Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-18

M 81"
Gus South American countries and the Ger
mans promise to acquire afmonopoly or
the carrying trade.
The Kaiser and South Americas Com
merce.
Indeed the kaiser has earned his title as
1.-The Great International Drummer" He
has, in a quiet way, equipped many expe-
ditions like that of Secretary Root, although
he has not yet sent secretary Of foreign
affairs out as his representative. Just be-
fore Krupp died the kaiser borrowed about
twenty million dollars from him, and this
is said to have been largely on the under
standing that 1t would be used to further
Germanys foreign trade. At least the Ger
man press charged that the money was
spent to conciliate foreign nations by gifts
in the shape of monuments IKE tnat OF
Frederick the Great sent to washington,
and in sending Prussian army officers 10
Brazil and other South American countries
to cultivate friendly relations. The emperor
himself IS an international advertisement
The Germans used to call him the Reise
Kaiser" in distinction from his father. who
was sometimes called the "Weise Kaiser,
and his grandfather, who was called the
"Greise Kaiser" The reise kaiser has trav-
his own country. He went to the Holy
Land and visited the sultan, and all the
time he kept his eyes skinned for German
trade At the Strait of Gibraltar he looked
at Morocco and since that time the Ger
mans have been paying close attention to
the possibility of investment there, and
they are also doing considerable in Asia
Minor.
AS to Spanish America, the emperor has
been pushing German interests ever since
he assembled the throne, and during that
time Germany has gained more than any
other nation. 1t has trade now with Cen
trail America which amounts to from
$S,000,000 to $12,000,0O0 a year. and the
larger part of the coast shipping of that
country is done by the Hamburg American
and Cosmo steamship lines. In Guatemala
the Germans control about one-half of the
coffee and sugar crop, and they have the
foremost place in the foreign trade. There
are now about four thousand German resi-
dents and business firms in Central Amer
lea. and it Is officially stated that the Ger
man investments there amount to some
thing like s60,000.000.
Germany in Brazil.
Our Secretary Of State will find that the
Germans have many millions invested in
Brazil, and that they are by far the strong
est of the foreign nations there. Indeed, the
lower part of Brazil is SO largely German
that it is often called West Deutschland.
In the state of Rio Grande do Sui alone
d
are $50, 200, and in Santa Catharina there
are 81, 600. In Santa Catharina a number Of
German colonizlng companies are now OPP
Grating. They buy large tracts of land from
the State government and sell them In small
allotments to settlers. That state has seven
ty-two miles of railway and several new
lines are projected. 1t has one city, B.umen-
au. which has $4,000 Inhabitants. which Is
almost entirely German, and another,
named Harmonic, is about forty miles
away.
The chief city of Rio Grande do Sui, Porto
Allegro, has about ninety thousand inhab-
itants, of which the controlling influence Is
German. That town Is a great trade center
and the chief commercial point for south
ern Brazil. 1t has extensive factories run
by Germans. The Germans own all the
stores, all the banks and the most valuable
of the plantations.
That section Of Brazil Is as healtfHul as
any part Of the United States. The climate
Is much like that Of the southern part OF
our own country. 1t Is a land of corn and
grass and other products of the temperate
zone. There Is an abundant rainfall, and
crops are grown without irrigation. The
farmers raise wheat, coffee, cotton and to-
bacco, and they have such rich grazing
lands that Rio Grande do Sui exports guam
titles Of meat and hides.
German Steamship Lines.
The Germans are pushing their steamship
connections with South America. They have
ger service from Bremen and Hamburg to
the different Brazilian ports. and they have
recently added six steamers Of six or eight
thousand tons each for that trade. They
have steamers from Europe to Para and
several lines which go to Uruguay and the
Argentine, as well as through the Strait of
Magellan and up the west coast. Indeed, no
nation pushes its foreign trade so intelli-
gently SO vigorously or so effectively as
Germany. Even upon the Amazon, where
we have almost the monopoly Of the rubber
business, great part Of the imports and
exports are handled by the Germans. Dur
ing my tour of South America I visited al
most every country and found German
importing houses everywhere. There were
German drummers on every railroad train
and ship and on every stage line. and the
to deal directly with the people. Such
American commercial travellers as I mef
spoke only English. and they were at
great disadvantage in this respect over the
Germans. Nearly every large German ex-
porting house has branches in South Amer
lea, to which 1t sends its drummers to learn
the language and the business before start
ing them out on the road. similar policy
is adopted by the same houses in other
parts Of the world:
Italy In Brazil and Argentina.
In both Brazil and Argentina Secretary
Root will find large number Of Italians.
In the latter country there are far more
Italians than Germans. and In Buenos
Ayres there are so many that parts of the
city remind me Of Italy. There are alto
which is more than twice as many as the
Spantards i've times as many as the French
and twenty-five times as many as the Ger
mans The Americans there can be counted