BRAZIL: Starter

The U.S. laid out $800,000 last week to launch a Point Four program in Brazil. The money will be spent to help increase Brazil's hydroelectric power potential, improve its agriculture and build up its rickety transportation system, thus speeding shipment of vital cargoes of scarce manganese and high-grade iron ore to market.

The appropriation is more important than the small sum would indicate, partly because it only covers operations through June; after that, bigger sums will be needed to carry on the job. But for Brazilians who had long felt that the U.S. was neglecting them, the announcement carried special political significance, and it strengthened U.S. prestige. Foreign Minister Raul Fernandes had worked six months to get the program started, and was responsible for the timing of the announcement before year's end. Both he and President Eurico Gaspar Dutra regarded the obtaining of the Point Four spending program as a crowning achievement of their administration, and they wanted to get it on their record before they hand over the government to Getulio Vargas next month.