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Show QUEER THINGS COME FRO IV! LATIN AMERICA American Dollar Has Odd Experiences There. Washington. Ipecac and ox-gall ; stones, petitgrain and divi-divl, ai-j ai-j grettes and sarsaparilla, buttons and j bismuth, orchids and Ixtle. In connection with the recent tour of the President-Elect much diseus-j diseus-j sion of the products which Latin-Amer- j j lea sends North America has arisen, j ' Bananas from Costa Rica have been mentioned and coffee from Brnzil, 1 nitrates from Chile, quebracho tannin j I wood from Argentina, and petroleum 1 from Mexico and Venezuela. Common ; products have received most attention. ! Balata, Molybdenum and Kapok. I But what of the uncommon exports ' of Latin-America? What of the Items in the first paragraph? Why does the United States want annatto seeds, copaiba gum, castor oil, tungsten, alpaca al-paca wool, balata, tonka beans, Job's tears, molybdenum, ox-gall and kapok? "Consider what strange experiences an American dollar has In Latin-America," Latin-America," suggests a bulletin from the Washington (D. C.) headquarters of the National Geographic society. "It sends brown-skinned Indians of the Venezuela coasts to the aigrette rookeries in canoes to collect the white feathers of molting mother birds. A United States dollar bill has dictated the picking of leaves from the orange trees near Yaguaron, Para- i guay, and orders their distillation which releases petitgrain, an oil with the smell of orange blossoms, for use 1 in perfumes and soaps. It has prompt- j ed the shearing of alpacas by the heirs I of the Incas who own the flocks; and the collection of balata sap from a type of rubber tree that grows deep in the jungle. It has sent men searching search-ing for emeralds in the Ul-cbarted mountains of Colombia. 1 "A dollar and many more like It have floated a mammoth American-built American-built dredge in the Condoto river, Col- , ombia, where the sands yield platinum without, which there would be fewer platinum rings. "Southern areas which have never seen snow contribute to the multitudes of multi-colored candles for our holiday holi-day decorations. Every hostess who lights her table and every church that illumines its altar with the candle's ; soft gleam is in debt to Brazil, Mex- ico, Colombia, Honduras, Chile or some other Latin-American country. "Vegetable waxes are obtained from the leaves and branches of certain species spe-cies of palm trees and desert bushes. In 1926 Brazil exported more than 12,000,000 pounds of carnauba vegetable vegeta-ble wax, of which the United States took 40 per cent. Cousins to carnauba that also go northward to the candle shop are the ceroxylon palm wax of Colombia and the candelilla wax of Mexico. All three of them lend a hand to modern industry, helping the candlemaker and popping up in other guises few persons could guess: phon- ' ograph records, insulation for electric ' wires, tailor's chalk, carbon copy paper, pa-per, floor polish, shoe polish, sealing wax and dental molds. Probably these vegetable waxes do not enter into the making of the shorter candles, can-dles, but they do brace the tall ones, keeping them straight and unbending. Fountain Pens From Pampas. "South and Central American trade illustrate many surprises of modern trade. When you buy a sea green or mandarin red fountain pen ask the clerk of what substance the barrel is made. Find out If he knows whether it is celluloid and a product of the Southern cotton fields or casein and a product of the pampas. "Casein is the solid substance 01 milk and It might have become cheese if It had not been hardened info casein. Milk in the form of casein, to the extent of 3S,920,000 pounds, was shipped in one recent year to the United States, where a varied career awaited it. Fountain pens, earrings, 'tortoise shell' for tortoise shell rims, cigarette holders, telephone receivers, and chess men are but a few fates awaiting Argentinian casein. Aladdin rubbed a lamp; chemistry stirred a milk pail and brought forth casein wonders that give the cattle raising countries of South America an outlet for their surplus milk. "Chicago stock yards, It is often said, use everything of a pig but its squeal. The cow countries of Argentina, Argen-tina, Uruguay, and Brazil claim equal slaughter house efficiency. Tankage, ox-gall and gall stones these do not figure as importantly as hides and quarters of beef, but each earns Its bit for South American packers. "Each Latin-American country has unusual products, often hidden in trade figures behind the blank wall labeled 'miscellaneous.' Chile exports beeswax and Iodine; Bolivia, molybdenum molyb-denum and tungsten to harden steel llama wool and ixtle fiber; Argentina, Argen-tina, ostrich feathers and senna; L'ru guny, grass seed and sausage casings: Paraguay. petiigndn and crude drugs: Brazil. Ipecac, moss, seaweed, hnizil nuts; I'eru, vanadium, ore kannk fin mattresses, mohair; EcuadorTinnaltc seeds, condurago (for medicinal pur poses), Panama hats, chestnuts and vegetable Ivory (the latter is the very durable white seed of a palm tree which ought to be named the button tree because so many of its seeds he come buttons on American clothes) ; Colombia, cascara, copal gum. balsam of Tolu, Brazil wood, ceroxylon wax ; Venezuela, divi-divl, copaiba gum, an gostura bark, castor oil, tonka beans, cebadilla (reported used for poison gas in World war), sarsaparilla; the Guianas. bauxite (ore for aluminum) nutmegs, citrate of lime, balata and mahogany." |