Brazil's Lifeline

Intensified naval warfare off the coast of Brazil last week did more than drive Brazil to war (see p. 34); it threatened the trade of better than three-fourths of Brazil's 40,000,000 people. Up and down Brazil's 5,800-mile coastline, wallowing and pitching coastwise steamers provide shuttle service. For dozens of towns and villages, from Rio Grande Do Sul in the south to Belem, north of the bulge, these ships are the sole means of commerce, with the exception of airlines. Last year they carried over 150,000 passengers, nearly two million tons of freight, thousands of sacks of mail. To Brazil, 248,700 square miles larger than the U.S. but with only 20,000 miles of railroads (mostly extending westward to the interior), this offshore communication line is more vital than the Panama Canal is to the U.S.

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