586 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



change. The South American has a racial right to look at such cus- 

 toms differently. But if some of his personal habits are unpleasant 

 and even disgusting from our point of view, there is no question that 

 we irritate him just as much as he does us. Our curt forms of address; 

 our impatient disregard of the amenities of social intercourse; our 

 unwillingness to pass the time of day at considerable length, and 

 enquire, each time we see a friend, after his health and that of his 

 family; our habit of elevating our feet and often sitting in a slouchy 

 attitude when conversing with strangers are to him extremely distaste- 

 ful and annoying. Our unwillingness to take the trouble to speak his 

 language grammatically and our general point of view in regard to the 

 " innate superiority " of our race, our language and our manufactures 

 are all evidences, to his mind, of our barbarity. "We care far too little 

 for appearances. This seems to him boorish. We criticize him because 

 he does not bathe as frequently as we do. He criticizes us because we 

 do not show him proper respect by removing our hats when we meet 

 him on the street. 



Furthermore, he regards us as lacking in business integrity. We 

 are too shrewd. Our standard of honor seems low to him. In fact, a 

 practical obstacle with which one accustomed to American business 

 methods has to contend in South America, is the extreme difficulty of 

 securing accurate information as to a man's credit. Inquiries into the 

 financial standing of an individual, which are regarded as a matter 

 of course with us, are resented by the sensitive Latin temperament as a 

 personal reflection on his honesty. It seems to be true that the South 

 American regards the payment of his debts as a matter more closely 

 touching his honor than we do. He is accustomed to receiving long 

 credits; he always really intends to pay some time and he generally 

 manages to raise installments without much difficulty. Yet when 

 pressed hard in the courts, he is likely to turn and resent as an inten- 

 tional insult the judgment which has been secured against him. I 

 have known personally of a case where a debtor informed his creditor 

 that it would be necessary for him to come well armed if he accom- 

 panied the sheriff in an effort to satisfy the judgment of the court, for 

 the first man, and as many more as possible, that crossed the door of 

 his shop on such an errand would be shot. This we criticize as defiance 

 of the law. To the South American, the law has committed an un- 

 pardonable fault in venturing to convict him of neglecting his hon- 

 orable debts. 



It is unfortunate that the South Americans themselves are generally 

 quite unaware of their failings — a species of blindness that has fre- 

 quently been laid at our own doors. It is due to a similar cause. 

 South American writers who have traveled abroad and seen enough to 

 enable them to point out the defects of their countrymen rarely venture 

 to do so. The South American loves praise but can not endure criti- 



