The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1909-07-15
Southern Railway Company-(
foo of Tho Droci6dOt

Southern Railway Company-Ot-
fee of the President.
Washington, D. c., July s, 1909.
Editor Herald, Bamberg, S. c.
Dear Sir: Referring to my letter
of December IA, 1908, to editors OF
Southern newspapers, on the interest
of the South in the expansion Of our
EXPORT trade with the Latin-American
countries, 1 take the liberty of ad-
dressing you on the great importance
of direct and regular steamship COM
munication between the South At
lantic and Gulf ports and those coun-
tries.
It 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 communica-
ton, and to great part OF that coun-
try, especially from our territory
south of the Ohio and Potomac rivers
and east Of the Mississippi, traffic can
be moved efficiently by water as well
as by rail. There are direct and regu-
lar lines from some of the South At
lantic and Gulf ports to some OF the
Mexican, Central American, and West
Indian ports. There are no such lines
to any South American port. New
York is the only port on our Atlantic
coast from which there are regular
steamship sailings to ports south or
Venezuela. 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 total Of seventeen or elgh-
teen. From European ports there
are fourteen to Brazil; eighteen to the
River Plata, and three to the West
coast, or a total Of thirty-fve. The
inferiority of the service from the
United States is even greater than
is indicated by the comparative num-
Der of sailings, as the steamers from
European ports are generally raster
and have superior passenger accom-"
modations.
From our South Atlantic and Gulf
ports there is occasional communica-
ton by tramp steamers with ports
south of Venezuela, but as rule
such of the products of the Southern
States as find their way into the mar
kets of South America are sent
through Northern ports. In fact, a
considerable proportion of the exports
from the United States 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, in a report on trade
conditions in Brazil, by Special
Agent Lincoln Hutchinson, published
by the Bureau of Manufactures, 1t is
stated that at least fifty per cent. of
the American hams sold in Brazil are
shipped by way of England, and con-
siderable proportions of other kinds
of traffic move by the same route.
1t is sometimes argued that, If our
merchants and manufacturers would
devote sufficient attention to cultivat-
ing Latin-American trade, and would
develop a sufficient volume of traf-
fic, there would be no difficulty about
securing adequate transportation ia
cilities. To 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 any Ameri-
can port, who had a full cargo for
South America, would doubtless have
little difficulty in finding a ship 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 competition with Euro
by regular. lines of steamers receiv-
ing aid, either in the form Of SUBJ
sides or Of liberal payment for car
rying the mails, from the countries
whose flags they fly. Vessels from
these countries sail on regular sched-
ules. The South American merchant
ordering goods in Liverpool or Ham
burg by mail knows when his order
will be received, by what steamer it
will be shipped, and just when he
may expect it to arrive. If he sent
his order to the United States, un-
less it was from one of the compare
lively few points having regular sail
ings, 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 de-
veloped, there would probably be no
difficulty in obtaining all the ships
needed to carry it, the difficulty of
building up such a trade is greatly
increased by lack of direct and regu-
lar steamers carrying the mails and
passengers as we'll as freight. In the
report on trade conditions 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: ''In a very large part of
our Brazil trade the mails are an i'm
portant factor, and there can be no
doubt that many orders which might
otherwise go to our manufacturers,
60 to Europe instead In a similar
report on trade conditions in Argen-