Continued reseach on the Bulletin of the Pan American Union

Last week I continued reading the Bulletin of the Pan American Union. I have started to develop a method of finding the important information within the bulletin without having to read the entire volume. The first issue in the volume is always a detailed record of the development and finances of each Latin American country for the previous year. This issue is always the longest of the monthly bulletins and references to the Pan American Men’s club and John Barrett’s personal opinions are hidden within the financial records of each country and therefore requires a thorough study. The First issue takes the longest to read, but can also be the most rewarding because there is more evidence. Subsequent issues of the bulletin within a volume are much shorter and always start with an editorial section that is full of evidence. After the editorial portion, the rest of the issue is devoted to technical changes in trade policy and is usually does not have evidence valid to my research.

My Research of Spring Break

Over spring break I was able to spend a considerable amount of time at the Newberry Library and I continued reading the Pan American Bulletin. Because of the amount of information that is expected to be in each months issue and at the year-end bulletin summing up the records from previous year, the authors were forced to be brief in their reporting of events and data. I think that what the bulletin's authors chose to focus on and exclude from each issue can help to determine any ideological agendas the writers might have had. 

Considering this approach, there is a patter to the reporting of information in the bulletin which is especially true for trade statistics. After a general reporting of trade information about a country, the bulletin will always include a paragraph devoted to either the growth of US trade in the country or a diatribe against shrinking US trade. This pattern has held for every single country in every single issue I have encountered thus far. This information is hardly ground breaking, but it is evidence that the Bulletin of the Pan American Union was used by John Barrett and others to validate and further their views that the United States was going to, and should, control a cultural and economic hegemony in North and South America.