Dr. Mann Widens His Circle 

 Of Friends on Rio Voyage 



Zoo Director and Ambassador Caffery 

 Discover Mutual Interest in Circuses 



Bearing gifts for South Ameri- 

 can zoos, Dr. William M. Mann, 

 director of the National Zoolog- 

 ical Park, is en route to points in 

 Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay 

 to collect birds, reptiles and ani- 

 mals. Among those on board his 

 ship is WiMam H. Shippen, jr., 

 feature writer of The Star staff, 

 who here presents t he 11th o f 

 a series of articles dMu , l m fhr. 

 Mann's expedition. 



By W. H. SHIPPEN, Jr., 



Star Staff Correspondent. 



ABOARD S. S. URUGUAY, Near- 

 ing Rio de Janeiro. — A lot of people 

 who seem to know their way about 

 the world have suggested that Dr. 

 William Mann be dubbed a "good 

 will ambassador." 



His friends are scattered all over 

 the globe— Europe, Asia, Africa, the 

 East Indies, Japan, Hawaii, Mexico, 

 Central America and the Amazon 

 country of Northern South America. 

 Now he plans to go into a new coun- 

 try—Argentina. 



Although he knows few people 

 there, he does know how to make 

 friends. As a card of introduction, 



Dr. Mann (di- ... 



rector of the Na- 

 tional Zoological 

 Park at Wash- 

 ington) is taking 

 along a number 

 of gift animals — 

 American buffa- 

 los, a pair of 

 wolf -coyotes, two 

 American bald 

 eagles and va- 

 rious other spec- 

 imens. 



Dr. Mann 

 plans to present 

 the animals to 



the ZOO at Bue- W. H. Shippen, Jr. 



nos Aires. Included in the shipment 

 on the S. S. Uruguay is a binturang 

 (or "bear cat") from the East Indies, 

 and civet cats from Sumatra and 

 Africa, as well as American prairie 

 dogs and a collection of native tur- 

 tles. 



May Go Into Patagonia. 



The zoo director and Mrs. Mann— 

 who has accompanied him on many 

 previous expeditions— will spend a 

 month or so in Argentina, going by 

 train from Buenos Aires to the lake 

 perhaps into Northern Patagonia. 

 They hope to collect rare animals, 

 birds and reptiles in the Argentine, 

 and at ports of call on the return 

 trip— Montevideo, Santos, Rio and 

 the Island of Trinidad. 



The return collection will of ne- 

 cessity be small. On previous trips 

 —to Africa, as leader of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution-National Geo- 

 graphic Society expedition — Dr. 

 Mann was accompanied by assist- 

 ants trained in the care of animals. 



On this trip his only experienced 

 assistant is his wife. I have volun- 

 teered to help water, feed and clean 

 cages, but Dr. Mann— who likes 

 newspaper reporters, but doubts 

 their capacity for day-by-day, twice - 

 a -day work of a menial nature- 

 only shrugs and says: 



"I respect your enthusiasm, but 

 question your persittence!" 



On the trip down from the States 

 Dr. Mann met and made friends 

 with our Ambassador to Brazil- 

 Jefferson Caffery. The two hadn't 

 been talking long until they dis- 

 covered many mutual friends in 



various quarters of the world, and 

 a common hobby — the circus. 



Both had seen the opening of 

 "the big show" at Madison Square 

 Garden, just before the Uruguay 

 sailed, and both had been thrilled 

 and chilled by the same perform- 

 ance. 



By this time, Dr. Mann had met 

 and learned the life history of about 

 everybody on board— Brazilians, 

 Uruguayans, Argentines. They liked 

 him well enough to tell him where 

 they were going and why; to give 

 him letters of introduction, as well 

 as detailed information as to cli- 

 mate, train schedules, port regula- 

 tions and the availability of various 

 animals. 



If Dr. Mann has any controver- 

 sial ideas about world politics he 

 refrains from expressing them. He 

 visited in Japan in 1937 and then 

 went to Shanghai— just before the 

 Japanese bombed that city. 



In both places he made friends 

 he wants to see again. He refused 

 to criticize either side. 



On vacation last summer the Zoo 

 director went to Norway, Sweden, 

 Russia, Germany, France and Eng- 

 land. He left Germany just be- 

 fore the conference at Munich. The 

 distressing circumstances which 

 have developed since that time have 

 not wiped out his memory of the 

 warm welcome his old friends gave 

 him in Germany. 



In other words, Dr. Mann is a 

 "good neighbor," sailing with this 

 "good neighbor" fleet, to make I 

 friends first— and, secondly, to col- 

 lect animals. It was President 

 Rosevelt's idea, I'm told, to put 

 these big ships, the Uruguay, the 

 Argentine and the Brazil, on a reg- 

 ular passenger run to Buenos Aires. 



Service Bears Fruit. 



Already the service appears to be 

 bearing fruit. Many North and 

 South American passengers meet to 

 exchange ideas. It becomes appar- 

 ent that more South Americans 

 speak English than North Ameri- 

 cans speak Spanish or Portuguese— 

 the language native to Brazil. Many 

 passengers — even traveling sales- 

 men bound for Rio — were surprised 

 to learn the language is Portuguese 

 here. Too, South Americans seem 

 to know more about our country 

 than we do of theirs. 



Yet today, going up the Sugar 

 Loaf, and visiting other sight- 

 seeing points, I heard German 

 tourists, who can come to this port 

 in less time than it would take the 

 Uruguay to return to New York, 

 speaking excellent Portugese (I'm 

 told) and discussing Brazil as if 

 they knew all about it — which they 

 did, in all probability. 



The big derricks traveling along 

 our wharf are German-made, like 

 the intricate machinery that car- 

 ries the cable cars to the tip of 

 Sugar Loaf with such regularity 

 and safety. 



Mutual Benefit Plan. 

 In any event, we need a few 

 more "Good Will Ambassadors" 

 down this way— in Brazil, whose 

 potential wealth is larger than that 

 of the United States, and in the 

 Argentine. That is a statement I 

 won't need to qualify— what with 

 Brazil (as near as it is to West 

 Africa) capable of supplying, how- 

 ever, unwillingly, a key to the 

 Panama Canal, and the Argen- 



tine with its German sympathies 

 and connections. 



Dr. Mann, however, is not con- 

 cerned with these things— he's merely 

 making friends, as usual, and col- 

 lecting animals on the side. He 

 has no interest in exploiting the 

 faunal resources of any country— he > 

 merely wants to trade fair . . . 

 something we have in our coun- 

 try which would be valuable down 

 here for something they have here 

 that would be worth while back 

 home. 



A sort of mutual benefit proposi- 

 tion, with nothing up this sleeve, 

 or that one! 



Tomorrow: Arrival in Rio. 



