Latin America. 
 But this movement has touched only the fringes 
 of Indian territory. Missionary organizations are 
 only gradually awakening to the tremendous ap- 
 peal of these ten thousand ‘‘other Americans.’’ 
 The Indians themselves are, in most cases, eager 
 for help. ‘They desire schools and churches. 
 Their hard experience at the hands of other 
 foreigners has led them to harbor a suspicion of 
 foreigners in general, but the few Evangelical mis- 
 sionaries who have penetrated their land, to live 
 among them, have helped to a very great extent 
 to allay this suspicion. 
 
 The best proof of the value of missionary work 
 among the Indians is found in a description of 
 
 138 
 
Indians of Latin America 
 
 the sort of Christians these Indians make when 
 they are given the opportunity to accept the free 
 faith which Jesus represented. 
 
 There was, for example, Pedro Poz. Pedro was 
 a shepherd lad who cared for his father’s sheep 
 on the hills of Cantel in Guatemala. While still 
 a youth, the influence of alcohol fell upon him. 
 He was victimized by it. His father, hoping to 
 save the boy, forced him into the army. In the 
 army Pedro put on European dress, learned Span- 
 ish, and kept on drinking. After a time he was 
 court-martialed and sent to prison for a year. In 
 jail Pedro learned to read. A tract telling some- 
 thing of the message of Jesus fell into his hands. 
 He read it. He was interested. He secured a 
 Bible and, determined to follow this new gospel, 
 he took his stand as a Christian immediately upon 
 his release. He went back to his own village and 
 there began to preach. He was threatened by the 
 people, but he kept on preaching. He was stoned 
 by the villagers, but he could not be driven from 
 his faith. At length a church was built in his 
 village, and now over one hundred members have 
 been won to Christ’s way of life by the ministry 
 of Pedro Poz. 
 
 Anselmo was another drunken Indian lad. He 
 was a peon and was sold from master to master. 
 There came a day when he fled from his servitude 
 to the jungles near the Pacific coast. Here in 
 
 139 . 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 the home of one of his masters he heard. for the 
 first time the simple story of the gospel of Christ. 
 He accepted that gospel and went out to preach 
 it. Now his old impetuousness and power is de- 
 voted to personal work, and already he has won 
 several hundred of his fellows to the faith that 
 he has found. Among these converts were no 
 less than ten witch doctors. 
 
 Another Indian is Marcelino. At the time of 
 his conversion Marcelino was fifty years old. He 
 was a pagan of the pagans; he supported three 
 wives and zealously participated in the witch- 
 doctor practises of the village. When the gospel 
 reached Marcelino, he immediately made provi- 
 sion for two of his wives and married the third. 
 He took his stand in the community as a Christian 
 —not an easy thing to do. When he had cleared 
 his little plot of ground of the mortgage upon 
 it, he gave of his income to the church. Marcelino 
 is merely a barefooted Indian, but during the last 
 three years he has given no less than three thou- 
 sand dollars—American money—to the work of 
 the church. Four nights out of every week, with- 
 out remuneration, Marcelino devotes himself to 
 instructing his fellow Indians in the gospel. 
 
 A new Christian church has been recently ded- 
 icated in one of these Indian communities. It is 
 an imposing structure for an Indian village. It 
 will seat one thousand people. The work of erect- 
 
 ~ 140 
 
Indians of Latin America 
 
 ing this building was done entirely by the Indians 
 themselves, under the leadership of one of their 
 own number who had told the story of the gospel 
 and its meaning to these other Latin Americans. 
 Here and there—much too few in number—Chris- 
 tian schools have been built. And the Indian boys 
 and girls make excellent pupils. They learn 
 eagerly and their parents are proud of their ac- 
 complishments. In other villages dispensaries 
 have been established to help to drive back the 
 fear of disease and pestilence, which is almost as 
 great a plague as the darkness of superstition and 
 ignorance. And still the work of reaching these 
 ten million Indians is only begun. 
 
 An old Indian one day appeared before the La 
 Paz American Institute in Bolivia. He wore his 
 homespun clothes, hide sandals, and a variegated 
 poncho across his shoulders. He came stooping 
 into the school grounds, his son’s trunk on his 
 back. On being presented to the headmaster of 
 the school, he dropped to his knees and kissed 
 the extended hand and begged that his son might 
 be enrolled. Two years later this Indian boy, 
 competing with white Bolivians and with for- 
 eigners, climbed to the top of his class and won 
 the highest awards in English. And every quar- 
 ter the Indian father came in from the mountains 
 in his sandals and homespun to bring the boy’s 
 tuition. 
 
 141 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 Thus, an awakening is slowly coming among 
 these other Americans. Mission boards are be- 
 ginning to realize this fact. Missionaries are 
 being sent to these humbler, but no less worthy 
 peoples. And up to the highlands and down 
 through the forest vastnesses of Latin America 
 new trails are being blazed. The old trails—some 
 of which remain—were marked with torture and 
 oppression, with the slave-driver’s lash, with fear 
 and hate, with superstition and idolatry. The new 
 trails carry travelers of a different sort, bear- 
 ing different burdens. These are the men and 
 women who are coming to stand with the Indian 
 and help him out of his old squalor. The mer- 
 chandise they carry is not the merchandise of 
 exploitation. There are no slave-whips, no alco- 
 hol—only a few books, but chiefly one Great Book 
 and a faith in what these Indians with the guid- 
 ance of that Great Book may become. 
 
 And a few Indians come to talk with these 
 strange travelers. They hear a new—a wholly dif- 
 ferent—story of a Man who died that their little 
 community might have a chance to be cleaner and 
 their lives happier, their minds freed of fear and 
 their hearts filled with a confident love. And after 
 a time a school is built. And then a church. 
 Other foreigners may come to the village and 
 young Indians return from the big schools down 
 the mountainside to carry on the work of proving 
 
 142 
 
Indians of Latin America 
 
 that this Man, who was the Son of God, can do 
 the things which He died to accomplish. 
 
 That is the story of the Indians of Latin 
 America. It is a story of dangerous mountain 
 passes; of lonely villages; of threats and ston- 
 ings; of bright-eyed boys and girls; and parents 
 enlightened by Christian influences. It is a story 
 that is only in its beginnings. But ten millions 
 of these Latin Americans, who are not seen along 
 the hustling, crowded thoroughfares or on the 
 boulevards, are in need, today, of men and women 
 who will give of themselves and what they possess 
 to speed that story to completion. 
 
 143 
 
VIT 
 Results 
 
 Tis is a chapter about results. After all, an 
 enterprise, business or otherwise, is judged by 
 the sort of article it produces. It does not much 
 matter how big a factory is built, how many peo- 
 ple are employed, how much its capital may be, 
 or how widely the goods are advertised; that 1s, 
 it does not matter much, in the long run—unless 
 the product of that factory is of value. More 
 than one big business has collapsed because it 
 was based on an effort to pass off something 
 artificial as the real thing. 
 
 Another thing that is good to recall about en- 
 terprises and their products is this: you cannot 
 always judge the merits of an article by the size 
 of the organization that produces it. The best 
 shoes do not come, necessarily, from the biggest 
 manufacturer; or the richest cream from the larg- 
 est dairy; the wisest men from the universities 
 with the greatest enrolment; or the most religious 
 men from the biggest churches. 
 
 It is necessary to keep these facts in mind when 
 we come to this study of the products of the mis- 
 sionary enterprise in Latin America. HEvangeli- 
 cal work, comparatively speaking, is on a small 
 scale. But the products of that work—what of 
 
 144 
 
ae 
 
 
 
 INDIAN Boy CARRYING A Pack 
 
 SMALL INDIAN BOYS ARE FREQUENTLY MADE VERITABLE SLAVES OY 
 MODERN INDUSTRY BY EMPLOYERS WHO WISH TO PAY NEGLIGIBLE 
 WAGES FOR THE SAKE OF GAINING LARGE PROFITS. 
 
“SCUVINVdS GNV SNVIGNI HLOd AO SINVAONAOSAG FHL WOA AACIAOYd SQHL AUV SALL 
 -IAILOV ANOSHIOHM ANVW CNV ‘VOINAWV HLOOS OLNI SdOOUL LAOOS AOT ONION 
 -OULNI NI GHYaaNOIC OHM ASOHL SNOWY AYAM HLYON GTHL WOU SALTAVNOISSTIV 
 
 DNILAIVG SLAONDG xA0g 
 
 
 
Results 
 
 them? It is to an examination of some of these 
 results of missionary work in Latin America that 
 we shall now turn our attention. And at the end, 
 it will be clear, I hope, that here, as elsewhere, 
 size has no necessary relation to quality. 
 
 The history of Latin American missions is one 
 of trials by fire. Missionaries did not go out— 
 do not go out today—to easy jobs. The com 
 munities to which they go are often hostile te 
 Evangelical effort. The priests frequently stir the 
 people into open expressions of this hostility. 
 There are stonings and threats and abuse. Tn 
 some Latin American states it is true that the 
 Hvangelical missionaries have won a large place 
 for themselves in the esteem of the people, and 
 their program no longer meets with the old oppe- 
 sition. But in other places it is still the case that 
 obstacles of every sort are thrown in the mission- 
 ary’s path to prevent his carrying forward the 
 work he has come to establish. There are no soft 
 seats-by-the-fire for these Christian pioneers. 
 
 Nor is there an easy path ahead of those whe 
 accept the Christian faith as these Protestants 
 interpret it. Such a step frequently means turn- 
 ing away from one’s family, the sacrifice of social 
 position, enduring scorn and ridicule, and even 
 death itself. Men and women, old or young, do 
 not accept the Christian faith of the Evangelical 
 missionaries, unless it has laid such a hold upon 
 
 145 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 their lives that regardless of the sacrifices in- 
 volved it cannot be denied. 
 
 ft must be said here, as we have tried to indi- 
 eate elsewhere, that Evangelical work in Latin 
 America is not carried on for the purpose of sup- 
 planting Roman Catholicism. It is altogether im- 
 probable that these nations will ever become Prot- 
 estant in the sense in which that term is under- 
 stood in the United States and Canada. Evan- 
 gelical work, however, is making a contribution 
 in that it is helping to change the moral climate 
 ef these nations. It is bringing not a new, but 
 an enriched gospel to the people of Latin America. 
 it is opening the way for deeper and more abid- 
 ing personal religious experiences. It is, more- 
 ever, linking the gospel of Jesus Christ with the 
 great, enlightening, democratic movements that 
 are abroad in the world. That has been and is 
 the message of Evangelical missionaries to the 
 people of these Latin countries. 
 
 There is a very old and justly famous public 
 square in Lima, the capital of Peru. Several cen- 
 turies ago the dread Inquisition held Lima in its 
 bloody grasp. All those who were suspected of 
 heresy or unbelief in the dogmas of the Church 
 were summarily put to death. In this public 
 square more than a hundred people were burned. 
 
 Some three centuries after the Inquisition an- 
 ether force entered the city of Lima. James 
 
 146 
 
Resulis 
 
 Thomson, who landed in Brazil in 1818, had 
 crossed the continent on mule-back and come te 
 the city of Lima. Thomson’s one purpose im 
 Latin America was to organize schools and dis- 
 tribute Bibles. In Lima he met General San 
 Martin, who welcomed him and forthwith gave the 
 priests of a certain monastery three days in which 
 to evacuate in order that Mr. Thomson’s first 
 school might be established there. 
 
 And to the old square of the Inquisition Mr. 
 Thomson brought his Bibles. He gathered the 
 people around him and explained to them the 
 meaning of the ‘‘new’’ book. Bibles were sold 
 to many people. The influence of this work 
 spread rapidly. The governor of one of the prov- 
 inces of Ecuador encouraged the sale of the Book. 
 Bible Societies sprang up. The interest in the 
 newly discovered word of God spread rapidly. 
 
 But reaction came. The Roman Catholic or- 
 ganization pitted its power against Mr. Thomson. 
 Parents were forced to withdraw their children 
 from the schools which he established. Families 
 that had purchased the Bibles were forced to sur- 
 render them to the nearest priest. The door which , 
 Mr. Thomson opened was forced shut, and he re- 
 turned to Scotland. 
 
 Others followed, however, in the path of this 
 pioneer. And each new Christian campaigner 
 was faced with the same difficulties and perils. 
 
 147 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 About the same time that Mr. Thomson came 
 eut from Scotland, Allen F. Gardiner began his 
 service in the British navy. He rose to the rank 
 of captain and as a naval officer cruised to remote 
 quarters of the globe. And in these districts the 
 plight of the natives, their ignorance and squalor 
 and superstitious fear, laid hold upon him. He 
 came of a sudden to feel a responsibility to help 
 some of these backward peoples and abandoned 
 his naval career for that of a missionary. 
 
 In 1841 Captain Gardiner set out to the Falk- 
 land Islands to bring the Christian message to 
 the Indians. He chose these islands because they 
 were British territory, and from there he hoped 
 to reach the people of Patagonia. He was soon 
 forced to go back to England for aid, however, 
 and after securing this, he returned to Patagonia, 
 only to be driven out by the bitter hostility of the 
 natives who daily threatened his life. 
 
 . But Captain Gardiner was not disheartened. 
 He made his way into southeastern Bolivia and 
 territories adjoining. Then, after long trips of 
 religious exploration, he went, with his compan- 
 tons, back toward the Cape to establish a mission 
 among the Indians of Tierra del Fuego. His 
 equipment was so insufficient, however, that he 
 was forced to make another trip to England for 
 aid. He then returned to this station with six 
 other pioneers for Christ. 
 
 148 
 
Results 
 
 Then came starvation. The Indians stole their 
 food. They were driven to Spaniard Harbor. 
 A supply ship, en route to their rescue, was de- 
 layed. No food or water was to be found. Daily 
 and hourly they scanned the sea’s horizon for 
 some sight of the promised ship, and nightly they 
 joined together in prayer that their rescuers 
 might come before it was too late. The ship did 
 come. But more than a month before its arrival 
 Captain Gardiner and the six stalwart champions 
 of the Cross who had come out with him were 
 dead. At the entrance to the cavern where the 
 bodies of this little company of pioneers were 
 found, Captain Gardiner had traced these words 
 from the sixty-second Psalm: 
 
 My Soul, wait thou only upon God 
 For my expectation is from him. 
 He only is my rock and my salvation: 
 He is my defense: I shall not be moved. 
 In God is my salvation and my glory: 
 The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. 
 Trust in Him at all times: 
 _ Ye people, pour out your heart before Him: 
 God is a refuge for us. 
 
 That spirit—the spirit of Captain Gardiner— 
 has dominated and still dominates those who have 
 dared to give of themselves that Christ may have 
 a chance in Latin America. The history of this 
 Christian advance is written in the blood and 
 
 149 
 
Loaking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 tears of those who have sacrificed to carry for- 
 ward, over one more redoubt, the banners of 
 Christ. On the ground where these advances have 
 been won new life is now springing up. And from 
 the blood and tears, the suffering and sacrifice 
 of these early missionaries there has come hope 
 and happiness and, here and there, individuals 
 fit to help in the building of the Kingdom of God 
 on earth. 
 
 In the early sixties, Father José Conceicao was 
 a young priest of the Roman Catholic Church at 
 Brotas, in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Now 
 Father José was ot ministerial in the accepted 
 sense. He was a sporting man of some reputa- 
 tion. He lived a gay life. He was a lover of good 
 horses and knew the lure of the track. 
 
 One day, however, he was asked to preach a 
 sermon on St. Anthony. He agreed and proceeded 
 to find out in a Latin Bible, just who St. Anthony 
 was. Few churches in Brazil at that time had 
 Bibles and fewer padres could read them. But 
 although Father José found a Bible, he failed to 
 find any record of St. Anthony in it. But he did 
 find a good many other things that interested him 
 greatly. The Bible, he suddenly realized, was 
 neither appreciated nor preached. Consequently 
 he began to preach it. His sermons were fervid 
 discussions of Bible truths—the truths that could 
 be applied in his own parish. 
 
 150 
 
Results 
 
 The Bishop, hearing of the strange proceedings, 
 set forth to remonstrate with the young priest. 
 But Father José could not be turned from the 
 gospel he had discovered. The Bishop, aceord- 
 ingly, made public proclamation to the effect that 
 Father José was insane and forbade him from 
 exercising his priestly offices. 
 
 Father José replied: ‘‘ All right, since I am 
 insane, I must be irresponsible. Therefore I shall 
 go forth to teach.’’ 
 
 He set out, on foot, to spread the truths of the 
 Bible. He soon came into touch with Evangelical 
 missionaries. He was ordained and became the 
 first Brazilian Protestant minister. His efforts 
 were unceasing. Alone, up and down Brazil, 
 Father José tramped. He lived with the people 
 to whom he brought the message. On every hand 
 there were persecutions. He was stoned. He 
 was driven from village to village. Food was de- 
 nied him. People closed their doors in his face. 
 But he plodded on. At length one day, he fell 
 unconscious by the roadside, ill of malarial fever. 
 He was found by the commander of an ammuni- 
 tion factory in the vicinity and looked after by 
 him. Father José never left this ammunition fae- 
 tory. He died and was buried in the military cem- 
 etery. But so effectively had he preached the 
 gospel there that the colonel himself became a 
 Christian and later a translator of Christian liter- 
 
 151 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 ature. And today, in the country where Father 
 José labored, fully thirty churches owe their ex- 
 istence to his pioneering. 
 
 Evangelical missions have had wide influence 
 also among the women of Latin America. You 
 ean always count upon it that the women will be 
 found in the forefront of any good movement, and 
 this is true in Latin America in spite of the cus- 
 toms that are designed to keep women in a sec- 
 ondary position. The story of one of these women 
 ts told by Miss Florence E. Smith, of Chile. 
 
 **When I first came to Chile,’’ writes Miss 
 Smith, ‘‘I used to go out to one of our outlying 
 ehapels on Sunday morning to help in the Sunday 
 school, and there I came to know a young girl 
 just entering adolescence, Hortensia Soza. With 
 her family, she had been brought to the chapel 
 by an Evangelical neighbor. She was fresh-faced 
 and deeply attentive. Her father was a stone- 
 mason and her mother mentally infirm, so that 
 Hortensia was already compelled to earn her own 
 living as a seamstress. Her education had been 
 of the scantiest, limited to the rudiments of the 
 three R’s, but the gospel was her meat and drink 
 and she never missed a service. Later on, in- 
 spired by the desire to help in evangelistic meet- 
 imgs, she took time to come into Valparaiso once 
 a week to learn to play the baby organ. Her 
 hands were coarsened by work and her ear was 
 
 152 
 
Results 
 
 none too fine, but her desire to learn knew no 
 barriers. 
 
 ‘‘In the course of events, one of the promising 
 young men in the Valparaiso church began an as- 
 siduous attendance at this chapel, drawn thither 
 by the wild-rose beauty of Hortensia. As usual, 
 the path of true love was beset by thorns: there 
 was no place to meet except the church, where 
 acquaintance must be limited to a perfunctory 
 handshake because of the unfriendly eyes which 
 in Chile see flagrant immorality in every attempt 
 at friendliness between man and maid. Horten- 
 sia’s family, too, eyed the young man with sus- 
 picion because of his gentlemanly bearing and 
 superior social position, he being not an artisan, 
 but a clerk in the city post-office, and wide and 
 deep are class distinctions in Chile. The court- 
 ship was carried on, then, perforce, in the public 
 parks, and unlike so many perilous affairs of this 
 kind, it came to the good consummation of an hon- 
 orable marriage, and young Hortensia went to live 
 with a mother-in-law. 
 
 ‘‘This mother-in-law was of the old school, and 
 so too was the young husband, who had his own 
 ideas as to the sphere of woman, and it was no 
 part of his plan that his pretty bird, now safely 
 caged, should sing for other ears than his own. 
 The young wife confided to me with tears that 
 he would not permit her to visit the Sunday-school 
 
 153 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin ‘America 
 
 pupils and did not like her to be friendly with 
 the people in the church. 
 
 ‘‘Together we laid plans as to how we should 
 educate this medieval husband, and thanks to 
 this young woman’s character, which is that rare 
 combination of the sweet yieldingness of the dove 
 and the wisdom of the serpent,—without its sting, 
 —today Hortensia Soza de Martinez is the out- 
 standing woman in the large church of which 
 she is a member, honored and beloved and active 
 in every good work. Her husband’s jealous sus- 
 picion has been transmuted into unfaltering trust. 
 She comes and goes with all the freedom of a 
 North American woman, without a question. 
 Leader of a large group of Philatheas, at times 
 organist and choir-leader, and president of the 
 Woman’s Society, her beautiful face and character 
 are an object lesson to all who come in contact 
 with her. 
 
 ‘‘Sefiora de Martinez’ husband puts his month’s 
 salary into her lap and together they make their 
 monthly budget. ‘Of course!’ do I hear you say? 
 But it is not ‘of course’ in Chile, where the aver- 
 age woman has no idea how much her husband 
 earns and has no word in how his salary shall 
 be spent, beyond the small sum he concedes her 
 for the day’s rations. Together Hortensia and 
 her husband have weathered many an economic 
 storm, but they have educated her three brothers 
 
 154 
 
Fibaults 
 
 and sisters, early deprived of a mother’s care, 
 and today own their own charming little home.’’ 
 
 Another story of a Chilean woman is that of 
 Martina Pangue. In a beautiful valley hidden 
 among the foothills of a coast-range a young girl 
 was betrayed and abandoned by the son of a 
 neighbor. With her child in her arms, this young 
 girl was forced to leave her home and earn her 
 own living. The temptations and the economic 
 necessities of life were too severe. She fell into 
 evil ways, and finally settled in Vina del Mar 
 where her home was not of a good kind. 
 
 One day, however, a passer-by threw a little 
 red book through the open door of this house. 
 That night Martina Pangue picked up the book 
 and began to read it. Reading was not easy, for 
 she had received little schooling. But line by line 
 she managed to make out the meaning of the 
 words in the little red book. Her mind was keen, 
 and the book was something altogether new. She 
 read through the night and by morning had fin- 
 ished. The book was called the Gospel According 
 to John. 
 
 ‘“‘Tf this book speaks the truth,’’ said Martina, 
 ‘then I am altogether wrong in the life I am 
 leading. I must know more of this.’’ 
 
 She immediately made inquiries in the neigh- 
 borhood. She found her way to the little Eivan- 
 gelical chapel and began to attend its services. 
 
 155 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 The people eyed her with suspicion. They knew 
 her evil ways and doubted her. But Martina con- 
 tinued to attend the services, despite these sus- 
 picions. And after many weeks she accepted the 
 gospel. 
 
 Accepting the gospel meant that Martina must 
 begin to live it at once in her own home. She 
 proceeded at once to rid it of evil influences. She 
 took her children with her to church. After a 
 long probation she was made a member of the 
 Vina Church and later, not content with a mere 
 membership, Martina was made the first Chilean 
 Bible woman. Wherever she goes she carries with 
 her the message of the little red book. On a 
 Sunday she will come to the chapel with a group 
 of boys and girls whom she has gathered. Her 
 gospel is simple and to the point. 
 
 ‘‘God cleaned up my life,’’ she will say. ‘‘He 
 can clean up yours.’’ 
 
 There seemed to be a peculiar bond of sym- 
 pathy between Jesus and some of the humble fish- 
 ermen who lived near the Sea of Galilee. No part 
 of the New Testament is more inspiring than the 
 story of how these humble men were taken from 
 their nets and made fishers of men. To a similar 
 class of people in Colombia the gospel has made 
 a powerful appeal and resulted in great trans- 
 formations. One may see in the old city of Carta- 
 gena modern fishermen following in the footsteps 
 
 156 
 
Results 
 
 of those who hauled in their nets on the shores of 
 Galilee. 
 
 Juan, an outstanding personality among these 
 Cartagenian fishermen, began to preach the gospel 
 even before he gave up his nets. Juan had little 
 education. He belonged to the despised mixed 
 class. His ideals were no better and his horizon 
 no wider than the people among whom he lived. 
 But when he heard the story of Christ, he began 
 immediately to study. When the missionaries 
 were forced out of the city, Juan gathered the 
 little group of believers about him and became 
 their teacher. Without education and with no 
 qualification other than his own intense devotion 
 to Christ, Juan carried on the work. 
 
 A fellow citizen of Cartagena who had studied 
 abroad and returned to the city heard of the work 
 of Juan. He attended a service at his little 
 chapel. ‘‘I have seen and heard a wonderful 
 thing,’’? he said afterward. ‘‘I know that man 
 Juan and his people well. But I would not have 
 believed it was possible for him to do what he 
 did on the Sunday morning I visited him. He 
 announced and led the singing of several hymns 
 with dignity and grace. He made one of the most 
 solemn and tender prayers I ever heard. He 
 read the Scriptures so that I understood every 
 word he uttered. He then gave an address and 
 used arguments and language which many an edu- 
 
 157 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 cated man might envy, in order to teach his 
 friends that as our Lord has helped them to live 
 better lives, so in turn they ought to help others.”’ 
 
 Of an entirely different class was Justo Cubilo, 
 doctor of jurisprudence, a resident of Montevideo, 
 the capital of Uruguay. While still a student in 
 the public schools of Uruguay, Dr. Cubilo became 
 interested in Evangelical Christianity. He at- 
 tended Sunday school and at the age of fourteen 
 became a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. From then until the time of his death 
 Dr. Cubilo was an outstanding leader among the 
 Protestant Christians of Uruguay. Twice he 
 eame to the United States as a lay delegate to 
 the General Conference of the Methodist Church. 
 He was superintendent of a large Sunday school 
 and teacher of one of the classes. He was also 
 President of the Temperance Society and active 
 in the diffusion of temperance principles. 
 
 The leadership of Dr. Cubilo was recognized by 
 the Government. He was President of the So- 
 ciety of the Friends of Public Instruction, a mem- 
 ber of the Municipality, a professor of Constitu- 
 tional Law in the Department of Law and Social 
 Sciences in the State University and for many 
 years was secretary of the Supreme Court of 
 Uruguay. 
 
 Other individuals—a small army of them—might 
 be mentioned here whose lives stand out, head 
 
 158 
 
Results 
 
 and shoulders above their fellows, because they 
 have found Christ and sought to spread the ex- 
 pression of his spirit. No one questioning Evan- 
 gelicalism in Latin America could come into touch 
 with these products of that enterprise and doubt 
 its supreme value in making better men and 
 women and more Christ-like communities. 
 
 If you will look at the map of South America, 
 you will find that the boundary between Argen- 
 tina and Chile is marked by the high crest of the 
 Andes. Now between Chile and Argentina, dur- 
 ing the last century, there were frequent disputes 
 about this boundary and a most bitter hatred. 
 War always seemed in the offing. Not until Gen- 
 eral Julio Roca became President of Argentina 
 in 1880 did peace and prosperity seem to come 
 to these nations. 
 
 During the administration of General Roca, 
 Argentina developed rapidly. Vast new fields 
 were planted. Vineyards were laid out. Fine 
 breeds of stock were introduced. Railroads were 
 built and the cities improved. Chile, too, entered 
 upon a similar era of prosperity. 
 
 Then, in 1886, General Roca retired from office 
 and trouble loomed again. The high Andes had 
 not been completely explored. Neither nation 
 ~ knew exactly where the boundary lay. Both na- 
 tions believed that war was inevitable, and great 
 sums of money were spent in preparation for it. 
 
 159 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 In 1898, General Roca was reelected President. 
 A few weeks prior to his election Chile sent an 
 ultimatum to Argentina demanding arbitration. 
 But it seemed as though war would be the only 
 outcome. There were many and powerful factions 
 in both countries that advocated war. But other 
 people believed that war would mean the ruin of 
 both. 
 
 Then, at a critical moment, the British King 
 offered his services for arbitration and the offer 
 was accepted. The award was also accepted. 
 War was averted. 
 
 But the two countries did not stop there. They 
 proposed to prevent the possibility of any war 
 in the future. It was agreed, therefore, that on 
 the boundary line, high in the Andes, between 
 Argentina and Chile a statue of Christ, the Prince 
 of Peace, should be erected. This was to stand 
 perpetually as a memorial to the peace pact be- 
 tween the nations. The monument itself was cast 
 at an arsenal in Buenos Aires from cannon taken 
 from an old fortress there. 
 
 The site for the statue was selected on the 
 Cumbre Ridge in the Andes—a divide scarcely 
 more than a quarter of a mile across. There one 
 may stand and look off to the west into Chile, and 
 east into Argentina. It was on the summit of 
 the Andes, in 1817, that the army of San Martin 
 camped while on the great march across the 
 
 160 
 
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Results 
 
 Andes, when Chileans and Argentines stood side 
 by side in their struggle for freedom from Spain. 
 There, too, stands a little stone house built many 
 years ago to provide protection for travelers— 
 Argentines or Chileans—who may be journeying 
 over the pass. Thus the spot was hallowed by 
 the ideals of peace. 
 
 - The statue of Christ was erected on a summit 
 pass. The monument is of bronze, twenty-six feet 
 in height, surmounting a pedestal, rough hewn 
 from the rock of the mountains. 
 
 On March 13, 1904, the statue was unveiled. 
 A great pilgrimage of men and women and chil- 
 dren from both countries—Argentina to the east, 
 Chile to the west—brought thousands into the 
 Andes for the ceremony. On the day appointed 
 the great throng parted in two groups. The 
 Argentines assembled on the soil of Chile; the 
 Chileans gathered on the soil of Argentina. Be- 
 tween them, facing toward the north, stood the 
 Christ, their perpetual symbol of peace. His left 
 hand supports the cross and his right hand is 
 outstretched in blessing. On the base of the statue 
 are two tablets—one presented by the working- 
 men of Buenos Aires and the other by the work- 
 ing-women. Inscribed on one of these tablets are 
 these words: 
 
 ‘*Sooner shall these mountains crumble into 
 dust than shall the Argentines and Chileans break 
 
 161 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 the peace which they have pledged at the feet of 
 Christ the Redeemer.”’ 
 
 The statue was dedicated as a symbol for peace 
 to the whole world. Its erection brought the 
 ideals of Christ into practise. Immediately there- 
 after Chile sold her warships and spent the 
 amount secured to make improvements. A year 
 later the Chilean-Bolivian dispute was settled by 
 peaceful means. A railroad since has been built 
 to span the Andes from Chile to Argentina—one 
 of the engineering feats of all time. 
 
 And still the Christ stands there—on the crest 
 of the Andes—lifting the symbols of His gospel 
 so that all who come may known that His spirit 
 has been built into the life of these nations. 
 
 Christ of the Andes, Christ of Everywhere, 
 Great lover of the hills, the open air, 
 
 And patient lover of impatient men 
 
 Who blindly strive and sin and strive again,— 
 Thou Living Word, larger than any creed, 
 
 Thou Love Divine, uttered in human deed,— 
 
 Oh, teach the world, warring and wandering still, 
 Thy way of peace, the footpath of Good Will!? 
 
 Thus, too, the individuals whom we have met 
 in this chapter stand as the representatives of 
 Christ, built into the lives of men. We have seen 
 the leaders. They stand out—as the Christ of 
 the Andes. But in countless communities, in high 
 
 1 Henry van Dyke. 
 162 
 
Results 
 
 and low estate; in Indian villages and in houses 
 of parliament; in factories and in university halls; 
 up and down through Latin America, from north- 
 ern Mexico across the Caribbean and down to the 
 tip of the southern continent, other men and 
 
 women are holding high, today, the cross of Christ. 
 - They are living the gospel of Christ. By their 
 lives they are consecrating the pledge that until 
 these mountains crumble into dust they will stand. 
 forth to proclaim the message they have learned 
 ‘Cat the feet of Christ the Redeemer.’’ 
 
 163 
 
VIII 
 Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 Few sections of Europe are more beautiful than 
 that of the French Savoy. It is a district of 
 wide, fertile valleys and little rivers; of tiny 
 towns, their houses red-tiled and their streets 
 cobbled and quaint; of long, winding ribbons of 
 road that stretch through poplar avenues up into 
 foothills that shoulder Mont Blane. 
 
 I rode, one time, up through a section of the 
 French Savoy by the best bicycle route. All day 
 long, as we journeyed on, we passed, on the road, 
 farmers tilling their land, or going to the market- 
 place, their two-wheeled carts piled high with 
 produce and drawn by lumbering oxen. Late in 
 the afternoon, we approached the town of Cham- 
 bery. The road toward the town wound up a 
 little valley around a great cliff at its farther end. 
 At the highest point of this cliff there stood a 
 great stone cross. The afternoon sun shone upon 
 it—a sort of sacred sentinel on guard over the 
 valley. 
 
 As we passed a French farmer on the road, 
 I stopped him and inquired, in the best French 
 I could summon, the meaning of the cross. He 
 looked up at it as though he had forgotten it was 
 there. 
 
 164 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 **QOh, that!’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t know why it was 
 put there. Years ago the church erected it. I’m 
 not sure that it means anything in particular.’’ 
 
 And we rode on to Chambery, around the cor- 
 ner of the cliff, where a turn of the road con- 
 cealed the cross from view. But I have thought 
 many times since about that cross in the valley 
 of the Oise. To men and women who come and 
 go, in the fields and along the farms, it does not 
 mean ‘‘anything in particular.’’ The truth of 
 the matter is, it stands too far above them. They 
 never see it. It has no relation to their daily 
 work, to the crops and homes, and to the happi- 
 ness of their families. It is forgotten because it 
 is too remote. 7 
 
 But, certainly, the Christ who glorified the 
 Cross never intended that this symbol of his mes- 
 sage should be removed from the folk He came 
 to help. Down there in the valley, among people, 
 Christ would walk, were He to return to earth. 
 And no greater obligation rests upon us who 
 seek to follow Him than to take the Cross and 
 erect it in the homes and lives of men where it 
 will have a daily meaning for them. 
 
 The cross on the cliff above this little French 
 valley typifies, in many ways, the historical re- 
 lation of organized Christianity to the people of 
 Latin America. We ask, or will be asked by 
 others, why we should carry the gospel to a con- 
 
 165 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 tinent where the Roman Catholic Church is so 
 widely organized? And it is true enough that 
 the symbols of the gospel are established in Latin 
 America. On the hills, along the roads, in count- 
 less shrines and churches and cathedrals, the holy 
 emblems of the Christian faith have been erected. 
 But still the Cross, in its true meaning, stands 
 apart from the life of the people. Itis there upon 
 the cliff. And beneath it men and women carry 
 on, day after day, forgetful of its meaning, not 
 knowing its full significance. 
 
 The Evangelical churches are not in Latin 
 America to bring new symbols. They are there 
 to give life to those symbols that are already 
 there. But they are also there to give those sym- 
 bols the secondary place they were intended to 
 hold. Hvery Evangelical missionary, every school 
 and church is giving, not a new Cross and a new 
 Christ, but the same Cross and the same Christ 
 glorified with new meaning and enshrined still 
 on the hills of Latin America, but more in the 
 hearts of Latin American peoples. The Christ— 
 the symbol—may be seen everywhere. The Christ 
 —the life—must be developed. To bring that 
 development is the reason—the one reason—that 
 Protestantism has gone to work in nations where, 
 already, the Roman Catholic Church has been 
 established for centuries. 
 
 It is necessary for us to know that in Latin 
 
 166 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 America the Roman Catholic Church, with its 
 myriad religious symbols, has often crowded out 
 the Christ. There are evidences of religion on 
 every hand. Worship, priests, regular services, 
 bishops, nuns—the outward aspects are there. In. 
 theory, the fundamentals of religion are also there. 
 Roman Catholic theology adheres to a belief in 
 the Holy Trinity; in the divinity of Christ; in the 
 incarnation and the redemptive power of Christ; 
 in the remission of sins; the resurrection from 
 the dead. They have, also, the Bible. 
 
 How, then, do they crowd out the Christ? 
 
 In order to see this, let us enter one of their 
 great cathedrals. It is a beautiful building archi- 
 tecturally. Before it is a wide court. Two mas- 
 sive doors mark the entrance. Inside is semi- 
 darkness. Worshipers entering before us dip 
 their fingers in holy water beside the door, cross 
 themselves devoutly, and slip off to kneel before 
 a holy picture. Down the long depth of the nave 
 stands the altar—the cross above it—soaring 
 toward the great cathedral window. Candles, 
 scores of them, flicker there uncertainly. Threads. 
 of incense drift lazily and scent the air with a 
 heavy fragrance. Along the walls of the cathe- 
 dral are pictures and images of the Virgin Mary 
 and many Saints of the Church. Before these 
 images men and women and little children kneel 
 in worship. But the Christ—where is He? 
 
 167 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 A mass is said. Priests, richly gowned, stand 
 before the altar. Chants—in Latin—are intoned. 
 The worshipers respond. Bells ring and the wor- 
 shipers drop to their knees. Bells ring again and 
 the worshipers rise. There are more chants and 
 responses, and the mass is over. The worshipers 
 depart, dipping their fingers again in the holy 
 water as they go. Most of them do not under- 
 stand the chants that have been said or the 
 prayers that were intoned. They have worshiped 
 —but have they worshiped the Christ? 
 
 The center of the worship often is not the 
 Christ but some saint. The Cross of Christ you 
 may find. There may be an image to the Sacred 
 Heart of Jesus. But these few reminders of the 
 great Personality of the Gospels are overshad- 
 owed by the countless symbols erected to the 
 worship of human beings—elected to sainthood 
 by the Church. 
 
 Here in the North, very often, the Bible has 
 been so easily available that it is unappreciated, 
 particularly among young people. We are hope- 
 lessly unaware of the beauty of the Word. But, 
 more important, we are unaware of the way in 
 which the Bible—opened in the world’s dark 
 places—has brought new light. It is to transmit 
 this Light that the Evangelicals are in Latin 
 America—to give the Bible to the people. 
 
 To cite an illustration, let us take the case of 
 
 168 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 Juan Orts Gonzales. Dr. Gonzales, for nearly 
 forty years, was a Roman Catholic. For twenty- 
 six years he was a Franciscan friar, a Roman 
 Catholic missionary, the president of two Roman 
 Catholic colleges, a scholar in the teachings of 
 the Church, a faithful member of the Church 
 hierarchy. Today he is a Protestant missionary. 
 
 ‘‘T will never abuse the Roman Catholic peo- 
 ple,’’ he writes. ‘‘I love them with all my heart 
 and soul, and I hope to spend all my life preach- 
 ing the gospel among them.”’ 
 
 Why, then, did Dr. Gonzales turn his back upon 
 his family, his friends, his career, to join with 
 those who were seeking to bring the Protestant 
 faith to Latin America? There are several rea- 
 sons which answer that question. They must 
 be set down here because they indicate the need 
 and the challenge of the Latin American field. 
 
 Dr. Gonzales, as a Catholic, believed that none 
 but Catholics could be saved. Yet he saw Prot- 
 estants doing the will of God, as they believed it. 
 He read the New Testament. He became con- 
 vineed that not Catholics alone, but all those who 
 owned the name of Jesus could be saved. 
 
 Then, again, Dr. Gonzales had been taught that 
 not only individuals, but nations, were punished 
 for sinfulness. And yet, Protestant nations— 
 those deserving the greatest punishment accord- 
 ing to Catholic belief—seemed to prosper. In 
 
 169 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 fact, as he traveled through the world, he saw 
 that Protestant countries prospered and were en- 
 lightened; whereas, with great uniformity, coun- 
 tries where Catholic control was most absolute 
 were unenlightened and did not prosper greatly. 
 If Protestantism is wrong, he reasoned, why has 
 God prospered Protestant nations and punished 
 Roman Catholic? 
 
 Another reason—when Dr. Gonzales began the 
 study of the history of early Christianity, he 
 found that it was a faith centered in Christ. The 
 Virgin Mary was not worshiped at all until the 
 fourth century. Furthermore, in the early history 
 of the Church, the infallibility of the Pope was 
 not maintained. These doctrines, held at the cen- 
 tral point of present-day Roman Catholicism in 
 Latin America, were found by Dr. Gonzales to 
 be no part whatever of the faith of the earliest 
 Christians. 
 
 Turning from Catholicism, however, was not 
 easy. For one thing, the many and apparently 
 competing denominations were a stumbling block. 
 But, as he studied, it became apparent that there 
 was greater unity between various Protestant 
 bodies than between the orders of the Catholic 
 Church. ‘‘I discovered with amazement,’’ he de- 
 clared, ‘‘that while Romanists of all orders have 
 an outward union through the Pope, the Prot- 
 estants of all names have a more fundamental, 
 
 170 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 vital, and satisfying unity in Christ and the 
 Bible.’’ 
 
 In realization of that unity and seeing clearly 
 how the people of Latin America were in need 
 of the Christ and the Bible, Dr. Gonzales became 
 a Protestant. There have been other transfor- 
 mations as remarkable as his. And countless men 
 and women passing down the streets and along 
 the roads of Latin America are coming through 
 the influence of Evangelical missionaries to see 
 what the Cross enshrined in their lives can mean. 
 
 The educated classes of Latin America, increas- 
 ingly, are abandoning the Church that has main- 
 tained its religious supremacy for four centuries. 
 The experience of laboratory and library, the 
 growth of new ideas of democracy and freedom 
 of conscience—these are undermining the faith 
 of the people in the established religion. Indif- 
 ference and atheism are on the increase. Many 
 of those who lead the new movements—industrial 
 and intellectual—in Latin America find that the 
 bitterest opposition to liberalism and democracy 
 comes from the Church. Against the Church, and 
 religion, therefore, a very decided suspicion and 
 mistrust has grown up. The intellectual classes, 
 on the one hand, cannot support a religious or- 
 ganization, the teachings of which run counter to 
 their own knowledge. The laboring classes, on 
 the other hand, find the Church standing against 
 
 171 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 them in their struggle for greater industrial free. 
 dom and, as a consequence, they are driven into 
 an open hostility toward religion itself. 
 
 Latin America, politically and economically, is 
 controlled by the influence of some five or six 
 million members of the so-called cultivated, in- 
 tellectual class. In this group are the politicians, 
 legislators, educators, artists, writers, profes- 
 sional men, and outstanding business men. The 
 club and not the cathedral is their center of in- 
 terest. Religion is scoffed at. It is regarded 
 as a relic of other days—outworn and useless 
 for the present. The Roman Catholic Church has 
 little influence with this group. Likewise the 
 humble Evangelical churches very seldom make a 
 point of contact with this class. 
 
 The laboring classes constitute a newly con- 
 scious group in Latin America. Industrial life 
 has only developed in very recent years. But 
 labor organizations have grown with the growth 
 of industry. In Argentina and Chile, Brazil, 
 Uruguay, and Peru there are trade-union organi- 
 zations which have carried on aggressive fights 
 for the winning of labor rights and privileges. 
 The Roman Catholic Church, sensing the power 
 of these organizations, has spent considerable 
 money in an effort to reach the unions. Labor- 
 ing men’s clubs have been formed in many cities. 
 Catholic congresses on labor questions have been 
 
 172 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 held. A great mass of literature has been pub- 
 lished describing the efforts of the Church to help 
 the laboring people. 
 
 And yet the labor movement, for the most 
 part, is strongly anti-ecclesiastical. Anti-reli- 
 gious books have a wide circulation. Then a 
 materialistic, anti-religious point of view has 
 found wide acceptance. Religion, in fact, is reap- 
 ing the harvest that the Roman Catholic Church 
 sowed in standing sponsor, during much of the 
 last four centuries, for methods of exploitation 
 as against methods of freedom and of social 
 progress. 
 
 As a result of the fact that there has been but 
 little preaching of religion as a way of life dur- 
 ing the last four centuries in Latin America, 
 moral standards have been reduced, in many 
 places, almost to the vanishing point. The dean 
 of a great law school declared recently that the 
 faculty had no responsibility whatever for the 
 moral life of the students. Most Latin American 
 universities, in fact, exert no authority whatever 
 over the life of the students outside of their 
 studies. There is no dormitory life, no campus 
 environment. So long as they present themselves 
 at the proper times for their examinations, no 
 other requirement is made. 
 
 Under these conditions vice develops rapidly 
 among the young people. Its development, more- 
 
 173 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 over, is not often hindered by the attitude of the 
 average parent. Immorality in all social classes 
 is not only condoned in many places, but actually 
 recommended. And there is no great moral 
 agency, such as the Church, to stand resolutely 
 for ideals of another sort, and to provide power 
 with which to realize those ideals. 
 
 With sexual immorality go all of the kindred 
 vices—drinking, gambling, widespread dishonesty. 
 Even in countries of such high culture as Peru 
 this moral weakness is apparent. Dr. Javier 
 Prado, rector of the University of San Marcos, 
 declared recently: ‘‘Peru, after having been the 
 seat of most wonderful civilizations, a center of 
 government and of opulence during the Spanish 
 domination, has not developed during the hun- 
 dred years of her autonomy in any adequate way 
 her source of natural vitality and economic well- 
 being; nor in the social and political order has 
 she formed a vigorous and organized national life 
 corresponding to the greatness of her past and 
 to the progress obtained by other American peo- 
 ples. Moral energies have been suppressed. 
 Spiritual oxygen is lacking in the environment 
 of a people who so frequently show themselves 
 sick in thought and sick in will.’’ 
 
 Thus, the Evangelical missionaries to Latin 
 America are confronted with this vast immorality 
 and with the responsibility of introducing imto 
 
 174 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 Latin America a religion that changes men’s lives 
 fundamentally. 
 
 In addition to these classes that are compara- 
 tively untouched by the Christian message, there 
 is a vast territory in Latin America that is al- 
 most wholly beyond the boundaries of any mis- 
 sionary work. This is a continent within a con- 
 tinent—a great empire comprising six million 
 square miles, or four fifths of the area of South 
 America itself. This territory, in which the Evan- 
 gelical message finds practically no representa- 
 tion whatever, is one third the size of the entire 
 continent of Asia and more than one half of the 
 continent of Africa. Without question this ter- 
 ritory beyond the Latin American frontier is the 
 largest region on the earth untouched by Evan- 
 gelical Christianity. 
 
 In this vast interior continent there are but 
 eighty-four Protestant missionary centers. The 
 territory outside the district of these eighty-four 
 centers leaves wholly untouched a section of 
 5,911,600 square miles. 
 
 This is graphically pointed out in the report 
 for the Montevideo Congress: ‘‘If a correspond- 
 ing placement of localities were laid over North 
 America, the five uppermost stations, in the areas 
 considered, would lie along a line of six hundred 
 miles east of the Yukon in northern Canada; the 
 next two would be about seven hundred miles 
 
 175 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 southwest in British Columbia; to these the near- 
 est station eastward would be more than thirteen 
 hundred miles distant on the western shore of 
 Hudson Bay; beyond which, seven hundred miles 
 northeast, the next lone center would fall; a 
 thousand miles southeast and southwest on Hud- 
 son Bay, but more than twelve hundred miles 
 apart, two other centers would touch southern 
 Ontario and Minnesota; a cluster of seven sta- 
 tions would be scattered over Ohio, Indiana, Ken- 
 tucky; another fourteen would fall in Kansas and 
 Nebraska; the remainder of the eighty-four would 
 be scattered through the southern states and down 
 through Mexico to the border of Honduras, some 
 two thousand miles.”’ 
 
 It becomes apparent, therefore, that Latin 
 America is a field of incomparable vastness for 
 missionary effort. There are great classes of the 
 people to whom religion is a thing of disgust, 
 associated with all that they wish to avoid. There 
 are others whom religion has never touched to 
 awaken them to a vision of right living. Then, 
 as we have seen, there is a great continent within 
 a continent in which no Evangelical religious 
 work is being carried on at all—a territory be- 
 yond the frontier, in which dwell some thirty mil- 
 lion people whose greatest need is to be set upon 
 that way of enlightenment which Christ traversed. 
 
 To meet this situation there have gone out, 
 
 176 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 year after year, little groups of men and women 
 enlisted for life in the task of carrying forward 
 the lines of Christian advance. In the great cities 
 of Latin America one comes in touch with the 
 work of these missionaries. Churches have been 
 built and hospitals founded; schools have been 
 opened; and year after year the influence of these 
 new agencies has grown. Religion as the Prot- 
 estants preach it has slowly begun to take on 
 new meaning. Government officials and influen- 
 tial business and professional men who have 
 heretofore spurned religion are gradually awak- 
 ing to see that this kind of religion cannot be 
 spurned; that it stands for the realization of the 
 best ideals for which the real builders of a new 
 Latin America are working. 
 
 Thus, a few years ago, a missionary from Scot- 
 land started a little day-school in Lima, the cap- 
 ital city of Peru. Men and women who realized 
 that the educational standards of this little school 
 were unusual sent their children to the missionary. 
 Today from among the most influential people in 
 the city there are many more applications for 
 the school than can be filled. The missionary has 
 been elected to the most exclusive club of the city 
 and made a professor in the exclusive Univer- 
 sity of San Marcos. Through these contacts the 
 influence of Evangelical Christianity is reaching 
 into circles hitherto untouched. 
 
 177 
 
Looking Ahead wth Latin America 
 
 A different type of work in Peru has received 
 wide recognition. In the remote highlands of 
 Lake Titicaca a significant work among the In- 
 dians is being carried on. Of this work a prom- 
 inent Peruvian declares: ‘‘The way in which the 
 Protestants have intensified their work in the 
 mountains is noble. Their endeavors are inter- 
 esting from the standpoint of moral and civil 
 improvement. They correct the immoral customs 
 of the Indians and, most important, they combat 
 alcoholism, the most terrible enemy of the native, 
 a vice that has been tolerated by the priests in 
 their religious festivities. The Evangelicals, by 
 means of their words and example, both kind and 
 austere, have persuaded the people who visit them 
 to quit their drinking.’’ 
 
 In this center of work there are seventy schools 
 for Indians with an average of fifty students in. 
 each school, all of them taught by Indians. On 
 the great industrial farm, work is carried on 
 which makes these schools almost self-supporting. 
 A normal school is being built. Throughout the 
 entire district the economic as well as the spiritual 
 standards of the people have been raised. Better 
 crops have come as a result of the work of this 
 farm and new methods have been introduced. 
 The director of the farm has become the spokes- 
 man for the Government in matters of road build- 
 ing and other public questions. Christianity, in 
 
 178 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 this district, is being given a new meaning and 
 has a new significance. 
 
 Down in the city of Santiago, Chile, are two 
 great Protestant schools—the Santiago College 
 and the Instituto Inglés. These are not second- 
 rate organizations. The teachers and the stu- 
 dents, alike, have made a place—and a big place 
 —for themselves in the life of the country. The 
 students of the mission colleges and the govern- 
 ment schools mingle freely. A genuine fellowship 
 is developing. Every young Christian student 
 who sits down with a non-Christian student may 
 become, in a very real sense, a spokesman for 
 Christ. Among the women students at the uni- 
 versity, the Young Women’s Christian Associa- 
 tion, but recently organized, has become a signifi- 
 cant influence. The students declared, in the sec- 
 ond year of the organization, that they would 
 carry on all of the local expenses of the Y.W.C.A. 
 themselves. 
 
 The influence of these groups of active, straight- | 
 thinking, straight-living Christians has reached , 
 to those in the highest places of the government. 
 The President of Chile, Sr. Arturo Alessandri, 
 who was elected on a reform platform and backed 
 solidly by the Protestants, declared recently, 
 when presented with a copy of the Bible by rep- 
 resentatives of the Evangelical Union of Santiago: 
 ‘“‘T am a Christian. I believe in the doctrines of 
 
 179 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 Christ. I accept the sound doctrines of the Bible 
 and reject all clerical errors. I raise the white 
 flag to all truth. This book of yours which you 
 present will remain by my side. It will be my 
 guide, and I shall know how to appreciate it at 
 its true worth. If Congress confirms my election, 
 when I come into the Capitol, I will work inces- 
 santly for complete and absolute liberty of con- 
 science. If I enter the nation’s capital the doors 
 will be open to help every good work which you 
 do and you will always occupy a place in my 
 heart.’’ 
 
 In Buenos Aires—a city of two million people 
 —the Y.M.C.A. has nearly four thousand mem- 
 bers. Students of all faiths and of no faith at 
 all have united in a campaign with the Y.M.C.A. 
 to help the needy students of Europe. The 
 Colegio Americano is supported jointly by Meth- 
 odists and Disciples of Christ. Its place is large 
 in the educational life of the city. 
 
 In Montevideo the influence of Evangelicalism 
 is widely apparent. The rector of the University 
 was formerly a teacher in the Methodist Sunday 
 school and was educated in the Waldensian col- 
 ony. The Methodist Church in Montevideo num- 
 bers among its members some of the outstanding 
 men and women in the life of the nation: a justice 
 of the Supreme Court, university professors, 
 prominent business and professional men. 
 
 180 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 Rio de Janeiro has one hundred Evangeli- 
 eal preaching stations. The First Presbyterian 
 Church has a membership of a thousand and an 
 average Sunday-school attendance of a thousand. 
 It maintains social rooms, a printing-press, and 
 a pastor’s residence, and has sent missionaries 
 into remote sections of the country. The member- 
 ship includes members of Congress, bankers, 
 lawyers, physicians, merchants, and literary men, 
 as well as those of humbler station. The gov- 
 ernor of the Brazilian state of Espirito Santo 
 is a member of the Methodist Church. This gov- 
 ernor gives one tenth of his income to the work 
 of the church. 
 
 The papers of Rio have thrown open their col- 
 umns to free discussions of religious problems. 
 The Evangelical hospital in Rio cost $100,000 and 
 that amount was entirely raised by the members 
 of the churches of the city. The Y.M.C.A. raised 
 over $100,000 in the city for its new building. 
 One year after its opening the Y.W.C.A. had 
 twelve hundred members, among them many of 
 the most prominent women of the city. 
 
 One illustration, presented by Dr. Samuel Guy 
 Inman, will indicate how wide is the popular in- 
 terest in religion in Rio and in certain sections 
 of Latin America. Dr. José Carlos Rodriguez was 
 at one time the editor and proprietor of the Jour- 
 nal of Commerce, the largest daily paper in Rio de 
 
 181 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 Janeiro. His understanding of international af- 
 fairs was very profound. But he was particu- 
 larly interested in Bible study. As a young man 
 he had begun that study and continued it into 
 later life. Several years ago, in the columns of 
 his paper, he began to publish a series of articles 
 on the study of the Bible. He became so inter- 
 ested in this project that he sold his paper and 
 has devoted himself to writing on the subject. 
 His great book on the study of the Old Testa- 
 ment is reviewed by the literary critic, Dr. José 
 Ribeiro, in one of the papers of Rio de Janeiro, 
 in part as follows: 
 
 ‘‘This book of Dr. Rodriguez makes us think 
 of new roads that may be opened as an outlet 
 for the religious stagnation. It is not a book of 
 propaganda, but it is a worthy effort and God 
 grant that it may bring results. Books of this 
 kind are what the Latin people need. On reading 
 Dr. Rodriguez’ book we have been impressed with 
 the idea that it is the only book in all our lan- 
 guage that takes into account modern science in 
 the discussion of religion. It does not, however, 
 follow the extreme of the German’s rationalism. 
 On the contrary, it is a book of profound religious 
 faith, which loves discussion and historical criti- 
 cism, in which proof of the truth is found.’’ 
 
 These evidences of the influence of Evangelical 
 Christianity in Latin America might be multi- 
 
 182 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 plied. Slowly, but none the less certainly, a 
 moral and religious awakening is coming in these 
 southern countries. For generations this new 
 conquest of Latin America has been proceeding. 
 The line of Christian advance has been exceed- 
 ingly thin. Missionaries hundreds and thousands 
 of miles apart; remote schools; humble churches; 
 the open Bible; the example of men and women 
 who have been lifted into a higher type of lfe— 
 these have been the materials of this campaign. 
 But now, after these years of work by men and 
 women who have gone out in their youth to give 
 of their whole life, a revival of religion is com- 
 ing. In a thousand places the signs of this new 
 day are apparent. What are we, who live here 
 in North America, who enjoy the easy advantages 
 of our religious freedom, to whom the church and 
 the school are institutions taken for granted— 
 what are we, in this rich continent, to do to help 
 the coming of this new day in Latin America? 
 
 Looking ahead to Latin America’s new day calls 
 to mind a very old picture—one that was enacted 
 in real life. Its scene is laid in an ancient city 
 of the Hast. Hills, barren hills, rise from beyond 
 the city’s wall. Streets are narrow, houses low, 
 and darkened doorways open into tiny courtyards. 
 A stranger has come to this town. His fame has 
 come before him. The town is in excitement. Up 
 
 183 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 in the portico of the great temple elder statesmen 
 of the church, alarmed because of this ‘‘heretic,’’ 
 are gathered in little gesticulating groups de- 
 nouncing him and shaking their heads that people 
 run off after false teachers. Evening is come 
 down from the hills. <A last patch of the day’s 
 sun rests on the highest point and tips the top 
 of a turret over the wall. In the narrow streets 
 it is twilight. Long shadows stretch and lengthen. 
 Somewhere, through a doorway, a baby cries. 
 Three children play some Kastern game in a little 
 square. And under the shadow of the temple the 
 beggars crouch—their hands extended. 
 
 Before the door where the stranger lodges a 
 little crowd has gathered. The sick of the city 
 have come: two blind men, hand in hand; a mother 
 carrying a child whose face is flushed with fever; 
 cripples, with crutches or crawling along the 
 rough-hewn cobbles; a paralytic, carried on his 
 bed by two men. The eyes of them all turn pite- 
 ously toward that open door. The narrow street 
 is darkening. The boys stop their play and edge 
 through the crowd to a place by the door. 
 
 And the stranger comes. The people press for- 
 ward. Their hands go out toward him. A cripple, 
 from the cobbles, reaches up to touch his flowing 
 garments. His eyes smile. He sees the fevered 
 baby. He touches it. The fever goes and the 
 mother, her eyes aglow, sinks to her knees and 
 
 184 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 then hurries joyously down the street through 
 the twilight. 
 
 An hour later—and it is night. The crowd has 
 gone. The stranger too has turned within. The 
 beggars have left their begging before the temple 
 ‘portico. The street is empty. But into a home 
 where a child was at the point of death; and into 
 a hovel where the cripples, at the day’s end, 
 dragged themselves; and into the heart of the 
 paralytic who was borne by two friends—into 
 these places where men and women and children 
 live, the quiet, smiling stranger has entered. And 
 the next morning, when the day has come, the 
 sun glowed down from above the hills, over the 
 turreted walls and into the narrow streets of a 
 different village—different because this man had 
 lodged there. 
 
 It is to follow in the footsteps of the Man of 
 Galilee that men and women have gone to Latin 
 America and to the ends of the earth to bring 
 a gospel of healing and of happiness. It is to 
 complete His work, begun in these ancient villages 
 of the Hast, that missionaries in schools, in hospi- 
 tals, in dispensaries, and churches are continuing 
 to carry on; and that men and women of other 
 lands are consecrating their wealth to the com- 
 pletion of that enterprise. 
 
 Latin America—from the sand-swept plains be- 
 185 
 
Looking Ahead with Latin America 
 
 low the Rio Grande, out across the islands of the 
 Caribbean, along the highlands of the Andes, and 
 the rivers of Brazil, down to the wind-torn Straits 
 of Magellan—Latin America needs new cam- 
 paigners for Christ. It needs those who believe 
 in fellowship and good-will and Christian neigh- 
 borliness; who have a faith that in these southern 
 empires a new Kingdom of the Cross may be 
 upbuilt. 
 
 It is important that we study to know the needs 
 of Latin America. It is much more important 
 to know what we are going to do to meet them. 
 
 186 
 
Note on Pronunciation 
 
 The Spanish language is practically phonetic. Once 
 the sounds of the letters of the alphabet are learned, 
 the pronunciation is simple. In general the conso- 
 nants are pronounced as in English. The few excep- 
 tions are noted below. 
 
 is always 4 as in “father.” 
 
 is always 4 as in “race.” 
 
 is always 6@ as in “meet.” 
 
 is always 6 as in “note.” 
 
 is always 60 as in “moon.” 
 
 after a vowel and followed by a consonant, or 
 
 at the end of a word is like “ee” in “meet”; 
 
 at the beginning of a syllable, or of a word, y 
 
 is a consonant, and is pronounced as in “year.” 
 
 d is as in English; final d is frequently pronounced 
 athe: 
 
 g before e and i has a strong guttural aspiration, 
 similar to ch in German. Before a, and o, 
 and u, g is as in “go.” G in the combination 
 “oui” and “gue” is always hard. 
 
 h is never pronounced. 
 
 j has always the guttural sound of h. 
 
 ll is pronounced as in “brilliant.” 
 
 n is like “ny” in “canyon.” 
 
 r at the beginning of a word, and when doubled, 
 is slightly trilled. 
 
 s and z are like “ss” as in “pass’—never like z. 
 
 4romom & 
 
 Note: The Castilian pronunciation of ¢ and z is 
 not followed in Latin America 
 
 187 
 
A Brief Reading List 
 
 A lengthy list of books on Latin America might be appended 
 to this work, but it seems sufficient to limit the number to a few 
 which deal with the special subject in hand, or provide general 
 information as a background. : 
 
 All those included in the list are recent works, or indispensable 
 because of their value to the understanding of the problems under 
 discussion. Fuller lists may be had from any book-dealer, or 
 from the Committee on Cooperation in Latin America, 25 Madison 
 Avenue, New York City. 
 
 Asterisks indicate books specially recommended for a small ref- 
 
 erence library. 
 
 GENERAL AND DESCRIPTIVE 
 
 South America Today. S. G. Inman. Committee on Coopera- 
 tion in Latin America, New York. 1922. Fifty cents. 
 A booklet dealing with the social and religious situation as 
 observed on a trip through South America. 
 
 Men, Maidens, and Mantillas. S. B. May. Century Co., New 
 York. $3.50. 
 A popular, picturesque sketch of Latin American life today. 
 
 *Tatin America, Its Rise and Progress. F. GARCIA CALDERON. 
 Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. 1919. $4.50. 
 Valuable to all students of South American questions as pre- 
 senting the views of a scholarly Latin American. 
 
 Understanding South America. C. 8. Cooper. George H. Doran 
 Co., New York. 1918. $2.00. 
 An account by a genuinely sympathetic traveler of condi- 
 tions as they exist today in South America. 
 
 * Makers of South America. MarcARETTE DANIELS. Missionary 
 Education Movement, New York. 1916. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 
 75 cents. 
 Biographical sketches of twelve men in different spheres, who 
 have left their impress on South America. They include: 
 Francisco Pizarro, José de Anchieta, José de San Martin, 
 Simon Bolivar, James Thomson, Allen Gardiner, Juan Manuel 
 Rosas, Domingo F. Sarmiento, Dom Pedro II, David Trum- 
 bull, Francisco Penzotti, W. Barbrooke Grubb. 
 
 The New Latin America. J. WarsHaw. T. Y. Crowell Co., 
 New York. 1922. $3.00. 
 A comprehensive account of the march of progress in Latin 
 America, with a fine estimate of the part played therein by 
 missions. 
 
 188 
 
A Brief Reading List 
 
 Latin America. Wutt1am R. SHEPHERD. (Home University 
 Library of Modern Knowledge.) Henry Holt, New York. 
 1914. Fifty cents. An excellent and concise account, very 
 valuable for reference. 
 
 History 
 
 *The Rise of the Spanish-American Republics. As Told in the 
 Lives of Their Liberators. W. S. Rosperrson. D. Appleton 
 and Co., New York. 1921. $3.00. 
 
 A somewhat detailed history based on the original sources of 
 the recent developments of the Spanish-American Republics. 
 
 * Journal of First Voyage to America. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 Albert and Charles Boni, New York. 1924. $3.50. 
 An abstract from the original log of this momentous voyage 
 which gave the New World to European civilization. Of 
 special help in the study of the West Indies, Colombia, and 
 Venezuela. 
 
 Hispanic Nations of the New World; a chronicle of our southern 
 neighbors. Wutt1aAM R. SHEPHERD. Yale University Press, 
 New Haven, Conn. 1919. $1.75. 
 
 GOVERNMENTAL AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 
 
 * Problems in Pan-Americanism. 8. G. InMan. George H. Doran 
 Co., New York. 1921. $2.00. 
 A discussion of the present-day problems which affect the 
 relations of the American republics. Contains good bibliog- 
 raphy. 
 
 MExIco 
 
 Mewico Today. G. B. Winton. Missionary Education Movement, 
 New York. 1916. Out of print, but available in many 
 libraries. 
 
 This book, although somewhat out of date, still has value 
 in present-day studies. 
 
 *The Social Revolution in Mexico. HE. A. Ross. Century Co., 
 New York. 1923. $1.75. 
 
 This well-known sociologist, author of South of Panama, 
 tells in this book his impressions of recent movements in 
 Mexico. 
 
 Beautiful Mexico, VERNON Quinn. F, A. Stokes Co., New York. 
 1924. 
 
 A delightful treatment of the story, legends, and scenic 
 charm of Mexico. 
 189 
 
A Brief Reading List 
 
 THe West INDIES 
 
 Through Santo Domingo and Haiti. S. G. Inman. Committee 
 on Cooperation in Latin America, New York. Fifty cents. 
 The report of a visit made to these republics in the summer 
 of 1919 by the Secretary of the Committee on Cooperation in 
 Latin America. 
 
 Crusading im the West Indies. W.I. Jornpan. Fleming H. Revell 
 Co., New York. 1922. $1.75. 
 
 A record of twelve years’ work, chiefly in Cuba and Haiti, 
 in the interests of Bible work. 
 
 CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 *The Five Republics of Central America. Dana G. Muwnro. 
 Carnegie Foundation, New York. 1922. $3.50. 
 One of the most concrete studies of the republics of Central 
 America. Particularly helpful to an understanding of social 
 and economic conditions. 
 
 SoutH AMERICA 
 
 The Brazilians and Their Country. C. F. Cooper. Heinemann 
 and Co., London. 1920. 
 A sympathetic study of this great republic and its people. 
 
 * Working North from Patagonia. Harry A. FRANCK. Century 
 Co., New York. 1921. $5.00. 
 This is the final volume of Mr. Franck’s story of his vaga- 
 bond journey through Latin American countries. It deals 
 particularly with his experiences in Brazil. | 
 
 Two Thousand Miles through Chile. Earu C. May. Century 
 Co., New York. 1924. $3.50. 
 The above volume deals interestingly with this little republic 
 on the west coast. 
 
 The Colombian and Venezuelan Republics. W.L. Scruaes. Little, 
 Brown and Co., Boston. 1919. $2.50. 
 
 RELIGIouS CONDITIONS AND CHRISTIAN WorK 
 
 South American Problems. Rozert E. Speer. Student Volunteer 
 Movement, New York. 1912. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 75 cents. 
 It was this book, written after the visit of the author to 
 South America in 1909, that first fairly stated the case for 
 Evangelical missions in Roman Catholic America. 
 
 * Roman Catholicism in Latin America. WrBSTER E. BROWNING. 
 Fleming H. Revell Co., New York. 1924. $1.00. 
 
 190 
 
A Brief Reading List 
 
 An especially valuable book to supplement the study of the 
 religious situation. 
 
 *New Days in Latin America. WEBSTER E. BROWNING. 
 Missionary Education Movement, New York. 1925. Cloth, 
 $1.00; paper, 60 cents. 
 
 A careful study of the conditions and opportunities in the 
 Latin American world, giving the results of the author’s 
 thirty years of observation, travel, and study. 
 
 Modern Missions on the Spanish Main. W. REGINALD WHEELER 
 and WeEsSTER E. Browning. Presbyterian Board of Publica- 
 tion, Philadelphia. 1925. $2.00. 
 
 A study of Protestant missions in Colombia and Venezuela. 
 
 * Glimpses of Indian America. W. F. Jorpan. Fleming H. 
 Revell Co., New York. 1923. $1.75. , 
 A study of the Indian situation in Mexico, Central America, 
 Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador, by a Secretary of the American 
 Bible Society. 
 
 * Curistian Work IN SourH America. The official report of the 
 Congress on Christian Work in South America, at Montevi- 
 deo, Uruguay, April, 1925. Fleming H. Revell Co., New 
 York. $4.00 per set of 2 vols. Ready in autumn, 1925. 
 Indispensable for collateral use in any thorough study of the 
 social and religious situation in South America today. The 
 following are the commission reports with the names of the 
 respective chairmen: 
 
 Unoccupied Fields. Charles T. Paul. 
 
 Indians. Dr. William I. Haven. 
 
 Education. Dr. Frank K. Sanders. 
 
 Evangelism. Dr. Charles M. Braden. 
 
 Social Movements. Miss Elizabeth McFarland. 
 
 Health Ministry. 
 
 Church in the Community. Bishop Francis J. McConnell. 
 
 Religious Education. Dr. Eric North. 
 
 Literature. Dr. Harry Farmer. 
 
 Relations between Foreign and National Workers. Dr. E. 
 H. Rawlings. 
 
 Special Religious Problems. Dr. John A. Mackay. 
 
 Cooperation and Unity. Dr. 8S. H. Chester. 
 
 A Church in the Wilds. W. B. Gauss. E. P. Dutton and Co., 
 New York. 1914. $2.50. 
 A first-hand description of the work of the South American 
 mission among the Indian tribes of the Paraguayan Chaco. 
 
 ph bs 
 
A Brief Reading Last 
 
 Indians of Latin America. Committee on Cooperation in Latin 
 America, New York. 1924. Fifteen cents. 
 A pamphlet giving an excellent, although necessarily brief, 
 survey. 
 
 LITERATURE 
 
 Ariel. Jos&% E. Ropvo. Translated by F. J. Stimson. Houghton 
 Miffin Co., Boston. $1.25. : 
 ‘A remarkable and inspiring treatise comparing the philosophy 
 of life of North and South Americans, from the point of 
 view of a Latin American. 
 
 192 
 
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