The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-27
Great Opportunity Offered
for Exporting Cotton
Goods
AGENTS NEEDED TO
STUDY CONDITIONS
United Kingdom and Germany Have
Almost MonopOlized Trade With
Our Latin-American Neigh
bOrs While We Sleep
by C. e. STEWART

BY c. f.. STEWART
Washington, June .-(Special.) )-There
is growing conviction that the Yankee
merchant, as shrewd as he is and as
great a success as he has made, has
neglected one great opportunity for the
development of vast trade of mutual
benefit, both to this country and the coun-
tries in South America, and that this
neglect must now be abandoned and
give way to activity and the push that
characterized the American business man
| in order to wrest that trade from the
European merchants who have developed
| it.
The trade of the South American coun-
tries belongs naturally to the United
States. That it has not become of great
volume and of immense profit to the pro-
ducers of this country is because it has
been thrown out of It's natural course
through combination of circumstances
Every American manufacturer and ex-
porter who has gone after the South
American business has found it respon-
sive and with little difficulty has driven
his British and German competitors to
the wall.
Dr. Muller's Suggestions
DR.. Lauro Muller, the Brazilian foreign
minister, who has been on a visit to this
country for some weeks, declares that
Brazil is not only a ripe field for the man
ufacturers of America to cultivate but
that his people are ready and anxious
IL do business with their American neigh
bors He says that the United States is
not getting its share of the Brazilian
trade; I'm fact" says DIR. Muller, 'it is
getting hardly any,
There Is not a first class steamship line
between the United States and Rio; there
is no United States banking agency in
Rio, although nearly every European
country has such an agency.
I'VE would like the big business houses
of the United States to establish agencies
In Rio-automobiles, for instance. South
Americans are interested In automobiles,
but they are almost unknown there When
an inquiry is made of an automobile man.
ufacturer. the reply is a catalog, which
| most likely goes into waste basket.
| With the completion of the Panama
canal and the immense trade there is
waiting in South America-one of the
chief branches 'of which is the cotton
goods trade-there is not question in the
minds of those who are in touch with our
foreign commerce that the south has the
greatest opportunity before it, which has
been offered that section for 100 years
UnderwOod's Watchful Eye
Representatives. Underwood with ever a
Watchful eye open to do something for his
country that will increase it's prestige
wisely stuck into the tariff bill provision
of a per cent discrimination in the tariff
duties in favor of American ships. 1t Is
true that this provision has been stricken
out by the Senate finance commmittee but
nsVprt helagS IT still hp in, ba
and will be IL Mr.. Underwood can keep it
there. What the country needs, and par
ticularly the south, is American steamship
lines to develop trade with Brazil.
Chile and other South American govern
ments. Our trade in cotton goods has not
grown, but rather is on the decrease in
Brazil. The United States has lost trade
in that country for various reasons,
among which is the lack of resident
agents to push American cottons and to
keep the exporter in touch with market
requirements, and with the weight and
constructions necessary TO get the lowest
duty under the tariff; the indifference OF
exporters in America in times of hsh
home prices. and the consequent capture
of customers by Europeans; the objection
of many American exporters to shipping
small lots of mixed goods; and the in
q easing Brazilian competition.
The American trade is handled in Brit
ish ships-no wonder they object to our 8
per cent discrimination and declare IL in
violation of a bunch of treaties over 10C
years old-it is also handled through Brit
ish banks.
What an opportunity this is for the
southern manufacturer of cotton goods
What an inducement it is for the building
of cotton mills in the south right where
the raw material is produced and where
| they can obtain through southern ports
| the shortest water haul to the trade in the
South American countries, on both sides
| of the continent after the completion OF
the Panama canal.
, England and Germany hold this trade
! and yet their cotton-the raw material for
| the goods they manufacture-comes from
Alabama, Georgia and the southern cot
| ton states, which have fine ports and
| every facility for not only the manufac-
ture of their cotton into the finished pro-
duct, but also of getting it to the mar
ket where the demand is constantly in
| creasing.
Conditions in Argentina
| Take Argentina, for instance. The most
| important single. item imported into Ar
gentina is cotton goods. OF this trade the
| United Kingdam monopolizes about one
/ half the remainder being competed for
| between the United States, Italy, Ger
many, France and Spain. In 1908 Great
| Britain imported into Argentina manufac-
tured cotton products to the sum of s13,-
| 42s, &C., while the United States sent to
| that country only s6s5, ,207 in cotton goods.
| Argentina is primarily food producing
country and her beef and cattle sell all
| over the world, and the trade of that lit
| tie republic to the United States would
| be of incalculable value now, not only I'm
! developing our own cotton trade, but her
contributions would go long way towart,
solving the high cost of living in the
| United States by dumping some of her
| food products upon our markets in COM
| petition with the trust products within
our own borders.
| The story of the cotton trade in Chile
| Is practically the same as Argentina and
| the rest of the South American countries.
Great Britain gets about one-half of the
cotton goods trade. In 1908 her imports of
cotton goods into Chile amounted to $4,-
800 604, while the imports of the United
States was s445,960. So far as the local
situation in Chile is concerned it is not
favorable to the manufacture in that
country of their own cotton goods. and
the great bulk of the cotton goods re-
uuired by that country and the demand Is
growing rapidly, and will undoubtedly
continue to be imported.
With the proper representation in those
countiies with the proper banking facili-
ties: with the proper announcement to
American shipping. the possibilities of the
cotton industry to the south and the build
ing up of the trade between the ports OF