King's Business - 1955-11

LeTourneau's temporary headquarters on the Pachitea River in Eastern Peru can be seen just to the left of center of photograph.

COVER STORY

F ew Christian businessmen of our generation are better known than R. G. LeToumeau. The rumble of his gigantic earth-moving machines is heard in just about every country of the world. Today when LeToumeau isn’t preaching the gospel somewhere (he averaged two messages a week during October and some months he doubles this) he is likely to be jotting down notes on a fantastic (to the outsider) machine -br some new business venture. One of his newest ventures is a land colonization plan for some one million acres in the jungles of Peru. LeToumeau got this sizeable chunk of land in return for constructing a 31-mile road for the Peruvian gov­ ernment. LeToumeau is clearing the land for agricul­ tural, commercial and industrial use. He plans to sell the land to Peruvian colonists and at the same time

establish such public services as hospitals, schools, government buildings, trading centers. LeToumeau likes to think of his jungle invasion as a businessman’s Point Four program. The project is intended to be a means of benefiting undeveloped areas of the world with private capital. “ Sending shiploads of food and livestock is not the answer,” says LeToumeau. “ They have more land to raise food on than we do. We must help them to help themselves, and if we do, we will help ourselves. It’s just free trade without subsidization . . . and a very good vacci­ nation against the smallpox of Communism.” W'hile this new development in land colonization is going forward, expert Spanish-speaking evangelists are on hand to present the claims of Christ to the people of this section of Pern.

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TH E KING 'S BUSINESS

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