Omaha daily bee., 1914-10-04

not only to Chile, but as to almost every
South American country. Chile is now
taking about 1000 tons Of freight and
passenger cars per annum; It buys In
the neighborhood Of 1000 tons of locomo-
tives and also thousands of tons OF steel
rails, railroad spikes, fishplates and car
wheels. In all of these things the United
States has fair trade, but Germany.
France, Belgium and Great Britain are
doing the bulk Of the business. The sales
OF the steel trust, however, have been
steadily growing, and with the present
opportunities they should increase many
fold. 1t is the same with the locomotive
anu car business. l have one statement
showing that Chile took last year 341
freight cars from Belgium and 2IS from
Great Britain, while from the United
States it got only sixty-eight In that
same year we sold about one-third of the
locomotives. the balance of the trade go
ing to Great Britain and Germany. Just
now Chile has under way enormous rail-
read extensions, and its supplies will have
to come from our country.
Electric Possibilities Large.
The electrician possibilities are large and
they demand all sorts of machinery.
Every town Of any size has electric cars
and electric lights. The country took
about 400, 900 pounds of electric bulbs last
year. of which the bulk came from Ger
many. less than 10000 pounds coming
from the United States. Many OF the big
mining companies use electricity TO
operate their works The Guggenheim
copper plant at Chuquicamata which will
be one OF the largest of the world, re-
Gently awarded a contract for its cleo
trical supplies to a German company.
These included steam plant on the
coast and transmission line seventy-five
miles long from there to the mines That
contract may have to be carried out by
Americans, There is a great deal of
electricity used in the nitrate factories,
and there are big opportunities for add
tional supplies In the street car lines.
many of which are owned by the Ger
mans. Most OF the cars are of German
construction, The only native thing about
their operation being the woman con-
ductors. who take up the fares.
And then the trade for automobiles
This is rapidly opening up not only in
Chile, but in every Latin American re-
PAbAAN' dlt illOIS IMAM DNVV aulO-
mobiles now in Mexico City, there are
1900 in Rio Janeiro and so many in
Buenos Aires that the dogs there have to
cross the street on the run. Many of the
machines come from England Germany
and France, but they are being displaced
by our cheaper American makes, which
are now to be seen in almost every large
town of the continent. There is a demand
for motor trucks in the cities. And 80 /
might go on country by country and item
by item. The field is so vast and there
is hardly an industry in the United
states whose goods are not needed in
some parts Of South America. The wants
every variety of manufacture
and almost every article that the United
States makes
Need American Ships First.
An almost imperative demand for this
trade is American ships and those so
backed by the government that they can
not fail to pay a good profit. 1t is prob
able that Chile and Peru will subsidlze
their lines of steamers, and send them
through the canal to our Atlantic ports.
Our government should do the same as
to American vessels engaged In the South
<AiiSA ASah Alauts DHll now pIdNtlCdlly
the whole of this trade has been in the
hands OF the English and Germans, and
they have so combined that our steamers
could not compete with them. They have
given such rebates to the South American
exporters that our vessels could not get
return freights, and this Is especially so
OF coffee and other large products. We
have been buying something like $40. OO1.O 900
worth OF coffee year from Brazil; and
for every cup on our breakfast table We
have had to pay a toll to the German and
English shipping trusts, subsidized BY
their governments. Since 1910 the United
has paid out about $500 OOO. 200 In
such subsidies, France has been paying
s. COO 900 a year in bountles OF one kind
or another, and Germany has built up It's
enormous shipping through subsidies and
Practically all our exports and
imports have been carried In foreign bot
toms, and we have been paying taxes not
only to the ships. but also 10 the banks
all the money transactions having been
carried on through Europe. AS It is nov
our foreign commerce amounts 20 more
than 400, .oOo . year, and Of this nine