The gold leaf., 1909-07-15
Transportation F Facilities

"AAeo - AAaSay oiid iIlSiSot-
ing Article on the Subject.
The following letter explains itself:
SOUTHERN RAILWAY co, /
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT. I
Washington, ID. C., July 8, 1909.
Editor GOLD LEAF,
Henderson, n. {.
Dear Sir:-Referring to my letter
of December 14th, 1908, to editors
OF Southern newspapers, on the in
terest of the South in the expansion
OF our export trade with the Latin
American countries, take the liber-
ty of addressing you on the great
Importance of direct and regular
steamship communication between
the South Atlantic and Gulf ports
and those countries.
1t is obvious, of course, that if the
products of the Southern States are
to be sold in Mexico, Central and
South America, and the West India
Islands, they must be carried to
those countries Mexico is the only
one with which we have rail commun-
ication, and to n great part of that
country, especially from our terri
tory south of the Ohio and Potomac
rivers and east of the Mississippi,
traffic can be moved efficiently by
water as we'll as by rail. There are
direct and regular lines from some of
the South Atlantic and Gulf ports to
some of the Mexican, Central Ameri-
can and West Indian ports. There
are no such lines to any South Amer
lean port New York is the only port
on our Atlantic coast from which
there are regular steamships sailing
to ports south of Venezula. There
are four regular steamers per month
from New York to Brazil; seven to
the River Plata, and three or four to
the West Coast, making a total of
seventeen or eighteen. From Euro
pean ports there are fourteen to Bra
zil; eighteen to the River Plata and
three to the West Coast, or Il total
of thirty-fve. The inferiority of the
service from the United States is even
greater than is indicated by the COM
parative number of sailing, as the
steamers from European ports are
generally faster and have superior
accommodations.
From our South Atlantic and Gulf
ports there is occasional communica-
tion by tramp steamers with ports
of VeneZula, but as rule such of the
products of the Southern States as
find their way into the markets OF
South America are sent through
Northern ports. In fact "a consider
able proportion of the exports from
the United Statse to the East Coast
of South America, south of Para,
Brazil. go from New York across the
Atlantic to Europe, and across the
Atlantic again to South America.
For instance, i'll IA report on trade
conditions in Brazil, by Special
Agent Lincoln Hutchinson, publish.
by the Bureau of Manufactures, 1t
ed is stated that at least fifty per
cent. of the American hams sold in
Brazil are shipped by way Of Eng
land, and considerable proportions
of other kinds of traffic move by the
same route.
lis sometimes argued that, il mer.
| chants and manufacturers would de-
vote sufficient attention to cultivate
Latin-American trade, and would de.
velop a sufficient volume OF traffic,
there would be no difficulty about
| securing adequate transportation
| facilities. To a certain extent this is
true. There are large numbers OF So
called tramp steamers constantly
| looking for traffic wherever it is to be
found, and any shipper in American
ports, who had full cargo for South
America, would doubtless have little
difficulty in finding "A snip to carry it.
! The difficulty is that our merchants
and manufacturers, in their efforts
to build up trade with the Latin
| American countries, come into com.
petition with European rivals who
are generally served by regular lines
| of steamers receiving aid either in
the form OF subsidies or OF liberal pay
ment for carrying the mails, from
the countries whose flags they fly.
Vessels from these countries sail on
regular schedules. The Suoth Amer
lean merchant ordering goods in
Liverpool or Hamburg by mail
knows when his order will be received
by what steamer it will he shipped,
and just when he may expect il to
arrive. If he sent his order TO the
United State, unless il was from one
Of the comparatively few points hay-
ing regular sailing, I've could have no
idea when it would be received by
the American shipper or when the
goods would be shipped. Therefore
while it il true that, after trade ha-
once been developed, there would
! probably be NO difficulty in obtain
ing all the ships needed to carry it,
the difficulty of building up such a
trade is greatly increased by lack oi
direct and regular steamers carrying
the mails and passengers as well a-
freight In the report on trade con
ditions in Brazil, above referred To,
Mr.. Hutchinson tells of instances in
which it took twice as long To get
mail orders from the United States
as from Europe, and says: '1n a
very large part of our Brazil trade
the mails are an important factor,
and there can be no doubt that many
orders which might otherwise go to
our manufacturers. go to Europe in
stead" In similar report on trade
conditions i'm Argentina, Paraguay,
and Uruguay Mr.. Hutchinson says:
There are some direct mails to the
River Plata, but they are carried on
slow freighters and the service in