The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-02-07
UNCLE SAM AND THE ARGENTINE
BY FRANK c. CARPENTER

to cutlery. needles and nails Among
 them were 4T,O00 dozen penknives, 5000
 pairs of scissors and 600 automobiles. Ger
 many has been sending all sorts of tex
 tiles. and she has sold most of the chem
 icals and drugs. In 1912 she furnished 3O0o bathtubs. 40o0 pianos and 27,O00 leather
 pocketbooks.
 During the same year France sent goods
 to the amount of $36,O00000, including 1500 automobiles, 14,O00 dozen ladies' hats and more than 200,oa0 pounds of buttons. The
 Argentine imports from Belgium were made up of iron and steel, glass and ce- ment, and of textiles and miscellaneous articles.
 And now let us look at the sales made by the United States In the year that the above imports came from Europe we sent out South American goods to the amount of s1s2, ,0o00o0, and of that about half went to Argentina. This country was our best South American customer. It took twice as much of our goods as Chile. and more than Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela combined. It bought about $90O0,O0O worth of agricul- tural implements, more than slOoo,oOo worth of railway cars, slS,Oo0,000 worth of oil, and more than $3S, ,OOO0,Ooo worth of our iron and steel. It's purchases of leather manufactures, including shoes. brought us in about $5,0oo000, and in addition we sold it something like s15,oo00O0 worth of wood. Much of this was lumber, and that, notwithstanding there are forests of soft wood in the Chaco, north of Tucu- man. The transportation rates are so high however. that the native lumber brought to Buenos Aires sells for 90 cents foot, and it Is cheaper to buy North American pine.
 In addition to these purchases, the Ar genuine took many other American goods. see our machinery and machine tools in all the big cities As I rode across the pampas I saw the farmers threshing with American machines, and away down in Patagonia. Chicago windmills are scat tered over the desert. The Argentine bought 60,00O barrels of apples of us last year. and it is adding to it's purchases of cement and cash registers, as well as wagons and carts and automobiles. The people are friendly to us. They have recently erected a statue of George Washington in the principal park of the capital. They like our manufactures, and there is no reason why we should not compete with other nations in almost any branch of foreign trade.
 one of the great openings of the pres ent Is for coal Since the fighting in Eu- rope began, the prices of fuel here have been as high as S14 a ton. and there has been such coal scarcity that some of the factories and mills have stopped running he 1ai1 de hair senger service. In 1913 Argentina import ed about 40OQ.000 tons of coal, of which about one-fortieth came from our coun- try The most of the balance came from Great Britain. The coal used here is bi- and it is no better than the Pocahontas and other kinds of United States coal. Soft coal is now bringing about s10 a ton at Rio de Janeiro. It could be brought from Newport News so as to be sold for much less, and now is the time to make the introduction.
 There is a big opening here for motor cars and all sorts of vehicles. So far the most of the high-priced automobiles have come from Europe as many as 1900 having been imported from France short ly before the war began. They are now selling many cars of cheap make well known in America, and the demand for these is on the increase. There is good taxicab service here, but the taxis are largely French made. They seem to do a good business, and will take you trips of more than a mile for 50 cents each. Argentina is improving it's roads, and Buenos Aires has plans for new streets that will require $200,000,0 coo before they are carried out. This will include an immense amount of paving materials and wood paving blocks. Many of the best streets are of such blocks laid in cement.
 Argentina is a rich field for plant ing American dollars. The British, Germans. French, Spaniards and Ital- ians have long known this and they have their money invested here at the capital and throughout the republic. The British lead. They are said to own about $20,000,000 worth of property of one kind or other in Argentina, and they have more than $1,000, ,000, 900 in vested in the railways. They have taken the bulk of the private loans of this