The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-17
President Finley Urges South
 To Take AdDantage ofs Chance

President W. w. Finley, of the, Southern Railway. has written anopen letter, urging Southern manufacturers to appreciate the increased importance of the trade with Latin American ceun- tries, This trade Is steadily increasing and new opportunities are constantly arising.
 In this letter. which comes from his Washington oface. President Finley
 Washington, D. C., Dec. 14. 1908.
 Complying with requests from edi- tors of newspapers published In the Southern States for occasional letters on commercial and economic topics of interest to the people of our section. take the liberty of writing to you on the great importance of the expan- sion of our export trade with the Latin American countries.
 This is a matter of special import ance to our section, not only because of cur geographical advantage with reference to this trade, which, as to the Pacific Coast countries. will be stiIl further increased by the completion of the Panama Canal, but also because large proportion of the commodities which the countries to the south of us import can. be produced and manufac- tured advantageously in the Southern States. A few statistics win show the great present importance and future possibilities of these markets. In round figureg the combined area of Mexico, Central America. South America. and the West India Islands. is 5000, 900 square miles, and their combined pop ulation Is 65.0G0,000 Their population Is rapidly increasing. In the year 1907, 329.122 emigrants arrived in Arr gentina alone. Among South American cities. Rio dc Janeiro will soon have population of 100000. and Bueros Ayres, the largest city in the world south of the equator, has approxi- mately 1900, 900 inhabitants, and the progressive character of it's people Is shown by the fact that they are now arranging to put in a system of under ground railways.
 Ia4in-Amerfcan Countries.
 The past ten years have witnessed marked change in political and eco- homie conditions in the Latin-Ameri- can countries Political upheavals are now of comparatively rare eceurrence. and, with few exceptions, these coun- tries have stable governments which afford adequate protection to life and property. They are making rapid strides in material development In former years they were seriously ham, pered by lack of transportation facil- ittes. Their needs in this respect are
 
 streams are being improved. wagon roads are being constructed. and the | Latin American governments. general Ny, are pursuing an enlightened policy | of encouragement to railway construc- ton. Tn 1907. for instance. over 900 miles of new railway were construct ed in Argentina, making the total length of the lines in operation in that country i4,000 miles. In Brazil 436 | miles of railway were built in 1901. bringing the total mileage up to 11.369 miles. Mexico has i4.1S1 miles of rail- 1 way. Chile has 1900 miles of railway | and in the mountain country of Bolivia plan of construction involving the expenditure of $27.O0o.o0O of govern mental and private capital has beon adopted. Political stability increasing population, and improved means of l transportation are resulting in mate ! rial progress and an increase in the l purchasing power of the Latin -Amerb l ican peoples. the extent of which, I be3 lieve, is not generally appreciated in our country, ... u sl, ..t The Latin American countries pro- duce an abundance of commodities that are in demapd in other, lands. The combined value of their exports, almost wholly made up of unmanufac- tured articles is about 72,000,000 per year. The combined value of their imports, composed chiefly of manufac- tured articles, amounts approximate ly, to $1,005. 100000 per year. Our country is their best consumer, Tn the year ended June 30, 1908, we bought from them comm modities to the value of $2s7,O5soa7. In the same year our sales to them amounted to $236 632,131. The importance of the Latin American markets is indicated not so much by the present value of the limports into those countries as by the rate at which their purchases from, other countries are increasing. In 1898 the total value of their pur- chases from the United States was $s5, ,s61.s57. Comparing these figures with those for the last fical year, shows an increase in ten years of s150,770.27S, or 176 per cent. In the same period the total value of our exports to all the rest of the world increased a fraction less than 42 per cent. Gratifying as this inrease is, it does not represent what might have been attained If our people had given more attention to these markets, for many of the countries have increased their purchases from Great Britain, Germany and France even more rapid ly than from the United States, and, notwithstanding our geographical ad- vantage. they purchase more than three times as much from other coun- tries as from us. In some markets, in fact. we have been losing ground