Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-05-27
OUR FIRST DOLLAR BROKER
Prophetic Career of William
Wheelwright of Massachusetts,.
See the Vast Possibilities OF south
America along Trade Lines
with United states

1t Is to South America that the United
states Ia now looking for It's chief
share In the new trade that Is to come
to 1t. says Lawrence Hayward in the
Boston Transcript Some signs of its
nearness are disappointing, others are
| more encouraging. The Argentine gov
| eminent. weary of waiting for us, has
determined to assist from its own re-
sources swift. direct steamship line
between this country and Buenos Aires.
Brazil similarly has had standing Of
Ter for some years to cooperate with
us In the establishment of like line
to Rfo de Janeiro. We have done little
IN the encouragement Of those means of
communication which are the necessary
Feeders OF greater trade. On the other
hand, banking interests seem more alive
to the possibilities Agents from more
than one New York institution have been
sent to the leading South American cities
10 see what can be done and one of the
great Boston banks has followed suit.
Ihere Is falkland perhaps something
| more-of dollar credts"--an American
basis Tor financial opera tons rather
| than an English one. The great manu-
ACQUIRING interests are sending their
men southwark. We are ready to wake
up TO our opportunity. at any rate, IL
| we have not already seen II.
At such time. it is particularly inter-
esting to recall that in the past of South
America we once had very creditable
share and the United States took Just
such hand in Latin American COM
merce as 1t ought to take now. The
pioneer Of the old days was William
Wheewrght
STATUE TO WHEELWRIGHT
In the city Of Valparaiso stands sta
tue to Wheelwright, erected to him by
the grateful Chileans. for whom he did
so much. Ills IL one Of the most honor
ed and best remembered names in Argen-
tine history, and there is a Spanish life
or him written by Senior j. b. Alberdi
which Is still much read in Latin Ameri-
ca Perhaps his adopted compatriots
are more alive to the value of his serv-
ices than are We who produced him.
On the Ridge" in Newburyport, Mass.
stand three stately houses, all Of which
at one time or another have been known
as Wheelwright houses. In one of these
william Wheelwright was born in 1898.
he went at an early age, as did so
many young men from the coast towns
OF New England at that period TO sea
AT the age of % he was in command of
the ship Rising Empire. when it was
wrecked off the mouth of the River La
Plata. Captain and crew after "a hours
exposure all got safely to shore.
Misfortune is often the beginning of
opportunity II was so with Wheel
wright. He proceeded to Buenos Aires
and found assistance that took him to
the west coast Of the continent He cx-
plored most Of its extent. saw it's com
mercial opportunities. and finally settled
down to developing them to his own
profit, first at GuayaQuil and later at
Valparaiso
1t was not until 1926, however, when he
had been in South America Is years that
he turned his attention to those en-
terprises that were to have an effect
on the whole continent. In the meantime
he had been back once more to New
buryport had married, and then return
ed to find his whole property lost by
acknowledgement of his partner during
his absence, but he built 1t up again
by the establishment of a lucrative bus-
ness Of transpa nt!ng specie and bullion
L.
Points in his work suggested that South
America was ready for the steamship, |
then Just coming into notice. Therefore
he resolved to proceed to England-then |
the only place where he could hope to
lind interest enough in the possibilities
to make men put capital into his en-
terprise
DIFFICULTIES TO OVERCOME
1T was an undertaking Of much diff
Guilty" he himself wrote There We're |
pre1udices to be overcome, capital to be |
raised. and negotiations necessary to be |
carried out all OF which required great
skill and patience" But at last in 1885, |
after three years work, the Pacific |
Steam Navigation company, with n
capital Of f2.O0,0O was formed, two
small steamers of seven hundred tons |
burden each We're built and sent through
the Straits Of Magellan and communica-
ton established with Europe by means
of the Isthmus of Panama.
The difficulties of running such a
service were great. To provide for re-
pairs. and other necessary facilities, the
development Of workshops was necessary,
and also the Improvement of harbors and
the construction Of wharves and light
houses. Wheelwright. with his usual in
domtable persistence, accomplished all
these tasks
In 1s42 he became interested in a pro-
ject that has only within a few years OF
the present time been brought to COM
pleuon-that OF uniting Valparaiso and
Buenos Aires by railway He organized
a corps OF engineers to survey the route.
When this had been done. he approached
the Chilean government. but they con-
sidered the task too great and difficult.
Not discouraged. he sailed around to the
east coast and approached the Argentine
government. They too, saw the immense
difficulties Of the task, but after three
years Of patient and persistent labor.
Wheelwright obtained from them grants
OF land and certain privileges in the
importation OF materials that led to the
building OF the Grand Central railroad
between the port of Rosario on the
Parana river and Cordova further in
land.
INFLUENCE STILL AT WORK
Thus the first means for the develop
ment OF modern Industrial civilization
were introduced into South America by
native Of New England. Wheelwright
had to work with English capital for
he reports that he found little interest
IN New York or Boston among financial
men. and II was only when he reached
London that he could get hearing
But the persistence and the insight into