Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-07-15
Hoe Georgia Can Prosper
In Latin american Trade

" f there be business men in Georgia who
cannot see the practical importance OF
m promoting direct commercial inter-
course between this State and Latin-Amerlca,
we commend to their attention an editorial
in a recent issue of the Panama Daily Star
and Herald. That keenly observant journal
knows what fertile markets await develop
ment in it's immediate zone and in the larger
fields beyond 1t rightly appreciates the
part which the South Atlantic Maritime Cor
poration, recently formed, will have IN turn.
ing those opportunities to account. And IL
points out specific industries of Georgia and
her neighbor States that will profit from the
lines of trade thus to be opened
We are told, for example, that many OF the
Latin-American people have begun to be in
terested in the agriculture and horticulture
of the Southern States. 1.-The climatic con-
ditions in many of the elevated plateaus OF
South and Central America are about the
same as those in Georgia., so that the agrl-
cultural development of those regions Will
require scientific farming along the lines
standardized in the Southern States ALREADY
Central and South Americans are selzlng sucn
opportunities as are offered for studying our
methods at first hand. me establishment VI
direct and convenient lines OF transportation
between our ports and theirs will do much TO
encourage such visits, besides ACCOMMODATING
large numbers of other travellers who now
find it difficult to secure passage TO the
States"
reminds u.s. divers products which Latin
America hitherto has received from the
northern part of this country could be Dougnt
more cheaply in the South Atlantic territory
-"such, for instance, as the palmer graoes
of cotton goods, nearly all fruits and Vege-
tables eggs and many miscellaneous manu-
featured articles, especially woodenWare, Iur-
niture and some of the iron and steel prod
ucts manufactured in Alabama and Tennes-
see" Bv shipping these commodities direct
h7o1oT n
ports instead of routing them by way or New
York we shall save some fifteen hunured
miles. Of the Portland cement industry,
which is attaining more and more important
nroportions in the Southeast, our Panama
friend says:
'Latin-America is going to take an
enormous quantity OF this In Iact' the
demand is almost unlimited. Concrete
construction is so eminently adapted to
climatic conditions here, is so strongly
demanded in road building because of
our high rainfall during the rainy sea-
son, that it may be said that cement
will be one of our biggest imports for
MANY years until we begin to manufac-
ture it ourselves Even ii we should
do this we should require machinery
and expert skill which we could obtain
easily from our nearest neighbors IN the
United States.
There are other special Industries IN the
South Atlantic States which the Panama
observer thinks could be prof1tably related to
certain raw materials produced IN Spanish
America Cottonseed oil mills, he suggests,
could easily be adapted to extracting OIL from
copra which is being produced in eyer-lncreas-
ing quantities by our Latin neighbors and
in the same way we could utilize several
different kinds of palm nuts which they are
exporting.
These references are interesting because
they show the concrete opportunities out OF
which a mutually enriching trade between
the Southeast and Latin-American ports can
be developed. But we can do nothing IN thls
field of enterprise without adequate shipping
facilities controlled by the interests or our
own region and entirely devoted to these In
terests 1t was to serve this highly Important
end that the South Atlantic Maritime Cor
poration composed of the major commercial
interests of Wilmington, Charleston, Savan-
nah Brunswick and Jacksonville, was Or
ganiZed some months ago--lnterestS whose
opponents were wise enough to see that only
through cooperative and publlc-sp1r1ted
methods could their own and the South,s
common welfare be promoted. The ports
alone however, cannot uphold and develop
the interests of the Southeast in this lmpor-
tant ENTERPRISE They need and deserve
hearty co-working from the interior cities.
To win and hold foreign trade there must be
wide concert of resources and of efforts.
There must be, besides the port facilities and
an adequate merchant marine, ample bases
of production, banking and credit accommo-
dations and satisfactory railway service and
rates-aIl of which the interior communities
must join in providing. Every Georgia city,
it is to be hoped, will cooperate literally
with Savannah and Brunswick, just as they
in turn are cooperating with Jacksonville,
Charleston and Wilmington, in promoting
our common South Atlantic interests in Latin
American trade.