The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-09-30
LATIN AMERICAN
 COMMERCIAL SITUATION

LATIN AMERICAN
 COMMERCIAL SITUATION
 (Prepared by John Barrett, Director General of the Pan American Union, tained in Washington by all the Amer ican republics for the development of commerce. intercourse, good under standing and peace.)
 The widespread and unprecedented public interest in the Latin American commercial opportunity as developed by the European war is being followed by so much misconceptions, in many circles. of the real trade and economic conditions obtaining in certain parts of Latin America, that Director Gen era1 John Barrett of the Pan Amer ican Union in Washington has found 1t necessary to ascertain by cable the exact business situation in Latin America, and, as a result to sound in justice both to the United States and Latin America, a note of caution and warning.
 On August 8, immediately after the outbreak of the European war. Director Barrett addressed a memo randuna to the comm ercial and fInart- cia1 interests of the United States lrsr- Ing them to prepare to meet the com
 bined responsibility and opportunity presented in Latin America by the war. This statement attracted consid- erabae attention and discussion, but now 8 new phase of the situation. d indicated by these cable reports. has
 developed, and is requiring careful consideration.
 These advices,'' 2 he states, .sefr1- phasize that what is needed at this hour in Latin America is not so much
 supply of the manufactured pro
 ducts of the United States, although required in considerable quantities, but money, loans and advances, cred it's on purchases, and markets as req sonable rates for raw products which usually go to Europe. If Latin America can sell at a fair figure her accum-
 uIating raw products and buy, in turn, through receiving financial help and co-operatfon in the form of advances and credits from United States ex- porters. importers and bankers, the the commercial interests of the United
 States and Latin America will truly enter upon g. new era Of Pan Amer tcan commerce and conity.
 .sThe fact that the twenty Latin
 American countries last year bought imports and sold exports to the vast total Of $340oe, ,OOO ,OOO, of which $2,-. 900, 900. 900 were transactions with Europe proves beyond qu1bbIe or doubt that the opportunity Is there.
 but subject to the conditions herein noted That the United States al- ready has good start and is making encouraging progress is shown by the fact that its exchange of trade with Latin America has grown in the last seven years. or during the present ad- ministration of the Pan American Un- ion, nearly 10 per cent, or from $450,-
 GOO, 900 to $860,
 'sThe European war; while greatly 1essening the sources of Lal!. Ameri- can imports and the rnarkets for ex- ports, ana opening a. corresponding
 greater opportunity to United States
 exports and imports has so unavoid- ably crippled Latin American financial
 resources and commercial machinery that 1t must require several months or a. year before conditi ons can read just themselves and permit results that many United States business men expect immediately.
 Despite the efforts not only of the Latin American embassies, legations and consulates, but of the Pan Amer ican union, as an international or ganizatfon, and the Uited States De- partnets Of State and Commerce to state the situation exactly as it exists countless articles have been appearing l in various newspapers and magazines emphasizing an alleged golden oppor- tunty without pointing out it's actual and present environments of money ttghtneSS and d1SlOC4t1On5 or 1nterna- tfonal commercial methods, Mum
 erous business men and commercial l agents, in consequence. are crowding the steamers bound for Latin America with the expectation that they will find the Latin Americans awaiting them with oltstretched hands filled with gold and ready to buy everything
 and anything they have to sell These men will presently return to the Uni- 1 ted States and unfairly condemn and l criticise the markets and peoples of l the countries visited
 "A great stream of letters and tel Iearams from both North and South America are daily pouring into the office of the Pan American Union. as Ithe international American bureau of 1 information, and they prove the wide
 spread interest in the field and on l portunify, but they are invariably an 1 swered not only with the statement of 1 the actual opportunity but with an adrnonition that the Latin American 1 market, while vastly potential. is at 1 this moment embarrassed by a serious 1 financial stringency and dis1ocation of lcommerciaI conditions for which it l is not in itself to blame
 The opportunity of the hour, there fore, in a word, is not so much one
 for immediate large sales of United
 States manufactured products as one for cooperation and mutual help, to- gether with careful investigation of commercial conditions and prepara- ton to meet future competition suc-
 cessfu1ly.'
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