Waterbury Democrat., 1901-11-12
SOME TRADE FACTS
Proportion of South American Com.
 merce Held by United States.
While Trade with Countries on Car ibbean Sea Is Fairly Satisfactory That with Countries Farther
 south Is Very Poor Indeed.

The recent departure from Wash. ington of the special train carrying the United States and numerous other delegates to the approaching Pan-American conference to be helc at the City of Mexico lends especia. interest to some figures on the com 1nerce of the United States with ths territory at the south, which the treasury bureau of statistics has com piled for the convenience of the United States members of that con. gress. The importance of develop ment of our commerce in this partic ular direction is pointed out by this publication, which shows that ou1 exports have shown less growth to the countries of Central and SoutE America than to any other parts o1 the world.
 ';The commerce of the United States with the American countries lying south of her borders,'' says the opening page of this discussion ''has long been an object of solicitude to her statesmen, economists and business men. With the English. speaking people of American terri. tory lying upon the north her com. mercial relations have rapidly grown and proven mutually satisfactory With those of another language, oc. cupying the contiguous territory at the south, the growth has been slow. CT and less satisfactory, and as the distance increases the growth de. creases. To British North America the United States supplies 5 per cent of the total imports for consumption; to Mexico, equally adjacent, but speaking another language than our own, 40 per cent; to the Central American states, next removed by distance, though readily reached by water and now being tapped by rail. ways, B per cent; to Colombia, a trif1e father removed, but equally ac- cessible by direct water communica- ton, B per cent; to Venezuela equally accessible, 27 per cent; to the West Indies, which lie in close proximity, but which have been up to the present time controlled by commercial nations whose policy in many cases has been to retain their commerce for their own people, 20 per cent; to the Guianas, also readi- ly reached by water, 25 per cent. of the imports of British Guiana, IT per cent. of those of Dutch Guiana and but less than $ per cent. of those of French Guiana.
 up to this point the study of the growth of commerce between the United States and other American countries is fairly satisfactory Be- ginning with 52 per cent. of the inn port trade of Canada, 40 per cent. of that of Mexico, and ranging down. ward along the Gulf of Mexico aud Caribbean sea, fairly satisfactory share of the commerce of those coun- tries is enjoyed by the people of the United States; though it will be con- ceded that her people have a right to expect larger share of the com- merce of the countries lying so near at hand, especially in view of the fact that our purchases from them are much larger thaSl our sales to them. Even this somewhat unsatisfactory condition of trade with the countries bordering upon the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean sea is, however, gratifying when compared with the U 6IliC iCldGl Ol tile Cn1EeO OIaGoS with the countries of South America bordering upon the Atlantic and Pa cific oceans. Of the total imports of all South America, ST per cent is taken by the countries bordering upon the two oceans, and but 13 per cent. by those upon the Caribbean. On the eastern coast of South Amer ica we find Brazil importing in 1899 goods to the value of over $1O5, COG, ,O0O, of which the United States supplied about 10 per cent; Uruguay and Par aguay, $26,000,000, of which our share was less than per cent; and Ar genuine, SIP, 100000, of which about 10 per cent. was from the United States; while a tour of the Pacific coast shows imports into Chilli of $38,> 000,O6o, Peru $S,50O,0OO, Bolivia $11,- 600.0o0 and Ecuador $7,O00,0 the proportion from the United States averaging about 10 per cent. Thus the northern coast of South America, fronting on the Caribbean sea, i'm ports goods to the value of $26, ,OoO.- GOO, of which we supply an average of 9 per cent; the eastern coast. front ing upon the Atlantic, $275. .Ooo, ,o0o. and the Pacific coast, 6O,O00, ,000: of which our proportion is in each case about 10 per cent.