Speech #820218637

Thus we have no assurance that the highway will ever be an international artery of commerce. It may be an instrument of extortion or it may be reclaimed by the jungles as a monument to folly. The committee report to which I have referred called attention in 1947 to the importance of this phase of the InterAmerican Highway on pages 48 and 49 in the following language: Anyone who has traveled in the Central American countries without the special blessing of the foreign offices of those countries can appreciate that border controls. such as immigration and sanitary regulations and customs inspections. may well constitute a serious obstacle to the free movement of tourists or of cargoes. The committee does not minimize the rather delicate character of any regulation or restriction on the laws (or the administration of them) relating to border controls. However. the committee believes that if this problem is to be solved it should be through an agreement entered into prior to the actual completion of the highway. Certainly. the United States should not request any of the Central American governments to limit border controls to any greater extent than the United States. itself. is willing to limit its own. However. the committee fears that unless some standard. which is made uniform for all of the countries through which the highway passes. is adopted with respect to borders controls we may finally find ourselves in the position of having created a great international public work only to see it lie idle and unused simply because we failed to provide for sensible and workable border controls. With respect to taxes. every motor vehicle user in the United States is conscious of license fees. both for vehicle and operator. and gasoline taxes. The committee has obtained. from the State Department. a summary of the direct taxes paid in the various countries involved in this highway on gasoline. and the approximate retail price per gallon of gasoline.