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[[start page 1]] [[bold]] Buenos Aires Band Plays Song Of Home For Georgian [[/bold]][[stamped]] June 21, 1939 [[/stamped]] But Musicians Get No Tip When Leader Selects 'Marching Through Georgia' [[bold]] By W. H. SHIPPEN, Jr., [[/bold]] Star Staff Correspondent Buenos Aires. - The restaurant orchestra played requests for the sentimental sons of various lands - Germany, England, Italy, Scandinavia. It seemed a good idea to one so long and far from home that a Viennese waltz sounded as foreign as the drinking song which Nazi storm troopers lift beer steins in Berlin. Perhaps I was a bit homesick. After all, the U.S.A. is not such a bad spot. It has its faults, of course, but I was willing to overlook a lot of the, after bring surrounded, for so many weeks, by people who spoke only Spanish, however melodious; or German, Italian, French and English - however correctly British. I was beginning to feel like that friend of mine, the New York policeman, who, six weeks away from the force, and the finest little flat in Brooklyn, was privileged to go aboard one of three United States Navy cruisers in port there, as a guest at the admiral's reception. Colored lights, flags and bunting were out; the Navy had its best foot forward, and the band cracked down on a Sousa march! [[bold]] Uncle Sam's Beard [[/bold]] "I went out forward under the stars," the policeman said, "and I looked back at the lights and the sailor boys in their uniforms, with the pretty girls on their arms. I looked at all those big cannons, all shining and bright. They were polite, but ready. I said to myself, 'Jack, maybe you had to come 6,000 miles to see it, but Uncle Sam's beard still grows to his toes!'" That's how I felt. I wanted something of the flavor and tang of the states - a tune from the orchestra to applaud for the memories it evoked. I was like a college boy at an intersectional football game. The orchestra leader was more than willing to oblige . . . request numbers usually were followed up by a round of beers for the boys at the instruments. The orchestra knew a lot of swing tunes, thanks (more or less) to the radio, and a Hollywood theme song or two - none of them seemed to fit, somehow. "Yankee Doodle"? . . . "The Sidewalks of New York"? . . . "Memphis Blues" . . . [[bold]] He Got the Idea. [[/bold]] The orchestra leader was flustered. He and his assistants, on their balcony above the floor of the restaurant, ransacked ancient deposits of musical scores . . . all in vain. "Dixie"? Ah, the orchestra leader had the idea at last! He came down from his balcony and bowed: "You are a North American Southerner, no?" "Yes," I grinned - the words were music to my ears, "I'm a native of Georgia." "To the Georgian of North America, then!" cried the leader. He mounted to his balcony. His men sifted their music and settled themselves. With a flourish of the leader's fiddle bow, the orchestra swept into . . . "Marching Through Georgia!" If Sherman failed to get his beer from Atlanta to the sea, he was no dryer, at conclusion of his adventure, than that Buenos Aires German band! [[end page 1]] [[start page 2]] [[bold]] Statesmen Blamed For Drop in Sales In South America [[/bold]] JUN 19 1939 [[bold]] Speeches, Possibly for 'Back Home,' Declared Hurting Business [[/bold]] [[bold]] By W. H. SHIPPEN, Jr., [[/bold]] Star Staff Correspondent BUENOS AIRES. - It takes a lot of discouragement to beat down an American salesman. His optimism, persuasiveness and sticking power have overcome my own feeble sales resistance too often to deny that; in addition, I have watched him at work on people whose purchases amounted to something. The American salesman hasn't been beaten here yet, but he's absorbing plenty of punishment. One encounters him (though not so frequently as in previous years, I'm told) on steamers, in hotel lobbies and the smoking rooms of railway trains. He's still grinning, and able to crack a good joke, but one gets the impression that it isn't the Pullman smoker story, told by the man who's done a good day's work, sold his quota and is now relaxing - rather, it's by the fellow who's whistling in the dark, who's done his best and still is wondering if he has hisjob. If the sales manager back home is satisfied enough with his showing to send a regular remittance to the wife and kids. [[bold]] Broadcasts Hurt Sales. [[/bold]] Perhaps it's been chance, but most of the salesmen I've bumped into down here are from the Middle West--farm machinery, automobiles, rolling stock. They have the kind of goods that the Argentine wants, and is willing and able to pay for-- he's been doing it for years. But political broadcasts from the States kill sales, they say, which customers here are willing to negotiate despite the duty barrier. A Middle-Western statesman gets up in Washington to discuss, for ex- ample, the attempt by the Navy to buy canned beef from the Argentine. Perhaps he's talking for home consumption, for the farm voters who sent him to Congress--perhaps he hasn't thought, or doesn't care, what effect his words will have out- side the States. Yet his remarks, along with va- rious amplifications, are printed in full by Buenos Aires newspapers, down to the last word. Here's an American statesman slandering the product of the Argentine--beef-- on an issue no more important than the buying of a few thousand dol- lars worth of tinned meat. [[bold]] Propaganda Kept Going. [[bold]] A German, Italian or British sales- man is doubly armed with such a clipping in his pocket. The politi- cians here, it is said, do what they can to keep anti-Amrican propa- ganda going. It helps them to ex- plain to a public which wants to buy American automobiles and farm ma- chinery the high duties and other restrictions they put on these prod- ucts--for example, the low-interest government bonds which American importers of automobiles had to buy before they could obtain permits to do further business. The sanitary agreement, by which the Argentine and the United States could exchange meats, under dual government inspection for possible importation of diseases, apparently is still far from ratification by Con- gress. This is another talking point for foreign salesmen. They seem to be giving their competitors from the United States a pretty thorough going over. For example, just try to buy a popular brand of United States cig- arette here, or a safety razor, or soap--any of a dozen standard things people have grown accus- tomed to in the States. Cigarettes, it's true, are bootlegged, except for one brand, which has established its own factory here, and there are Ger- British and Italian substitutes for other requirements. [[bold]] Loses Big Contract.[[/bold]] The day that Congress debated the question of whether the Navy should buy Argentine canned meat, a salesman acquaintance of mine, not having seen the late editions of the local papers, called on the purchasing agent of a government railroad here to sign the contract for delivery of $2,000,000 worth of rolling stock from a Middle-West- ern mill. The contract, he was curtly in- formed, had been let to a German firm. "It went out the window as far as we were concerned," said the salesman. He tossed his cigar from the smoker in which we were riding. The stub vanished in a quick shower of sparks. "It would be easier to get that cigar back," he said, "than next year's contract!" But you can't beat a salesman. I offered him one of my cigars, and he took it! He even grinned when he lighted it! "If this cigar came from Wash- ington," he said, "here's to the pol- iticians!" He made a wry face. I don't know if it was the tobacco or the thought of the politicians which got him! [[3rd Article]] [[bold]] Patagonian Border Was Once Lost, but Edward VII Fixed It [[/bold]] [[bold]] Often Chilean Must Cross Into Argentina to Travel in Own Country [[/bold]] [[bold]] By W. H. SHIPPEN, Jr., [[/bold]] Star Staff Correspondent. BUENOS AIRES.-They lost the border in Patagonia; it just came down out of the Andes and wandered off among the lakes and rivers. Nobody could find it for a long time. The settlers, who fortunately were a bit scarce at that time period, sometimes couldn't be sure if they were Chileans or Argentines. [[image-photo of Shippen]]4[[bold]] W. H. Shippen, Jr. [[/bold]] They didn't know whether to be angry with Argentina for trying to appropriate Chilean territory or indignant with Chile for reaching from the Pacific Coast beyond the high crest of the Andes into lands on the Atlantic side. Further north the problem was simpler. The Andes ran almost due north and south, their great divide separating the tributaries of the two oceans. Here was a tangible international boundary, abrupt enough in some parts for a man to straddle. Often the border wasn't visible because of the height, the ice, snow and clouds-but at least the citizens of the two republics knew where it was! [[bold]] Inconsistency of Andes [[/bold]] The pioneers who ventured into Patagonia, however, leaned they couldn't rely on the consistency of the Andes. Far east of that tremendous mountain barrier they found lakes and streams draining into the Pacific. For example, just south of Bariloche, which lies on the Atlantic side of the Andes, we stood within a stone's throw of two streams, one running into the Atlantic and the other cutting through the Andes to the Pacific. A generation or so ago a lot of people got worked up over the boundary dispute. The Chileans claimed the country drained by rivers that flowed into the Pacific, while the Argentines insisted that the highest peaks of the Andes outlined the natural border. [[bold]] Agreed to Arbitrate. [[/bold]] There was talk of war and some blood was spilled. The South Americans, however-whose history shows they are more level-headed here than in regions farther north-agreed to arbitrate. They put the matter up to Queen Victoria, who died before she could pass on the question. Her successor, King Edward VII, took up the problem. He drew a line on the map. Chile and the Argentine were separated. In some localities a Chilean must cross into Argentina to reach his own country, and vice versa. But the gentlemen of Argentina and Chile are pretty good sports. They asked the English King to draw the line. He did, and now they're willing to let it go at that-win, lose or draw!
