THE HEMISPHERE: Yo-Yos from Immutables

Washington’s Latin American circles were abuzz with an acid anecdote last week. A Peruvian surgeon and a Venezuelan architect (so the story ran) were dining with two men from the U.S. State Department. They discussed whose profession was the oldest. “Mine,” said the surgeon, “God created Eve out of Adam’s rib . . . by a surgical operation.” “Mine,” said the architect, “God first created the world out of chaos . . . the work of an architect.” The two State Department men kept mum. “And what do you say?” the Latin Americans finally asked. Said one of the State Department men: “We were wondering who created chaos.”

As U.S.-Latin American policy drifted sluggishly around Argentina’s request for a Pan-American conference (TiME, Nov. 6), Latin Americans floundered in chaos. Said one Latin diplomat: “Take a look! The Pan American Union accepts Argentina’s request unanimously. Notes are sent to 20 nations. The State Department ‘Immutables,’ consulted by us, say they will not impede such a meeting. We go back to our chancellories and cook up suggestions to send to our Governments. Then we are told by our Foreign Ministers that U.S. Ambassadors have pressed them to take no initiative. At this rate the Argentines won’t get their conference until even their meat cans are wrinkled.

“So back we go to the State Department. The Immutables look graver than usual. They have sent no instructions to the Ambassadors. They don’t know what we are talking about. There are cold eyes, metallic smiles and silence.

“Then our inferiority complexes come to the surface. We feel that our noses are shiny. We stumble over chairs, drop books or ash trays when we put an elbow on the desks of the Immutables. If at that moment a little Immutable would hand us a yoyo, the tension would be broken. We’d have something in our hands to play with.”

Postwar Kindergarten. One yo-yo had been given the Latins: the State Department’s current series of “Informal Talks” about postwar organization. At the first two, the Latin diplomats sat like school children (they claimed), while Acting Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius told them about the postwar world. At the third “Talk” last week, Uruguay and Venezuela protested against the postwar plan sketched out at Dumbarton Oaks. Other protests were expected.

The Latins were far from united, but most felt that “Talks” were not a satisfactory substitute for a full-fledged conference of Foreign Ministers to discuss the postwar world and the vexed question of Argentina. Some diplomats suspected that the State Department was planning to broaden the “Talks” until it could say: “What is there left to talk about?”

But the Latins could hope that the chaos would not last much longer. Washington buzzed with rumors of imminent changes in the State Department.