OCTOBER, 1929

aculturalinterchangebetweentheamericas

MANY of the agen-cies which arehelping to drawthe Americas

closer together either workso quietly that the generalpublic rarely hears of them,or else are individuallysmall, seemingly of littlemportance, though of greatsignificance when one dis-covers bow numerous andhow constant and how ef-fective these small factorsare.

Since Porto Rico is Span-ish-American in its past,Anglo-Saxon in its present,and, I trust, in the deepestsense Pan-American in itsfuture, I shall note brieflysome of these unofficial cul-tural interexchanges as wein the University of PortoRico have seen them ac-tually at work on the is-land . The university withits bilingual and bi-cultural program hasbeen especially active in fostering suchinterchanges, and, to use a time honoredmetaphor, we have been able to observethrough the press of the Americas, bowthe ripples have continued widening fromevery pebble tossed into the Caribbean.Some of you may remember, for example,the accounts of the bi-lingual debate be-tween Yale university and the Universityof Porto Rico, which took place thisspring. On that occasion the young met:from Yale, North-American all of them,spoke brilliantly in Spanish against Im-perialism, which was defended by thePorto Rican debaters . On the followingevening these latter youthful Americancitizens whose native language is Spanish,attacked Imperialism, in English, in theirturn, and were answered by the Yalegroup. The delight and interest of theaudience, and their equal pleasure inboth groups of debaters, were apparentat every moment. The four days duringwhich the young visitors from the northwere in Porto Rico were of real impor-tance, both on account of the impressionwhich they left and because of the impres-sion which they carried back north withthem .We have a regrettable tendency in most

MUNA LEE AND HER SON LUISIT () MUNOZ LEE

parts of the modern world to underesti-mate the importance of methods of cook-ery. Yet, bow often international misun-derstanding is complicated by preparingthe right food in the wrong way! TheUniversity of Porto Rico is doing its bestto forestall any further such complica-tions as regards the Americas by prepar-ing a series of bulletins on tropical foods,under the direction of its department ofhome economics. We have in the tropicsmany fruits and vegetables which shouldbe a valuable addition to your diet ; youhave many which we need and are begin-ning to acclimatize as well as import .Moreover, recipes should be both inter-changeable and adaptable. When I speakof your familiarizing yourself with ourfruits and vegetables I am not thinkingof the more spectacular varieties-thepink coconuts, for instance, which arefound in a few spots in Porto Rico andthe Philippines ; and the white egg-plant,with fruit the color and size of an egg,a native of our part of the world and thevariety which gave the familiar name tothe species; and the rose-apple which isalmost as a much flower as a fruit. I re-fer rather to such every-day practical vege-tables as the yautia, which is-how shallwe describe it?-like a potato that grows

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by muna lee,ex '12famoussooner poetandstateswomanalready buttered, with noneof the potato's drawbacksand all its advantages! Itis nourishing and delicious,but does not make one puton flesh. The university'sbulletins on tropical vegeta-bles give methods of pre-paring these and manyothers . Some of them aretraditional tropical recipes,brought i n t o accordancewith modern knowledge ofdietetics ; some are frankand delightful exportationsfrom the United States . Ouradaptations

o fnorthernrecipes might amaze you,at times; just as we areamazed to see you makingsalads of alligator pears.We use the alligator pearfor almost everything else,but the mere thought ofadding more oil to that oil-iest member of the vegeta-ble kingdom seems to us

eccentric beyond words. Have you evercut it into little cubes and scattered themover a clear soup with which they blenddeliciously? Out of the dozen satisfyingways in which it may be eaten, won't youtry this one, next time, in the interest ofinternational understanding?The purpose of the university of Porto

Rico has been not merely to introducewhat is best from our university systemin the States, but to conserve the rich His-panic culture of the Porto Rican past : tomake the island a point of confluence ofthese two magnificent currents . It is aNorth American university in a SpanishAmerican environment! We feel each ofthese two factors to be an advantage. Tothe university have come, for instance,some of the greatest figures in the intellec-tual life of contemporary Spain: men suchas Dr. Tomas Navarro Tomas, AmericoCastro, and Fernando de los Rios . I men-tion them not merely for their own emi-nence and the benefits they have conferredon our university, but in order to speak ofan important cultural agency developedby Spain, whose example in this theUnited States would do well to adopt.

Spain bas never reconciled herself tothe loss of her Spanish American colonies,and in many ways, indeed, has never lost

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them wholly . And now, Spain has decidedto reconquer them . Not as colonies, notas territories, but as the inheritors and de-velopers of that culture which made theGolden Age of Spain magnificent beyondany other triumphant epoch of the world.And as agents of this re-conquest, the In-stituciones Culturales Espanoles, the Span-ish Cultural Institutions, are being estab-lished throughout the Hispanic world.Ours in Porto Rico was the third to beestablished ; they exist also in Chile, Ar-gentina, Santo Domingo, Mexico, Cuba,New York, and elsewhere. Their purposeis purely cultural : they take no part, nointerest, in politics, commerce nor any-thing other than the conservation andgrowth of what is legitimately Spanish inSpanish America. The Cultural in PortoRico, for example, has been generous ingiving the aid which has made it possiblefor our university, a young school con-fronted with great financial difficulties,to number among its faculty those menI have mentioned, and others : men whohave filled chairs at Oxford, Cambridge,Columbia, Hamburg and Vienna, andwhom we could not have called to us foryears to come, without this aid. One ofthem, explaining their role in this hemis-phere, said simply, "We are missionaries" ;and all who have been benefited by theirmission will, I am sure, agree with mein hoping that such missionaries may con-tinue to come; and to wish that the UnitedStates might establish similar culturalagencies . If we had a cultural center forthe United States in each of the countriesmentioned, distinct from politics and com-merce, a center such as these Spanish Cul-turales which ask nothing but an oppor-tunity to contribute to the enrichment ofthe national life, I am sure we should feelthe benefit in every way-even commer-cially and politically . I might add thatthese are not established by the Spanishgovernment but by the voluntary associa-tion of enlightened Spaniards resident inthe different countries .That, by the way, indicates a very im-

portant source of mutual friendship ormisunderstanding : the North Americansresident in Latin America and the LatinAmericans resident here . One need notgo into details of the criticisms usuallylevelled against such groups . Basically,criticism reduces itself to the elementalfact that a resident in a foreign countryis generally a transient and adopts theviewpoint of a transient - which doesnot make for good fellowhship. The im-portant thing in such a relationship isto do away with foregone conclusions andkeep an open mind . If to this may beadded a real interest in one's environment,no problems are likely to arise.THE lack of understanding that comes

from actual ignorance is notorious.Most North Americans know nothingeven of Porto Rico, which has been underthe Stars and Stripes for thirty years ; so

BUST OF MUNOZ-RIVERAKnown as the George Washington of

Porto Rico, Munoz-Rivera was LuisitoMunoz Lee's grandfather . This bust isin the principal park of San Juan .

THE SOONER MAGAZINE

it is hardly surprising that they are aptto confuse Uruguay with Uganda . Onlylast week, in Washington one of the mosteminent scientists of the United States, aman whose name is known all over theworld and with whose achievements weare all familiar, said to me, speaking ofour recently appointed governor, "I sup-pose he has a hard task ahead in PortoRico, with all those scattered islands hav-ing no settled government ." Porto Ricois one island, one very small island al-most exactly the size of Long Island, andits government house, still in use, wasalready hoary with age when the Pilgrimslanded at Plymouth! It has, moreover, along tradition of obtaining legislation bypeaceful methods ; it was the only Spanishcolony of the New World which in allits history never had a revolution . Yetthough Porto Ricans have been citizensof the United States for more than aquarter century, I have heard a very dis-tinguished southern writer ask my hus-band with keen interest, "What do youpeople think of your king?"One important and too little recognized

factor in removing or in creating misun-derstanding is fiction. The North Ameri-can in a Spanish story is apt to be tall,uncouth, and childish in everything ex-cept his ability to strike a bargain, if aman: and arrogant, domineering and ugly,if a woman. The Latin American of theNorth American films and the blood-and-thunder novel is like something that neverwas on land or sea. Our novelists whowrite about Spanish America have usuallyspent only a few months there at themost; and even the Spanish phrases sup-posed to give color to their books are al-most always wrong, in grammar and inspelling. Too many are like the travelerwho saw Latin America on foot, and inhis book about his trip, bitterly criticizesthe inhospitality of the "Latin Americans"because an Indian family in a stone buthigh up in the Andes were afraid to lethim in when he suddenly appeared attheir door one night demanding foodfrom their inadequate stores . And yet,even according to his own story, he wasultimately given not only food but shelterin spite of the natural lack of enthusiasmof his involuntary hosts lThere is at least one American writer

who is doing golden service in helpingto break down these barriers of ignorance.Constance Lindsay Skinner has writtena delightful book for boys, The TigerWho Walks Alone, in which the hero isa South American revolutionist who isa gentleman and a patriot and, what ismore, displays that sense of humor whichall Spanish Americans have in real lifebut which they all seem to lose in fiction .She has also a book on California, TheRanch Of the Golden Flowers, in whichthe inter-action of Spanish and Anglo-Saxon traits are sympathetically portrayed.The same author's publishers announce a

OCTOBER, 1929

new novel for fall publication, Red Wil-lows with North American and LatinAmerican characters, in which we mayconfidently expect a similarly faithful, dis-cerning and illuminating portrayal.

Translators, again-the most abusedand patient lot of folk on earth-are help-ful in making us better acquainted ;though we hope the time will soon comewhen citizens of the twenty-one republicswill no longer need translators . There isno reason for our not speaking each oth-er's language . Among these translators wemay mention Alice Stone Blackwell, IsaacGoldberg, the late Thomas Walsh. Wemay recall also such friendly gestures asthat of Harriet Monroe who dedicated anentire number of her magazine, Poetry,to poets of Spanish America; and MrGoldberg's services in writing and Knopf'sin publishing his studies of Latin-Ameri-can poets. Ernesto Montenegro, on theother hand, has introduced Sandburg,Frost, Robinson, Masters, and many otherNorth American poets to the Spanishreading public . In fact, there are a dozentranslators of our writers into Spanish forevery one who translates from Spanish in-to English. Babbitt and Main Street havebecome familiar terms in Spanish Ameri-ca ; and many commentators in the Span-ish press have called gleeful attention tothe fact that gentlemen prefer blondesbut marry brunettes .Harvard university has just initiated an

investigation w h i c h w i 1 l undoubtedlyprove to be a valuable contribution toknowledge, and incidentally to friendship .A committee has been appointed, withfive years to work in, to complete a bib-liography for each of the Latin Americanrepublics. One of the members of this

committee, Doctor Waxman, visited PortoRico, Santo Domingo, and Cuba, a shorttime ago, and the reception which he re-ceived in these places evidenced their ap-preciation of the interest shown in theirwriters by the great northern university .These investigators may well prove to becultural missionaries in the sense in whichour visiting professor from Spain usedthe word .

GAIN, the Inter American Commis-sion of Women is a very vigorous

and a very friendly force in promotingfriendship and understanding . It is theillustrious offspring of an agency, at firstpurely unofficial-a committee of four, ofthe National Woman's Party-which wonpopular and governmental approval re-sulting in the official creation of the pres-ent body . It consists of one representativefrom each of the countries of the PanAmerican Union, appointed by the sixthPan American Conference to determinethe present status of women in these twen-ty-one countries and to make a reportto the seventh conference when it meetsin Montevideo in 1933 ; together with rec-ommendations looking toward the estab-lishment of equal rights for men andwomen in this hemisphere . The commis-sion's first year has largely been devotedto the vexed question of the nationality ofmarried women and their children ; asubject so vital and immediate that it hasclaimed the attention of the press all overthe world, thereby serving to introducethe purposes and methods of the com-mission under highly favorable circum-tances . The consequent friendly and wide-spread response throughout the Americashas been overwhelming proof that women

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PORTO RICO

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-and, I assume, men-in our differentcountries can co-operate quickly, efficient-ly, and delightfully, once their interest isreally aroused and they are convinced ofthe need of action .Another example of such co-operation

is the institute of Public Affairs of theUniversity of Virginia . The growth andincreasing interest in the round table onLatin American relations is proof of thegeneral desire for accurate knowledge, thedetermination to do away with old bar-riers of ignorance and misunderstanding .Williamstown has for some years pastbeen proving the same thing.Last year, in another section of the in-

stitute mentioned above, some one madea stirring plea for fewer and better bill-boards . The reason was the wholly inade-quate one of delivering our landscapefrom defacement . But how many havestopped to think in how great part bill-boards and other advertising representus and misrepresent us abroad? Too oftenour advertising is written for that mythicalLatin-American of the cheap novels-theone who, fortunately, has never existedin human form . But many pages of ad-vertising matter carry material written forhis presumable taste and creating an un-conscious prejudice against the UnitedStates . In our advertising in English herein the states, we often show a fine imag-ination, poetic and practical at the sametime . It would be helpful in many waysif we employed those qualities in the mat-ter sent to advertise our products in Span-ish America. Even matter which is ex-cellently presented in English may notprove effective nor even intelligible inSpanish: This is particularly true of thatfavorite device of our advertisers, an ap-

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peal based on a pun; which of courseloses all effect in a foreign language .

"I cannot understand," a puzzled Do-minican said to me as he studied a largeand striking bill board, "why the factthat that extremely attractive child wantsto go to bed should presumably induceme to buy a new tire for my car!"

Science of course, is the great interna-tional bond . Especially, has medical re-search helped to unite investigators in thishemisphere . It has been prophesied thatthe next quarter century will be the great-

N 1892 the . Territorial University ofOklahoma invited the youth of itsseven counties : "Any young man or

woman who has finished the course in agood country school may enter the univer-sity and find educational work and awelcome."These words were written with deliber-

ate seriousness for in 1892 the TerritorialUniversity of Oklahoma had the spiritualcommodities of work and cheer to offer inplenty . Of material things it had little .The equipment it did possess was morediscouraging than encouraging .

So it was that the Territorial Univer-sity of Oklahoma began its existence byplacing importance on cheer and work,the things of the spirit . So it is that per-haps because of this quite elemental be-ginning it has grown into the presentmagnificent State University of Oklaho-ma, with an annual enrollment of 5,000students and several millions of dollars in-vested in buildings and grounds.This far in our history mention has been

made only of the abstract things of the

WOMEN'S DORMITORY AT UNIVERSITY OF PORTO RICO

est yet known in the history of TropicalMedicine ; and American research, north,south, and central, is already playing avery important part in making it great.Men like Ashford in Porto Rico, Lutz inBrazil, Iturbe in Venezuela, by their or-ganized work of investigation and theirgenerous interchange of ideas, are of thenoblest type of international mediator .

I have mentioned almost at random anumber of different agencies, some largeand some small but all helping to makeup the sum total of influence. These, and

PART I

university's birth and early existence. Tounderstand the concrete side of the de-velopment it is best to listen to Dr . DavidRoss Boyd, the university's first president,tell of it and to hear the chuckles andanecdotes of Dr. S. Roy Hadsell, who asplain Roy Hadsell, undergraduate, servedDoctor Boyd as secretary.Today Doctor Boyd is more than seven-

ty years old. He is tall, his body struc-ture is accented, his eye is alert and hisvoice still holds a chuckle. He is of thestuff of pioneers .That his work was to be the work of

a pioneer becomes obvious when we viewwith Doctor Boyd in retrospect the physi-cal appearance of Norman, O.T ., the siteselected in 1890 by the territorial legisla-ture for the University of Oklahoma.

"I got off the train on the hot afternoonof August sixth in 1892 . You too haveexperienced August afternoons in Okla-homa . It is probable you have experiencedthem on trains . At any rate you know thatafter that trip my spirits were none toohigh .

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dozens of others, are unceasingly at work .And the rest of us will benefit by theirwork if we permit ourselves to do so .When my little sister was ten years

old, I gave her a Spanish First Readerand began teaching her Spanish. After aweek or so of the book with its storiesand pictures of children in the Spanishcountries, she exclaimed one day, "Why,those people speak differently but theyare really just like we are!"

It was the most important lesson shelearned that summer .

MY DAYS AS FIRST UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTTold by Dr. David Ross Boyd to Dr. Roy Hadsell, '04,

and Betty Kirk, '29

"I looked off to the southwest whereour university was to be located. Therewas not a tree or shrub in sight . All Icould see was the monotonous stillness ofprairie grass. Later I was to find out thatthis prairie grass wasn't so monotonousas it seemed for its sameness was brokenat quite frequent intervals by buffalo wal-lows . In August they were dry and hardand not even prairie grass could growon them."To the southwest led a trail, it couldn't

possibly be called a road . I was to learnthat this trail lead out to Adkins fordwhich was near the present bridge acrossthe South Canadian . It was the trail fol-lowed by the thirsty cowboys who cameinto Norman on Saturday nights . Theycouldn't get liquor in the Chickasaw Na-tion across the river so they made plentifuluse of Norman's fifteen saloons. This wasalso the trail to be followed by my stu-dents a year from that time when ourfirst building was to be built."These details I couldn't know of then,

though. I could know only the actualities