Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-01

man in the world is on his way
TO South America to sell British
4 goods and British friendship. A
few days ago the steamship
Oropesa left Liverpool with two popular
statesmen on board, but they were the
objects to considerably more attention
than is usually accorded commercial
representatives.
They were the Prince of Wales and
his brother, Prince George, who will
travel together more than 10000 miles
and visit at least 10 countries on five
month journey through the southern
continent for the purpose OF aiding in
efforts to regain export markets OF
Latin America and to r6establish
Great Britain as the leading trade ma
ton Of the world.
The two royal ENJOYS will stop at
Bermuda and Havana before passing
through the Panama Canal on their
way to South America. In that CONT
nent they are scheduled to visit Peru,
Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and
Brazil, their first stop being Talara, a
port in Northern Peru. The climax of
the Journey will be reached when they
arrive in BuenoS Aires, the huge South
ern metropolis which is the capital Of
the Argentine republic. Here the Prince
of Wales will open on March IA the
British Empire Trade Exposition, lend
ing his prestige to insure the success
Of this gigantic commercial undertake
ing, OF vast significance for the future
Of British foreign trade.
South American shores are not
strange to his royal highness. This will
be the second time that the Prince of
Wales has visited that part of the world,
having been in 1925 the official guest
Of the governments Of Argentina, Chile
and Brazil. From his personal descrip-
tions of the tour and his enthusiastic
statements about the charms OF Latin
America and her people it was not diff
cult to understand when the Prince re-
turned to London that he had enjoyed
the trip and had been very favorably
imprt ssed by the courtesies and tradi-
ional hospitality of the Spanish-speak-
ing countries. He was emphatic in
showing his sympathes for and his in
terest in them. He spoke of them as
offering "limitless possibilities" and adj
vised young Englishmen to study Span
ish. He announced his intention OF
taking up Spanish himself, and even
| danced an Argentine tango in the first
royal reception he attended back in
England.
With all this, neither was it diff1cult
to understand that q second visit of
the Prince to South America was more
than q mere probability. Not in vain
since his first visit has he been en-
ploying many long hours in solving the
intricate puzzles of Spanish grammar
and in mastering Spanish pronuncia-
| ton.
JOHN BULL TO UNCLE SAM.
Hardly could the Prince of Wales
have chosen better time to make his
second visit to South America. Great
Britain is going through @ severe eco
nomic crisis, and lately her foreign
trade has been suffering serious losses.
Before the World War 1t was an every
| day story to hear OF the commercial
supremacy of Great Britain in Latin
America. The greater markets, such
wholly controlled by British concerns
The United States was considered sec
ondary in Importance. The exports Of
| this country to the ones mentioned in
South America amounted to less than
one third those of Great Britain. BY
means of their enormous investments
and extensive banking and sales o. gan
izations British interests completely
controlled the South American mar
kets. Besides, they were in possession
of the cable system, and American ex-
porters were dependent upon English
and German steamers for the trans
portation Of their products to the
Southern lands.
Today, however, things have under
gone o change. There are American
banking institutions, American cable
lines and innumerable trade representa-
tives of this country in South America.
The investments of United States CAPT.
tai have increased considerably. They
amount now to nearly $6,000,000, 900
Export and import figures have, OF
course increased two to three fold II
inter-American trade during the last
is years Last year the standings OF
Great Britain and the United States IN