The Washington times., 1915-03-31
Brazirs Shipping Sets
Example for America
Hundreds of Vessels, Big and Little, Belonging to
Government Controlled Line, Tied Up at Docks
and Out of Business
BY JUDSoN C. WELLIvER.

II the Administrations ship purchase
legislation Is again brought before Con.
gress In an effort to force its passage
the country will be regaIed with the
story Of how the government of Brazil
nearly bankrupted itself in the <nfort to
carry on a similar project
Hundreds of ships. big and little. be-
iongfng to the governmcnt-controll
Lloyd Brasiliero Steamship Line, are to.
day tied UP and out Of business In the
maritime and river ports Of tho great
South American republic, because the
governments ship-owning project has
collapsed.
Too much politics, too little business
too much favoritism, too little real man.
agement, are given as the reasons for
the failure of the big enterprise.
Brazil is in area bigger country than
the United States. There Is less waste
land In Brazil than in the United Stated
while the potential producing capacity
of it's agricultural land IL vastly greater
than Of the lands Of the United States.
The real difficulty of Brazil 10 In fact
that like all tropical countries 1t is toe
productive
How to harness the tremendous pro-
ductivity Of the tropics to the chariot
OF civilization, and make nature at her
best and richest become the handmaiden
Of civilization is the one question that
in order that 1t may become the richest
In the world.
Brazil Like United States.
Brazil is a good deal talked about
nowadays as one Of the great fields
for American commercial opportunity
and the talk is justified by the condi-
tions. But there Is need to understand
the facts about Brazil. The latin
Americans are not a highly efficient
people, and they have learned too
much from the United States. Outside
their cities. their social and industrial
development Is In about the same stage
as that Of the United States in the
generation of the 'forties' OF the last
century.
To be specific. Brazil, Argentina, and
Chile are today In the financial dol
drums, and a study of their condition
justifies the observation that they are
passing through an experience that
closely parallels the panic OF 1887, and
the ensuing period OF depression In this
country.
Imagination is one Of the finest and
The leaders of Brazil. for instance.
were long ago able to appreciate the
possibilities OF their country. They un-
derstood it's richness, they knew that
the world was presently going to need
it's products.
And they plunged.
The north two-thrds of Brazil Is
tropic. That means that the Amazon
valley Is the richest region of the
world, II only II could be subdued. OF
all the vast alluvlal valleys Of the
tropic world. none 10 comparable to that
OF the Amazon. But the world has not
yet learned how to manage tho tropIc
lands In order to make them most
useful. The Latin people seem unlikely
to afford leadership In this enterprise.
1t needs the cold business sense Of
races with rather less Imagination. II
the business men Of the United States
would move In and provide Just this.
they would have taken possession Of q
wonderful field OF. opportunity for de-
velopment.
Copy Money System.
Perhaps there should be some ex-
PLANTATION Of tho remark that the Latin
Americans had learned too much from
the United States. First. they copied
the constitutions OF their republics from
this country: after that. back In the
days Of State banking and wildcat cur
rency they got the notion OF fiatism,
and built 1t into their money systems.
The experience with 1t WAS not salts
factory, Brazil determined to adopt