Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-08-22
Itch Field for f1ustling American Merchants

Yankee dollar Each one of the three
will invest itself for the most proft.
But with ether things equal, with the
Indicated profits the same. the sol ana
the peso, just as the dollar. VIII be Suld-
ed by sentiment. This may explain
.yhv in Peru our business amounts to
onc-fourth of the total import trans
action. while in Chile it is only about
one sc zenith.
Our foreign traders have been able to
give Chile as favorable terms as were
offered in Peru. The transportation
conditions have been nearly similar.
The intangible factor in the situation
is that until recently Chile's attitude
toward the United states has been the
least friendly of the larger South
American republics. The United States
and Chile clashed in the past, and Chlle
has not forgotten. The United states
has befriended Peru, and Peru still re-
members.
The present conflict in Europe is Civ
ing America a fine opportunity to bind
her South American sisters to her with
bonds of friendship. Just as the war
has turned our attention to South
America. so has it turned the thought
of the Latin Americans toward the
United states We have, in the first
Secondly, the war has forced South
America to go to the United States for
certain necessities and for the most
part she has been we'll treated in her
new transactions.
South America needs vast capital for
her development. and her leading men
believe and expect that American capl-
tai will now flow in and accomplish
much of that development. Trade GER
tainly follows such employment of cap
ital Heretofore British capital has
financed much of the South American
development. British trade, benefiting
accordingly. today has the supremacy.
The Mexican situation has had It's
part in the Strengthening OF our inter-
national friendships in South America.
President Woodrow Wilson played a
great stroke when he called upon Ar
gentina, Brazil and Chile to intervene
in the Mexican affair.
Public opinion south of the equator
seemed to regard this as a disposition
on our part to drop our traditional at
titude of superiority tradition in
South America which probably has
much justification in fact-and to ac-
cept the republics there as equals, with
an equal interest in maintaining the
peace of this hemisphere. The conven-
ing of the A-B-C Intermediates at Nj
agara Falls gave President Wilson a
great popularity in South America. In
Some quarters l heard him character
lied as the greatest American PreSl-
dent since Lincoln.
Chile particularly seems to have felt
recent influences. When Theodore r.
Burton recently visited Chile he was
accorded a reception of great cordially.
The leading public men Of that repub-
lie Wed with each other to show him
hospitality and to assure him of the
friendship of Chile. 1t was not always
so. even in recent years. Col. Roose-
Welt is the idol of much of South Amer
lea, but even his Chilean experiences
were not all pleasant ones.
The present war has shaken Chilean
friendliness with some of the European
nations Chile resented it when British
war vessels sank the German cruiser
Dresden in the harbor at Juan Fernan-
dez, one of Chiles island possessions.
The easy confidence of the British COM