Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-03-12
LATIN-AMERICAN TRADE

WASHINGTON, March 1l.-There are
some authorities on South American
commercial conditions who do not view
with great confidence the prospect Of
an American invasion OF that continent.
on greater scale than ever, after the
end OF the war.
These declare the United States must
get into South America. and get itself
intrenched. before the war Ia over. or
IL VIII have small chance there; and
they present n fetching argument Here
II Is, as laid down by a very promi
nent public man and specialist in Latin
American conditions. whose name is
not permitted to he used
There is seemingly widespread
opinion in this country that after the
wars end. the countries in Europe viii
be so exhausted that they will be UNI
able TO restore their normal natural
commercial relationships, and that in
that period the United States will max e
great gains. am not able to agree
with this view.
Must Go After u.
1T is not safe to imagine that the
big trade of Germany and Belgium in
Latin America is going to drop into
rience OF other wars. we will discover
that the wars end is followed by an
era of great commercial effort, activity,
ard expansion. Thus In 1871 the French
were overwhelmingly defeated. and Bis
marck imagined that he had imposed a
ruinous burden on them, in the great
indemnity. But the French pulled
themselves together, and by tremend-
Gus efforts expanded their manufac-
lures and their foreign commerce at a
rate never before known among them.
Being hard put to ii. they were willing
Q
or even an actual loss In order TO open
markets. keep their people employed,
and the like.
1T has been good many times
pointed out by economists that the pay
ment OF that wars indemnity hurt
France less than receiving 1t hurt Ger
many. 1t enforced regime of econ
omy and strict attention to business in
France; while in Germany IT induced
an era of expansion, imitation and
speculation which brought an aftermath
of trouble just al a time when France
was getting comfortably back on her
feet and ready to profit by the mis-
fortunes of Germany.
1.-The Developments at the close Of the
Napoleonic wars were not dissimilar.
England was fearfully exhausted in re-
sources; but none the less she entered
carried her into new markets all over
the world
A Dangerous Assumption.
IF ii be assumed that the Gcrma ms
arc TO be defeated in the present war, ii
will stu be dangerous to assume that
they will be retired from business.
Should they win, they might be tempt
ed to indulge i'm Il period of imDcrialis-
tic adventure: there would be a time of
speculation and imitation in all values.
Those things would all hamper COM
merce. But Ii, on the other hand. they
lose. values will 30 down, the need OF
finding markets will be pressing. all the
energies of the people will have to he
turned to business rehabilitation. and
we shall DO astonished to see how fast
they will pick up again the threads OF
an interrupted commerce. The very
depression of values in a defeated coun-
try, contrasting with their imitation in
n victorious country, tends 10 enahlo
the defeated country to compete on the
moro favorable terms in general mar
kets. and this operates to restore cqui-