FINANCE  AND  CREDITS  307
To  illustrate  the  insufficiency  of  our  knowledge ­
  regarding  Latin  American  credits,  let
me  cite  a  personal  experience.  At  the  beginning ­
  of  the  war  in  Europe,  one  of  the
largest  daily  papers  in  Buenos  Aires  was  refused ­
  credit  for  less  than  $100.00  a  week  of
cable  news,  because  there  was  no  really  reliable ­
  means  in  New  York  of  satisfying  the
manager  of  the  foreign  press  agency  that  the
paper  was  of  the  highest  financial  standing.
A  moratorium  had  been  declared  in  the  Argentine ­
  and  Europe  and  at  that  time  no  direct
banking  connections  existed  with  the  United
States.  This  condition  of  affairs  only  served
to  make  the  New  York  manager  insist  that  the
service  be  paid  for  weekly.  He  was  absolutely ­
  unwilling  to  extend  credit  for  even
ninety  days,  provided  the  paper  paid  the  cable
tolls  in  Buenos  Aires,  which  it  had  offered  to
do.  The  publication,  its  plant,  equipment
and  the  building  it  owns  and  occupies  are
easily  worth  $5,000,000.  Furthermore  it  is
eminently  responsible  and  reputable.  With