Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-18

loss of their European customers, ruined
! by the Napoleonic wars.
Attacked Buenos Aires.
The foundations for British trade in
the River Platte countries were laid by
British attack on BuenoS Aires, then
a Spanish colony in 1907. The citizens
of Buenos Aires repealed the British,
pouring boiling lead on them from the
roofs as they marched through the
streets.
The expedition. undaunted, crossed
the river and stayed in Montevideo
long enough for the people to learn
how to play polo and to take up shoot
! ing-or "gunning"-in the English
fashion. and for the cowboys to teach
their horses the long sweeping gallop
of the English turf instead of the short
burst of speed of the typical gaucho
horse race.
Many British merchants - chiefly
| established themselves in
BuenoS Aires and Montevideo at this
time and, with others who came later,
built up an import trade which by
| 1922 amounted to more than half the
| imports of the country.
Britishers swarmed to South America,
and in some towns-notably Valparaiso
they composed as much as 10 per
cent of the population. An Fnglishman,
Green, superintendent the coinage of
the new Peruvian mint. One of the
first concessions granted by New Ora
NADIA now Colombia) went to Messrs.
Rundell. Bridge g. Rundell of London,
for the pearl fisheries.
British mercantile community was
soon established at Rio de Janeiro. BY
treaty it had its own "juiz conserva-
dor" whose sole duty was to see that
justice was done the England and Scots
traders. Despite clerical opposition, |
the British were even allowed to build
their own church. though it was or
dered that the interior must resemble !
peal from it. And, as a wise old |
Brazilian churchman had prophesied, |
once the church was permitted and |
built, few Englishmen ever attended it.
British Established by 1914.
The commercial treaty lapsed in |
1874 but by that time the British were |
firmly established Twenty years later !
half of BraZil's foreign debt was in |
British hands. and nearly half its i'm /
ports, with British capital invested !
heavily in the agricultural, mining and |
commercial enterprises of the country |
Swiftly as their trade was built up |
in Brazil, the pace was matched in all |
the other important countries. 1t was |
British capital and-with one notable |
exception-British engineers who built |
almost all the railways and developed |
the mineral wealth
Cornish miners blasted and delved !
among the wild Chilean valleys. Scots !
shepherds penetrated the bleak south |
Of the Argentine to build up a wool |
industry. Younger sons" or ariSto- |
cratic families pioneered as ranchers, |
fighting back the savage raids of the |
Pampas Indians Even isolated Para
quay finally opened its doors wide to |
foreigners, in 1845. when a commercial
treaty permitted Britishers to settle in
any part of the country and to marry
Paraguayan women.
In the growing seaportS merchants
from Glasgow and Liverpool and Lon
don directed the increasing stream of |
commerce. France and Germany were
beginning to get their share of the
business which the British had so easily
monopolized at first But even up to
goods to and bought more raw ma
terials from South America than all
the rest of the world together.
Neglected Customers Preferences.
Her South American trade was Eng
lands pride But the Englishman at |
home did little to keep or extend it. |
The steel manufacturer invested in Ar !
gentine railways, and the railway COM
panies bought locomotives and rails |
from him. The British-owned mines |
imported their mining equipment from
home.
But if the native buyer of textiles
had liking for some pattern of fabric |
that the Lancashire factories were I'M |
accustomed to making, he could go |
whistle for it, for Lancashire knew /
there was small chance of his buying |
elsewhere. If he could not read Eng |
lish, he could get some one to trans |
late the catalogues and price lists he !
received. Over and over again British /
consular reports reiterated the disre- !
gard Of the manufacturers at home for |
local wishes and convenience.
But soon others were to learn the |
open Sesame" which had unlocked !
the South American treasure cave Ger
many. after 1870, had united Lorraine's !
iron deposits with her Westphalian coal 1!
and had taken great leaps forward as
manufacturing nation. Her manu- |
sacturers had to find foreign markets, |
and soon German merchants began to |
cut seriously into the British South
American dominance.
Unlike the British government. Bis
marck and his successors seconded their
trades vigorously. Both exports and
man diplomatic as well as consular
service spared no energy TO further the.
trade of the fatherland
The large and influential British COL
onics in Rio de Janeiro, in Buonos
Ayres and Santiago found setting
beside them increasing numbers of Ger
mans Manufacturers in the Rhine
land and SaXony lured customer after
customer from the British with their
catalogues in Portuguese and Spanish.
their prices in native currencies and
their careful packing.
Germany Filled the Order.
Local tastes and individual whims
were cared for meticulously. There is
tale of one chinaware importer who
bore no love for the Germans, but was
| importuned so untiringly by a bland
PruSsian salesman that finally, to get
rid of him. he gave him what he con-
sidered an impossible order. Principally
a few weeks later he received ship
ment of mustard pots in the form CT
4 pigs heads surmounted by the Prus-
/ sian helmet, exactly in keeping with
specifications.
! 1t was largely due to these German
interlopers that the British and other
merchants began giving South Ameri-
cans the long-term credits which are
characteristic Of the trade today. All
over South America, as in all agricul-
tIlral or primitive countries, currency is
scarce and payments slow. The Ger
man sold on terms of six and nine
months, and If the customer could not
pay at the end of the time-well, there
was no hurry: he would wait.
Thousands of Germans emigrated to
the southern continent. Southern
Brazil, which had welcomed German
settlers as early as 1924, was especially
favored. One traveller called 1t an out
post of the Reich Argentina. too. took
a large share of this migration. British