Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1906-11-26
Root Proposes a Great West
World Alliance of
Commerce.
PROSPERITY MEANS PEACE
Secretary of State Tells How
South American Business
May Be Secured.

by Elihu Root, secretary of state. He
dwelt upon our relations with the
South American republics, telling Of
his recent trip through these coun-
tries He said the time had come for
expansion of trade between the c0un-
tries of the north and south that
would result in the peaceful prosper
ity of a mighty commerce. He de-
clared that means of communication
between these countries must be i'm
proved and increased, and said the
"woeful deficiency in means to carry
on and enlarge our South American
trade is but part of the general de-
cline and feebleness of the American
merchant marine"
Representatives of Bolivia, Peru,
Colombia, Brazil and Chile also spoke.
following Mr. Roots theme closely,
speaking of the possibilities of invest
ment of American capital in their en-
terprises, and dealing also with the
political aspect of the situation. Mr..
Roots subject was Commercial Union
With South American Republics. He
spoke in part as follows:
'Since the first election of Presi-
dent Mckinley the people of the
United States have for the first time
accumulated surplus of capital be-
yond the requirements of internal de-
velopment That surplus is increas-
ing with extraordinary rapidity We
have paid our debts to Europe and
have become creditor instead of a
debtor nation; we have faced about;
we have left the ranks of the borrow
ing nations and have entered the
ranks Of the investing nations Our
surplus energy is beginning to look
beyond our own borders, throughout
the world, to find opportunity for the
profitable use of our surplus capital,
foreign markets for four manufactur-
ers, foreign mines to be developed,
foreign bridges and railroads and
public works to be built, foreign riv-
ers to be turned into electric power
and light AS in their several ways
England and France and Germany
have stood, so we in our own way are
beginning to stand and must continue
to stand towards the industrial enter
prise of the world.
THAT we are not beginning our
new role feebly is indicated by
$1.51& SCI ,666 of exports in the year
1905 as against $1,117513,071 of i'm
ports, and by $1,743,864,500 exports
in the year 1906 as against $1,226,-
563,S43 of imports. Our first steps
in the new field indeed are somewhat
clumsy and unskilled. In our own
vast country with oceans on either
side we have had too little contract
with foreign peoples readily to under
stand their customs or learn their
languages; yet no one can doubt
tina we shall learn and shall under
stand and shall do our business
abroad as we have done it at home
with force and efficiency.
"Coincident with this change in the
United States the progress of polit-
ical development has been carrying
the neighboring continent of South
America out of the stage of militar-
ism into the stage of industrialism.
Throughout the greater part OF that
vast continent revolutions have
ceased to be looked upon with favor
or submitted to with Indifference; the
general and the dicta-
tor are no longer the objects OF adj
miration and imitation; civic virtues
command the highest respect, the
people point with satisfaction and
pride to the stability of their Govern
ments, to the safety of property and
the certainty of justice; nearly every
where the people are eager for for
eign capital to develop their natural
resources and for foreign immigra-
ton to occupy their vacant land. I'm
before us, at exactly the
right time, just as we are ready for
It, great opportunities for peaceful
and industrial expan-
sion to the South are presented
Other investing nations are already
n the field-England, France, Ger
many, Italy, Spain; but the field is
80 vast, the new demands are so
great, the progress so rapid, that
what other nations have done up to
his time is but a slight advance in |
he race for the grand total. The |
are so large that figures
all to convey them. The area of |
his newly awakened Continent is
',5O2,84S square miles, more than two /
md one-half times as large as the |
United States without Alaska and |
more than double the United States I
including Alaska. A large part of |
his area lies within the temperate /
.one, with an equable and invigorat-
ng climate, free from extremes OF /
,ither heat or cold Farther north in /
he tropics are enormous expanses of
Ugh tablelands stretching from the
Atlantic to the foothills of the Andes.
nd lifted far above the tropical
Inats. fhe fertile valleys of the west