HUMPHREY, JOHN P. The Inter-American System: A Canadian View. Pp. xi, 329. Toronto: The Macmillan Co. of Canada Ltd., 1942. $3.00

• Author: Arthur P. Whitaker
• Published date: 01 November 1942
• Date: 01 November 1942
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/000271624222400151
• Subject Matter: Articles

213

Italians

took

in

the

United

States

if

one

may

judge

by

the

volume

and

the

intensity

of

their

propaganda.

Until

1940,

Italy

in

her

short-wave

broadcasts

to

North

Amer-

ica

attempted

to

mislead

the

Allies

by

inti-

mating

that

she

might

bolt

to

the

demo-

cratic

side.

After

that

time,

however,

and

until

Italy

actually

entered

the

war,

Radio

Rome

meant

to

convey

the

impression

that

active

belligerency

on

her

part

might

come

at

any

moment,

thereby

tying

up

a

part

of

the

Allied

forces.

Although

France

inaugurated

short-wave

broadcasting

in

1931,

in

advance

of the

other

great

powers,

she

seriously

under-

rated

the

function

of

radio

propaganda.

Little

progress

was

made

in

improving

short-wave

broadcasting

in

France

during

the

critical

years

before

1939.

After

the

war

began,

French

international

radio

propaganda

was

characterized

by

a

lack

of

continuity

and

direction.

The

French

did

not

initiate

a

positive

course

of

their

own

-they

simply

defended

and

answered.

This

analysis

by

Arturo

Mathieu

presents

another

tragic

example

of

French

ineffi-

ciency.

The

eight

contributors

to

this

volume

are

to

be

congratulated

for

the

speed

with

which

they

prepared

for

publication

the

results

of

this

important

experiment.

Many

lessons

can

be

learned

from

the

pages

of

Propaganda

by

Short

Wave.

Although

the

studies

cover

a

relatively

short

period

of

time

and

the

contributions

are

not

of

equal

importance,

nevertheless

this

is

a

&dquo;must&dquo;

book

for

government

officials

charged

with

conducting

the

war

on

the

propaganda

front

and

for

students of

the

&dquo;fine

art

of

propaganda.&dquo;

BELLE

ZELLER

Brooklyn

College

HUMPHREY,

JOHN

P.

The

Inter-American

System:

A

Canadian

View.

Pp.

xi,

329.

Toronto:

The

Macmillan

Co.

of

Canada

Ltd.,

1942.

$3.00.

The

scope

and

the

value

of

this

book

are

much

greater

than

the

subtitle

might

sug-

gest.

As

Mr.

Humphrey

himself

empha-

sizes,

Canada

not

only

has

never

been

a

member

of

the

pan-American

organization,

but

until

quite

recently

had

very

little

con-

tact

with

or

interest

ins

Latin

America,

which

contains

twenty

of

the

twenty-one

independent

states

that

are

members

of

that

organization.

Consequently,

one

might

assume

that

&dquo;a

Canadian

view&dquo;

of

the

inter-American

system

would

have

little

to

offer

but

the

charm

of

novelty,

and

that

a

book

bearing

this

subtitle

would

be

only

a

footnote

to

the

main

story.

As

a

matter

of

fact,

only

the

first

and

last

of

the

nine

chapters

in

this

book

deal

primarily

with

Canada

or

are

written

from

a

specifically

Canadian

point

of

view.

The

remaining

chapters,

comprising

about

four-

fifths

of

the

text,

deal

with

the

main

theme,

the

development

of

the

pan-American

sys-

tem

from

its

origin

in

the

nineteenth

cen-

tury

to

the

present

day,

and

the

view

set

forth

in

these

chapters

is

one

that

might

have been

taken

by

any

informed

and

sym-

pathetic

yet

critical

English-speaking

ob-

server,

not

merely

in

Canada

but

in

any

country

in

the

world.

The

main

difference

between

this

book

and

most

other

accounts

of

the

subject

is,

not

that

this

one

was

written

from

a

Canadian

point

of

view,

but

that

it

is

an

exceptionally

good

one.

It

is

not

only

up

to

date

(it

brings

the

story

down

to

the

end

of

1941)

and,

considering

its

comparative

brevity,

highly

informative,

but

it

is

also

unusually

searching

and

judi-

cious.

On

the

one

hand,

it

contains

none

of

the

amiable

eyewash

so

often

served

up

by

pan-American

enthusiasts.

On

the

other

hand,

it

is

free

from

the

easy

cyni-

cism

that

is

the

favorite

weapon

of

op-

ponents

of

pan-Americanism.

It

is

a

scholarly,

discriminating,

thoughtful

book.

What

is

more,

it is

a

well-written

one.

The

general

reader

as

well

as

specialists

ought

to

read

it,

and

will

be

able

to

do

so

with

pleasure.

To

this

reviewer,

the

most

interesting

feature

of

the

book

is

its

direct

attack

on

a

highly

important

problem

that

has

often

been

avoided

or

neglected

by

the

champions

of

pan-Americanism,

though

not

by

its

crit-

ics.

This

is

the

problem

of

the

relation

of

the

pan-American

system

to

larger

systems

of

international

co-operation.

The

inherent

importance

of

this

problem

is

increased

by

the

fact

that

much

of

the

criticism

of

pan-

Americanism

proceeds

from

the

critics’

be-

lief

that

it

is

essentially

a

form

of

hemi-

sphere

isolationism

and

therefore

a

serious

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