The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-01-22

ing the first quarter Of this year there
was a slight Increase in the general
volume of trade, but this was caused
by the increase in the exports from
the Argentine to the United States a-d
not by the increase of the goods we
sent there.
Our ignorance of the Argentine and
Its possibilities is astounding. There
are many people in the United States
who do not know where the Arg ntine
is Some think it is a part Of Brazil
Not long ago a United States district
attorney in a celebrated case described
how ship could go from New York to
Rosario, in the province of Uruguay,
Brazil" and another man recently
wrote to a firm in Buenos Ayres, ask
ing If it would help person to be able
to speak Spanish if he wished to make
start there. When it is remembered
that Spanish is the universal language
OF the Argentine the foolishness Of the
latter question will be appreciated
Another piece of ignorance was that
of a commercial traveller who came to
Buenos Ayres from Philadelphia to sell
fencing wire. He called upon Mr.. D.
w. Lowe, the editor of the Bueaos
Ayres Herald, and informed him that
he had come to the Argentine to intro
duce the barbed wire fence Mr.. Lowe
reSlied:
why, man, there is as much barbed
wire mere as there Is In the United
states. There are factories in France
Germany and England, which have for
years been living off of this country by
making it. l can show you tons of
barbed wire in the agricultural stores
Of Buenos AyreS, and l venture YOU
can buy 1T here on six months credit
at a lower price than you expect to
sell it at wholesale for cash" That
commercial traveller left for home on
the next steamer.
BARBED WIRE.
And still the United States ought to
have great share of the iron trade
of South America. We have the cheap
est coal and the cheapest iron of the
world, and can make hardware and all
sorts of iron manufactures cheaper
than any other country. We are now
exporting steel to Europe and Asia AID
we should regard the enormous market
of South America.
No one who has not been south of the
equator on this hemisphere can realize
the extent of the trade in galvanized
iron. For 1900 miles along the west
ern coast of South America there is
not enough wood to supply Chicago
with matches. Every stick of building
timber that is used comes from the
United States, and even as far down
as Punta ARENAS, on the strait Of Ma
gellan, you will find pine lumber from
Oregon and Maine. The same is true
of the Argentine. This vast extent of
country is therefore one of the worlds
greatest customers for galvanized iron.
You see 1t everywhere in the nitrite
fields of Chile. There are iron huts in
the Andes, iron warehouses on the
pampas of Patagonia, and there is a
Of iTOy, chr -
the lower part of South America. The
iron is brought by the steamer load
from Europe and is sold in bundles of
sheets by the kilogram, or about two
and one-fifth pounds. Great Britain
gets the most of the trade. 1t furnish
es fifty times as much iron as we do
and even little Belgium has fcrr times
as much of such trade In galvanized
iron piping we sell about 100 kilograms
to the Argentine annually while Great
Britain sells more than a million. An
equally large proportion exists as to
crude iron, and 1t is the same in most
kinds of iron trade. We lead in plows,
corn shelters and reapers and mowers,
but Great Britain sells more threshing
machines, and the trade of Belgium in
galvanized wire for this market IS five
times as great as ours. We do very
we'll In small tools, and also In many
kinds of machinery. Americans have
reputation for making good things
though every one says their stuff is, as
rule, too high priced.
| OUR COAL IN SOUTH AMERICA.
| The United States ought to furnish a.
share of South Americas coal There
| Is little good coal on the continent, and
especially on the east side of it. At
| present Great Britain sends 500. 900 900
worth of coal every year to the Argen-
tine republic, Uruguay and Brazil. 1t
ships it's coal up the Amazon 1000
miles, and supplies the southern coasts
or the Caribbean sea- This coal brings
all the way from $40 to SIS ton.
The kind used is Cardiff coal. which
is one of the best Goals of the world.
but by no means superior to some Of
the Goals of the United States. The
Poca hontas coal of Virginia has been
tested with 1t and came out ahead
/ AT present the chief company who is
working the South American trade is
the one which owns the Pocahontas
mines. For the past three years one
OF their travelling men who speaks
Spanish and Portuguese f1uently has
been going about South America and
has succeeded In introducing the coal