The evening times., 1899-08-07
SOUTH AMERICAN TRADE
A Profitable Field for Products Of
the United States.
Europe Now In the Lead I'm supply
ing These Markets-A Geographic
ConditiOns-PosxibiI for High
State Of Commercial Developme mt.

The commerce of the countries lying
south of the United States is discussed in
considerable detail in the summary of COM
merce and finance, just issued by the
Treasury Bureau OF Statistics. To Mexico
the United States supplies 49 per cent OF
the total imports for consumption; to the
Central American States. 81 per cent; to
Colombia, 33 per cent, to Venezuela, q
per cent; to the West Indies, which have
been. up to the present time. controlled by
commercial nations whose policy in many
cases hese been to retain their commerce
for their own people, 20 per cent; to Brit
ish Guiana, Is per cent; to Dutch Guiana,
II per cent, and to French Guiana, per
cent.
OF the total imports of all South Ameri-
ca, 81 per cent is taken by the countries
bordering upon the two oceans, and but 13
per cent by those bordering upon the Ca
ribbean. Brazil imported in 1897 goods to
the value of over s105, ,o00, 600. OF which
the United States supplied about II per
cent; Uruguay and Paraguay, $4,000, 600,
of which our share was less than Z per
cent. and Argentina, s95, ,000. 900, of which
less than per cent was from the United
States. A tour OF the Pacific Coast shows
importations into Chile of $24, 100000; Pc
ru, $500, 600: Bolivia, 81, GOO, 900, and Ec-
uador $1,000, 600. the production from the
United States averaging about 10 per cent
Thus the northern coast of South America,
fronting on the Caribbean Sea, imports
goods to the value of $50, ,00O, ,000, of which
We supply an average Of % per cent; the
eastern coast, fronting on the Atlantic,
1929, 100000, and the Pacific Coast $751;,
600, 900, of which our proportion is in each
case about 10 per cent.
While exports from the United States to
Mexico have grown rapidly especially
since the opening of railway communica-
ton, and have experienced moderate de-
velopment in the case of the countries bor-
dering upon the Caribbean Sea, the total
sales to the countries south of here have
not grown with the rapidity which
has characterized those to the world at
large In 1868 the United States sales to
the American countries at the south were
20 per cent of this country's total exports;
in 1878, little less than 10 per cent; in
1885, fraction above 10 per cent and in
1898 but per cent of its total exports.
An examination of this country's list
| of purchases from the Central and South
| American countries shows that the Unit
| ed States is by far the largest single Gus
| export-coffee and rubber; while from Ar
| gentina and Chile its purchases of wool
and hides are also heavy. For the tropi-
| cal products of the other countries of
| South Amerca-sugar, spices, fruits, dye
| woods, cabinet woods, textiles and chemi-
| cals-the United States offers a constant
| and rapidly increasing market From the
| South American countries fronting upon
the Atlantic and Pacific the United States
| in miro cod nod lr,o6 OF
| 119, while the sales to them in that year
were but $24, ,013.
A study of the map of the world espe-
| cially that which shows the relation oi
| South America to the United States anG
| Europe. seems to offer partial eXplana-
| ton of the anomalous conditions with ref
| erence to the trade of all the countries ly-
| ing south of the easternmost point o.
| South America and stretching up Its west.
erly coast. The commerce of the worlt
reaching Brazil (south of the Amazon)
| Uruguay, Paraguay. and Argentina, on tn.
Atlantic coast, and Chile, Peru, Ecuador
! and the interior state of Bolivar on tn,
| west, must reach them by water. and thei
sales to other parts of the world must alst
go by water. An examination of the maj
and routes by steamships shows that thu
markets of Europe are practically as nea
to all of South America fronting on th
| Atlantic and Pacific as are those of th
United States. The easternmost point o
South America extends 1900 miles farthe
east than New York, and the sailing dis
tance from that point to New York is ac
tually greater than that to the cities o
southern Europe and but slightly less thai
to the principal commercial cities of Eng
land and Germany, Americas creates
commercial rivals Nearly all of the steam
ship lines entering South American port
are controlled by European capital an
| European interests.
The fact that the exports from the Unite
States TO Europe greatly exceed the i'm
ports from Europe makes it practicabl
for the vessels which bring the rubber
coffee, hides, and wool of South Americ
to the United States to readily load at it
ports with grain or provisions for Eu
rope and there load again with goods fo
the South American markets, thus maxim
the tour of the triangle, of which the lin
from New York to Liverpool forms tn
base and the ports of Brazil and Argentin
the apex. With a steamship route to Wes
tern South America by way of the 18th
mus, the completion of the trans Andea
road connecting western South America a
Valparaiso with eastern South America a
Buenos Ayres and Montevideo, and in
| creased steamship facilities between Unite
States ports and those of both coasts G
South America, the manufacturers an
producers of the United States, it is con
tended, would be able to increase thei
sales in those markets
The possibility of utilizing, with the as
sistance of modern electrical methods, tn
enormous water power now going to vast
in the mountain regions of Central Ameri
ca and northern South America is worth
of attention in considering the future pos
| sibilities of that section of the Continent