Evening star., 1915-05-26
REAL NEEDS OF SOUTH AMERICA
DISCLOSED IN THE GROUP TALKS

by Milton G. Elliott, counselor Of the
federal reserve board. James Speyer,
banker. of New York: Otto H. Fuerth OF
New York, Edward n. Hurley OF the
federal trade commission. and Levi l..
Rue. president of the Philadelphia Ma
tional Bank. are among the American
business men attached to the Bolivian
group.
Rate of Exchange in Nicaragua.
The rate of exchange in Nicaragua
has been as high as 25 per cent. al
though 1t is now los. Nicaragua has
three banks. but now encourages the
esta blishment of branch banks Of
United States Institutions. Big i'm
porta tions have stopped and surplus
stocks have been sold out, so that
there is now an opportunity to sell
goods in that country. The Nlcaraguan
delegates declare that If United States
firms desire to increase their trade
there they should grant the same long
terms that European countries have
granted in the past.
Nicaragua has not good communi-
cation with the Atlantic coast. The
San Juan river has been practically
closed to commerce and there is an
opportunity for engineers to make 1t
navigable The government Is discuss
ing the possibility of building a rail-
road from one of the ports on the Lake
of Nicaragua to the Atlantic.
The Costa Rica delegation discussed
the present needs of public service
companies, such as railroad, street
railway. electric light. gas and power
Meeting with the Costa Ricans were
E. A. De Lima of New York. Caldwell
Hardy of Norfolk, Va; Robert n. Har-
Bank of Washington: Charles A. Killer
of Champaign, H.. Byron r. Newton.
assistant secretary of the Treasury,
and Lewis f. Pierson Of Austin Mich
OILS & Co, New York. The Costa Rican
delegation expects to make a state
ment later in the conference as to just
how it's members believe that country
should be developed.
Long Credits in Paraguay.
In behalf of the Paraguayan delega-
tion it was said:
In commerce the business men of
Paraguay are renowned for their hon
or. and European houses, with a knowl
edge of this circumstance from their
long years of experience, have never
undergone inconvenience in selling to
them al long credits, or in waiting pa
,, tiently for epochs of crises to pass for
the collection of their dues. Great fail
ures almost completely unknown in
Paraguay. and even small ones are a
of commerce are an honor to the coun-
try.
Following the Paraguayan conference.
which was participated in by Robert
Halsey Patchin, formerly of Washing
ton, secretary of the foreign trade
council of the United States. the state
nent was made that the profound eco
nomic crisis of today has prevented the
accumulation of funds, making 1t alb
solutely indispensa BILE for Paraguay
to obtain loan for the purpose of Civ
ing the nation sound money basis.
In the Chilean conference subjects of
general importance were discussed. The
purpose was to establish ground plan
for future work. The chairman of the
delegation, when the meeting was over.
expressed himself as extremely pleased
with the conference on finance tina
was had. Mutual promises of help and
support were made between the
Chileans and the citizens of the United
States Among the Americans meeting
| with the Chileans were Charles ).
Hamlin, governor of the federal reserve
! board Archibald Johnson, vice presl-
| dent of the Bethlehem Steel Corpora
ton; C. A. Green of r. 6. Dun & Co.
Charles u. Norton of the First National
| Bank of New York. Leopold Frederick
of New York and Charles r. Flint OF
New York.