New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-03-13
9ATEWAYS OF THE PLATE.
HOW A COMMERCIAL EMPIRE HAS BEEN
WON.
V.

DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPEAN COMMERCE ON
THE SOUTH AMERICAN CoAsT-THE FOREIGN
STEAM FLEET AT MoNTEvIDEo-wHY
AMERICAN TRADE LANGuIsHEs.
r,aos AsrArP CORRESPONDENT OF rHr rRrnrxnl
Montevideo, January Ia
An empire lost in one hemisphere and gained
in another A hundred years ago the European
was driven from the American colonies and COM
RELIED to resign control over a continental domain
that is now the industrial empire of a free people
of 60, 900 900. What was lost there has been
covered here South America is the commercial
empire of the maritime nations of Europe. They
hold two-thirds of the national debt Of Brazil.
They have supplied large share Of the capital
required for railway banking and industrial enter
prises there. They have organized the internal
trade Of the Amazon Valley and built the fleet of
river steamers that traverse those gloomy forests
They have established their ascendency in the coast
towns and made the import trade their own. They
control the commerce of the Plate countries at
Montevideo and BuenOs Ayres They are supply
ing the investments needed for converting Pata-
gonia into o stockyard and q sheep-ranch. The
weight OF their capital maritime enterprise and
industrial skill is felt all the way from the Straits
tenantcd by proud nations, jealous of their po-
litical liberties but it is the commercial depend
ency of maritime Europe 1t is what the United
States would have become If economic and IN
dustrial as we'll as political independence had not
been conquered by wise statesmanship-a market
and dumping-eronnd for English, French, German
and Italian manufactures
These truths are impressed upon an Americans
mind at Rio when he perceives the bulk and
variety of the European manufactures that are
exchanged for coffee, which Mr. Golden would
have described as the Brazilian's cheapest agri-
cultural product. The rubber. cotton, sugar and
coffee belts make the country what it is, and pro-
vide it with staples which it exchanges for every
thing that is manufactured in Europe. That
diyersifcaton OF industries which has been largely
instrumental in promoting the prosperity and es-
tablishing the economic independence Of the
United States Is unknown in Brazil. After passing
the entrance to the lower coffee belt at Santos, the
traveller coasts along three of the southern lrov-
inces Parana, which in extent may be compared
with Kansas then Santa Catharina. which is about
as large as Maine; and at last Rio Grande do Sui,
which is equal to New-York and Pennsylvania
combined. The lofty siefras of the coffee belt are
reduced to gently sloping hills, and Brazil tcrmi-
mates in a rolling prairie. offering rich pasturaSe
products, which began under the equator with
rubber and included sugar, cotton, tobacco and
coffee in the direction of the tropic. is completed
with wool, hides and even wheat on the borders
of the temperate zone Beyond Rio Grande do
Sui and Porto Allegro are the gateways OF the Plate
Here is the majestic river entrance to the three
republics of the South, whose industries are also
almost wholly agricultural Europe directs and con-
trolls their trade and supplies them with manufact-
ures of its own as completely as 1T monopohzcs the
commerce of the Brazilian seaboard from the
shifting delta of the Amazon 70 the shingles anu
sand dunes of Rio Grande do Sui
How has this commercial empire, which re-
places what the English lost century ago IN
North America what the French sold for song
in Louisiana. and what the Spanish frittered away
by misrovernment in the far South, been re2ained
by modern Europe? Not by free trade, If my
Cobdenite friends will allow me to say; for France
Germany, Italy and Spain, which are herceiy con-
testing English supremacy on these coasts, are hoo
free-trade nations Continental Europe is as
fullv committed as the United States to what Mr..
Bright used to denounce as The barbarsm of high
tariff legislation. This is not a free trade EN-
pire. for maritime Europe with the exception of
ENGLAND is against free trade and every South
American country is surrounded by high tarih
pean commercial supremacy in this part of the
world is the intelligence with which the shipping
interests of those maritime nations have been fos
tered and developed The American Civil War
marked the turning point in tie substitution OF
steam for sail power in the transportation oil
ocean freights About 1865 the first English
mail steamer began running into Montevideo
under q Government subsidy. At the END OF
twenty years-in 1ss5-there were GIG European
steamers with tonnage Of 9oO,s73 entering the
sane port--a tonnage nearly three times as great
as that of the sailing feet. AT the end OF 1888
that tonnage had risen to 1264, 9l9, with more
than two steamers day. This was not TIL
umph Of free trade, but Of maritime enterprise
While the United States was neglecting its ship
ping interests and doing nothing to restore us
commercial marine on the high seas, Europe was
building and manning the merchant fleets by
which an empire might be conquered.
In order that this fact may be emphasized,
introduce here list of the steamship lines enter
ing the port of Montcvideo during the currenV
wear. 1t has been compiled with painstaking
care. and presents an actual survey of the condi-
lions under which European commercial ascend
ency has been established in these waters. Neiry
all the pioneer lines on this coast were heavily
subsidized until their freight business was de-
welcomed. but mention is made only of Government
assistance now received. TIE following list does
not include direct Rio or BuenOs Ayrcs lines, but
only those calling at Montevdeo:
FOREIGN STEAMSHIP LINES.
ENTERING AT MONTEvIDEO IN 1890.
Freuch-Compagne DIES Messageries Maritines.
From Bordeaux, Lisbon 10 Pernambuco, Bahia,
Rio. Montevdeo. Thirteen steamers. Government
subsidy in lieu Of navigation bOunties.
French-Chargeurs Reunis From IIavre, Boz
deaux, Dunkirk, Santa Cruz to Montevideo and