Los Banos Rotary Club History
Duarte Jr. Tells Rotarians Of South America

Jack Duarte Jr., who returned home last month from Rio de Janeiro Brazil where he was a university student for 15 months, Tuesday noon gave members of the local Rotary Club an interesting account of his experiences, the country and its people.

He preceded his talk with a brief history of Brazil, from its discovery by a Portuguese in 1500 to the present time. Unimpressed by the new the early explorers found with a tree from a red dye could be extracted and Portugal decided to colonize the area, and sent some 18 nobles and hundreds of workers to the new land. The Dutch took possession of the country early in the 1600s, lost it back to the Portuguese some 60 years later, and they were still in possession when gold was discovered in the country in the 18th century.
Brazil was mostly governed by a dictatorship until 1932, when the first legal election was held and a democratic form of government set up.

The country, Duarte said, is one of contrasts, of rich and poor, with communistic influences strongly evident in the latter groups. The population is decidedly cosmopolitan with free intermingling and marriage of racial groups. Disease, Duarte said, is rampant among the poorer classes, it being estimated that over 60 per cent of the people have tuberculosis, almost 50 per cent malaria victims, and a like percentage having veneral diseases.
As to his personal experiences, Duarte said the people were very friendly and amiable. Officially, the country is friendly to the U. S. and cooperates closely on foreign policy. Most of the improvements in Brazil, Duarte said, have been made with American money, though further development by American capital particularly in the oil industry, is now restricted.

Rich Brazilians, he said, mostly invest their money outside of their own country, where greater profits are possible.

Duarte, a graduate of Stanford University and member of Phi Beta Kappa honor society, was studying in Brazil under an exchange scholarship.

January 7, 1949

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