Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-01-04

America. it might not be well to enter
too pronounced a disclaimer.
The moral which this newspaper drew
was that the geographical ignorance nat
urally engendered gross errors of polti-
cal concepts in our relations with other
Latin American countries. The further
observation was made that the question
was one of markets and that the reaction
which is operating in the United States
will favor better friendship and more
perfect knowledge of the Argentine Re
public. This suggestion comes precisely
at the period when the commerce be-
tween the two countries is rapidly mount
ing
Almost simultaneously another leading
journal, in deprecating the impression
that the relations between Argentina ;Tld
the United States We're purely platopic
and could be strengthened by generaliZa-
tions and vague distractions blindly. said
that the way to improve the relations
was to promote the mutual commerce and
thus to encourage intercourse.
=
I have repeated in substance the views
of these two important newspapers. be-
cause the suggestion conveyed is so clear
that trade is preferable to disquisitions
on the friendship of nations when it
comes really to cementing friendship.
They may serve as an apology for a brief
reference to the foreign trade of Ar
gentina before discussing the country S
political relations with the United States.
Argentina keeps its position well to the
front in the march of commerce. The
government the other day published a
little document reviewing the foreign
trade of the country for the first nine
months of 1919. IT was significant as
Shp hat &c inI,ir ay
steadily its forward movement to the
early realization of a billion dollars of
foreign commerce annually. From these
statistics the current year undoubtedly
will show Il total i'll excess of 5000 900, 600
The imports and the exports maintain Il
fairly steady ratio in the growth The
government analyzed its figures and drew
the inference that the 7.0o0,e0o inhabit-
ants of the country have a purchasing
power of S1.1 per capita. That is why
the Argentine market is so important.
a graphic Illustration of the foreign
trade routes of Argentine commerce
through the Atlantic appears in dia-
gram. 1t shows that the Atlantic cur
rents bore above S53s. oON, $50 to and from
northern Europe; Sl56oo0,O00 along the
Mediterranean, and North America, S1GT,-
onn,O0a.
should be reasonably satisfactory to the
United States. While the increase has
not been as large as that with Germany
and England. il has been steady. For the
first nine months of 1913 the imports
into the Argentina from the United
States We're S44,6S.eoO as against Ar
gentine exports of S12,0ooooO This dis
proportion has frequently been urged by
Argentina as something that entitled it
to better consideration from the United
States The disproportion, however, was
largely an economic one. The United
States was not in need of Argentine
wheat and other cereals and if it had
been the tariff would have kept them out.
The recent tariff legislation removes this
fiscal grievance
Beef consumers in the United States
may be disappointed at the failure to OBJ
tain reduced meat prices, but Argentina
Will profit by having the 9o.O0o,oO con-
sumers bidding against the European
consumers for her limited supply of
meats. The wool growers are also look
ing forward to a similar advantage. Ar
senuna viii soon take measures to meet
the requirements of the tariff bill in
order to open the markets of the United
States to her wheat and occasional
cargoes may so to the Atlantic ports,
but 1t might as well he stated frankly
that the half dozen great firms which
control the wheat shipments do not look
to the United States as a future market
for Argentine wheat except in unusual
circumstances The free admission of
corn has already been taken advantage