The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-07-12

countries whose flags they fly. Vessels from these countries sail on regular schedules. The South American mer- chant ordering goods in Liverpool or Hamburg by mail knows when his order will be received, by what steamer 1t will be shipped, and just when he may expect 1t to arrive. If he sent his order to the United States unless it was from one of the comparatively few points having reg ular sailings, he could have no idea when it would be received by the American shipper or when the goods would be shipped. Therefore, while it is true that, after trade has once been developed, there would probably be no difficulty in ob- taining all the ships needed to carry it., the difficulty of building up such trade is greatly increased by lack of direct and regular steamers carrying the mails and passengers, as well as freight In the report on trade conditions in Brazil above referred to. MT. Hutchinson tells of in stances in which it took twice as long to get mail orders from the United States as from Europe, and says: "In 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 instead" In similar re- port on trade conditions in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, MT. Hutchinson says: There are some direct mails to the River Plata, but they are carried on slow freightsrs and the service in gen. eral Is greatly inferior to that from Flu rope, both in dispatch and in frequency Constant annoyance and delay results, and merchants who have no direct American ties will, other things being equal, place orders in Europe rather than In the United States
 There are differences of opinion as to the methods which should be adopted for the improvement of our steamship com- munication with the Latin-American countries I think we can all agree, how ever, that if We are to realize the full benefits of our geographical relation to those markets and of the demand which exists In them for goods which we pro- duce, something practical must be done to secure the establishment of regular steam- ship lines. Whatever policies may be adopted to this end, 1t is so manifestly to the interest of our section that all southern products shipped to those coun- tries should go through southern ports, that not only those engaged in business at those ports, but the southern people gen orally, should work together in some practical way to secure direct lines from the South Atlantic and gulf ports. Those ports have the great advantage of short CT distances, especially to all points in Mexico, Central America, the West In- dies, the northern coast of South America, and points on the west coast reached by way of the Tehuantepec and Panama railways. This advantage with respect to the west coast ports will be greatly in creased on the completion of the Panama canal, and 1t is important that the people of our section should be prepared to make the most effective use of that waterway
 This Is a matter which concerns all the people of the south so vitally that I be- 1ieve all those interested in southern de- velopment should work together In an eff fort to bring about an improvement In our steamship service tt all the Latin- American countries. Yours very truly,
 w. w. FINLEY.
 Washington, July 8. 1909