The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-02
BEST CUSTOMER
 IS UNCLE SAM
How to Increase American Trade in Brazilian Markets--What Native
 Moche> and Java Costs.

St. Louis. October 2.-"The United States does not want the trade of Bra gill"
 These words were spoken by Col. r. M. de Souza Aguiar, the Brazilian com missioner general to the worlds fair, when we were discussing trade mat ters this afternoon. We had been chatting about the resources of the two nations as we walked from the magnificent exhibits of Brazil and were now sitting in the Brazilian pavilion. constructed by Colonel Aguiar at n cost of S130,0o0, to be his offices during his stay here.
 You people pretend to want our commerce. but you will not go half way to get it." he went on. You cannot have trade without adequate transpor- tation and banking facilities, and as it is. you are now relying entirely for these things upon the British and Ger mans. There are three lines of slow steamers plying between New York and Brazil, but they are all foreign and they charge you a heavy tax for freight and exchange. What Brazil wants is direct steamship connection with the United States and she Is ready to join your government in subsidizing q line of American steamers We will pay half of the subsidy and you may pay the other half and take all the profits We have offered to do this again and again, but your congress will not con- sent. If those foreign lines can be op- erated without a subsidy an American line should certainly pay with one.
 Uncle Sam Brazal's Best Customer.
 What does our trade with you amount to, Colonel Aguiarr asked.
 Tt is far greater than that of any other nation, but the balance Is alto gether on our side of the ledger You sell us twelve or thirteen million dol- lars worth of goods a year. but we sell you sixty million dollars worth or more. In 1901 you spent eighty million dollars upon Brazilian products buying about four-ninths of all we sold You are our best coffee customer and our best rubber customer and these two staples form our chief exports"
 What do your sales of these products amount to3"
 We annually export about forty mill lion dollars worth of rubber and about one hundred million dollars worth of coffee. You buy almost sixty million dollars worth of coffee every year, and almost all of this come from Bra. gill"
 Can We Raise Oar Own Coffee.
 But this will not continue, Col, Aguiar." said I. proudly. We now have colonies and are going to raise our own coffee"
 Your colonies could not i'll the spoons with which you stir your cups much less the pots which are now filled with Brazilian liquid; and they never will You Americans are among the great coffee drinkers of the world, and you are drinking more from year to year Your consumption in 1903 was thirteen pounds for every man, woman and child in the United States. or aito- gether more than one billion pounds of coffee. What have you to supply such a demand? Your only territories which will grow coffee are Porto Rico, Hawaii and the Philippines Tn each of these countries the coffee lands are small
 Brazil is the coffee country of the world. and it always will be so. Coffee Is not common grain. It is not like wheat or corn which will grow almost everywhere. You must have just the right soil the right climate and the land must slope the right way and be at tho right distance above the sea. On all the earth there Is only one large tract of land which fits these conditions and that Is in Brazil. Take your map and follow the isothsrmal lines and you will find nothing like 1t elsewhere. There are several islands and one or two small tracts of mainland but otherwise the country along the coffee lines is either desert or swampy"s