The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-06-02

There is one great lesson the world war has taught the United States-that our interests, as well as our welfare, of our sister republics of Latin-America than with any other section of the world
 Why? Because we inhabit the same hemisphere; our political systems are alike, and we produce the things which are needed by one and the other The old saying was, Better a century of Europe to a cycle of Cathay" We of North America should say, Better the trade of one of the South American na- | tons to the whole of Asia"
 Previous 10 the great war our share | of Latin-AmerICan trade was less than | 20 per cent Europe controlled 80 per ! cent. This was more our fault than the | fault of Larin-Amer rica, because we made no special effort to cultivate closer | business and social relations with Span | ish and Portuguese America, which .Eu- | ropean countries did.
 | In measure we are eXcusable for I this. because we of North America were | until recently in the formative period. | We had vast forests to clear, and areas | to people. The stride of our achieve l uitlAS ii tilt CoIlpdSS Dl tEHluTS stretched from ocean to ocean, and about | twenty-five years ago we advanced from | the pastoral and agricultural stage to | the industrial Today we are in a real | sense preparing to move with great speed into the third stage of national evo- lution. From the commercial, where our visions are no longer limited, to domes- tic opportunities, but alive to those that iexist in foreign fields.
 l oripS have multipIied and are turning out annually billions of dollars of manufactures, more, in fact, than is needed to meet our domesticv require nents The problem with us, therefore Is to create a demand for our surplus in foreign lands. This is imperatlveiy q necessary so as to insure continuous run of factory and continuous employ ment of labor. Without a full dinner pair yon can't maintain prosperity and happiness among a people. It's the only cLre full dinner pail and happiness, for all the social ills or political unrests that from time to time beset every na- tion Whither shall we turn? Not tc
 Europe: she's our competitor: Asia is far off but Latin America is next
 door neighbor and a consumer.
 l What are the prerequisites to a healthy
 trade development with Spanish anc
 Portuguese America?
 First, the developnl9lt of adequate rapid and efficient ocean transportation lhetween our country and others under
 the American flag, and that means moi
 nrly through the ports of New York anc
 Boston, but by using the Gateways oi
 the South Atlantic and gulf states.
 Second, to arrive at an intelligent com
 mer cial and social understanding between
 us and Latin America we must acquain'
 ourselves with their languages (Spanisf and Portuguese). We must familiarizt
 ourselves, not only with their politca
 and commercial geography, but with their customs, traditions, religions, man. ners and methods.
 We must set aside our provincialisms
 and realize that there is much we car
 learn from these Latin-American peo pies who are the descendants of the prcudest, most chivalrous and cultured races, and whose achievements in many
 realms of human activity we could wei
 draw inspiration and profit from.
 In our dealings with Latin-Americans