The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-21
South America a Land of Opportunities. MERCHANTS SHOULD ENTER
 FIELD WITH EUROPEANS Ship Subsidy Bill Advocated by
 Cabinet Member. saya Lines of Transportation Must Re Established 2 We Are To Conn pete oA Even Terms With
 Others.


 Kansas City. Mo, Nov. 20-Before the Trans Mississippi Commercial Congress here tonight. Elihu Rot, secretary oL State, delivered his second speech m this city within two days.
 His speech was the feature Of the first days session of the Congress, which convened this morning. AS Mon- day night, MT. Root tonight agaln dwelt upon our relations with the South American Republics teillng ol his recent trip through these countries. He said the time had come for the ex- pansion of trade between the coun- tries of the North and South that would result in the peaceful prosperity of mighty commerce.
 He declared the means of communi- cation between these countries must be improved and increased and said the s,woefuI deficiency in the means to car- ry on and enlarge our South Amert- can trade is but part of the gener- al decline and feebleness of the Ameri- can merchant marine"
 Secretary Roots subject was Com rnercial Union with South American ne- pubIid." He said:
 Mr. Roots Address.
 ''Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Congress:
 "A little less than three centuries of colonial and national life have brought the people inhabiting the United states by a process of evolution, natural ana with the existing forces inevltaple; o ro a pofnt of distinct and radical change in their economic relations to the rest During the period now past, the en- ergy of our people direeted d oy r1v ,hg population by heredity, by enVtronmenI by the struggle for existence, by in- dividuaI independence, and by free m stttutions has been devoted to the m teTnai development of our own coun- try. The surplus wealth produced py our labors has been applied immeoliaesST aina lsnS ly to reproduce hs.iA i.. ss.a = and breaking virgin soil and fencing priaries and opening mines Of coal ana iron and copper and silver and goio' and building roads and canals ana ralls roads and telegraph lines and cars and locomotives and mills and furnaces and school houses and colleges and horas ries and hospitals and asylums an9 public buildings and store houses ana shops and homes.
 i've have been drawing on the re- Eourees of the world in capital and in tabor to aid us in our work. we nave gathered strength from every rich and powerful nation and expended It upon these home undertakings; into them we have poured hundreds of millions or money attracted from the investors or
 Always a Debtor Nation.
 we have been always a debtor na- ton. borrowing from the rest of the world. drawing all possible energy to- wards us and concentrating it with our own energy upon our own enter" prises The expressing pursuit of our own opportunities has excluded from our nrises. and the possibilities of the out side world Invention, discovery, the progress of science, capacity for or ganization. the enormous increase in inc productive power of mankind, have accelerated our progress and have brought us to a result of development in every branch of internal industrial activity marvellous and unpreceoenteo fin the history of the world
 Since the first election of President Mckinley the people of the United States have for the first time accu- mulated a surplus of capital beyond inc requirements of internal develop ment That surplus Is increasing with extraordinary rapidity. We nave paid our debts to Europe. and have become a creditor instead of debtor natlon :; we have faced about; we have left the ranks of the borrowing nations Our surplus is beginning to look beyond our own borders, throughout the sthS6 woTId, use of our surplus capital, foreign mar kets for our manufactures foreign mines to be developed, foreign bridges and railroads and public works to be built, foreign rivers to be turned Into electric power and light
 That we are not beginning our new role feebly is indicated by $1,518,561, ,66e of exports in the year 1905, as against $1,l17,513,o7l of imports, and by g, 74S'- S64,500~ exports in the year 1906 as against $1,226,563,S43 of imports.
 Changes i'm South America.
 "Coincident with this change In the United States the progress of political development has been carrying the neighboring continent of South Ameri- ca out of the stage of militarism into the stage of industrialism. Through out the greater part of that vast con tinent. revolutions have ceased to be looked upon with favor or submitted to with Indifference the revoluuonary general and the dictator are no longer the objects of admiration and imitation civic virtues command the highest re. spect the people point with satisfac- tion and pride to the stability of theii governments, to the safety of property and the certainty of justice; nearly Foreign @ capital to develop their nat. ural resources and for foreign immi. grafton to occupy their vacant land Immediately before us, at exactly tho right time, just as we are ready fol 1t, great opportunities for peacefu commercial and industrial expansion tC the South are presented.
 "Other investing nations are already in the ield-England, France, Germa- ny Italy, Spain, but the Held Is so vast the new demands are so great the progress so rapid, that what other but a slight advance in the race for the grand total.
 Great Opportunities PFesented.'
 The area of this newly awakened Continent is 7,5O2,S4s square miles more than two and one-half times as large as the United States without Alaska, and more than double the Unl- red States including Alaska A large mart of this area lies within the tenn perate zone. In the tropics are. enor- nous expanses of high tablelands lift. ed far atoVe the tropical heats; the fertile valleys of the western Cordil- leras are cooled by perpetual snows even under the equator. vast forests fble richness. The plains of Argentina the upiands of Brazil: the mountalp valleys of Chile, Peru. EquadoT. Re habitation of any race. however, fa1 fn the Nnrth ita origin may have bon;