The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-06
SOUTH AMERICA IS
 GREAT TRADE FIELD Ross c. Smith Cites Some In
 teresting Facts WHAT ARGENTINA OFFER England Last Year Took $25O,OOO, ,OOO From That Country-Argentina Greatest of All South Amer
 ican Republics
Q the Editor of The Age-Herald. :.

To the Editor of The Age-Herald.
 read with great interest the article written by NIr. Crawford, president of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad company, which appeared in The Age Herald last week. concerning the pig iron production m Alabama, and the markets that we must address in the future pro- vided we make that headway which our resources warrant.
 On the subject of increasing the com nlercial relations between this country and South American republics as sug- ges;eG in MT. Crawfords paper, 1 beg to call attention to extract of an address delivered before the chamber of commerce of New York on Thursday last by Mr. Charles H. Sherrel United States minis ter to the Argentine Republic. In ex- blaming the commercial possibilities of Argentina, MT. Sherrill said that in the last two years the export trade from this country to that republic had been built Up from SAT, ,O00, 600 to $S0,oO0,o0O, and in the same period, government contracts aggre- gatng s25, ,OOOOOO had been secured by Americans.
 Iie further added:
 "Tn my opinion there is no other market which offers better field for, immediate exploitation than South America England knows the markets of Argentina, and the Buenos Ayres commercial reports state that England last year took s25O, 600 O00 from the country that you gentlemen don't know anything about
 .Tbe foreign trade of Argentina last year was s7OO OO0, 600. that of Brazil S450.- 000o00, Mexico $20O, 900, Chile and Cuba, S201, ,0C1, GOO, and therefore Argentina had a market three and half times the size of Mexico or Cuba or Chile. Uruguay had a trade of $1O0,000.000. So the markets of Argentina offer most fertile field for attention
 Suppose you develop the foreign credit of this country and avail yourself of the assistance which the state department Is anxious to give; suppose you build up your foreign trade. Only per cent of it is being carried in our own bottoms. ny paying $30o,000,0OO a year you have built up tne shipping of other nations, notably that of Germany.
 The facts q given by MT. Sherrill bring to my mind very vividly a speech that l heard Senator Morgan deliver in the old OBrien Opera house more than 70 years ago on this same subject. He lald GOWn the DTOpDSltioH Illdl IL Ndo PiotSi caljy impossible for a country to expand it's commercial interests by going north the proper field being south, and in the couse of his speech he told of the won derful opportunities in South America. It strikes me that the sooner we realize this and begin to work on these lines our progress to that extent will be quickened. It would be great move Tor Alabama and for the south to reach out and get a larger share of the trade with the South American countries and in order to do this it is necessary to build American ships I have heard 1t asserted by man who lived in South America that in two years he did not see an American mer- chant ship with an American flag afioat at one of the most important ports of the republic.
 1 do not wish to appear critical but l submit that if some of the newspapers of this country would manifest the same zeal in urging an extension of our ship ping interests that they do in trying to keep down the tariff on wood pulp or if our representatives in Congress would show more interest in constructive meas ures and not consume so much of their valuable time in watching the weather cock of public opinion, l doubt not that our business interests would grow and tl,at our people would be happier and more prosperous.
 1Ie cycles or the ups and downs that we experience in business conditions are not brought about so much by fundamen- tai causes as by the conduct of the dem agogues, who appear to have control oi all branches of the federal government, at least two-thirds of the time.
 Tie Panama canal Is nearing compie- .ion which means that the progress of the sonth will be marked up verN appre- ciably. if we only map out safe., legiti- mate and progressive lines on which to avail ourselves of this great work. 's'"" ROSS c. SMITH. ,,., naoamher 5 1glO