Evening star., 1939-12-13

extends all over the world.
The truth is that German sub
marines are much more needed in
European waters, where they can
fire away at belligerent ships as they
approach British and French ports,
than they are in roaming the oceans.
The Berlin naval command has
not sent any vessels to the North
or South American coasts and Is not
interested in starting any contro-
versies with Pan-American coun-
tries, especially the United States.
Admiral Land, chairman of the Ma
tional Maritime Commission, has
authorized this comment:
''The American flag is the greatest
protection that exists in the world
today. Let's stop this hysteria re-
garding submarine scares, raider
scares, pocket battleship scares. The
waters of the Western Hemisphere
for ships under the American flag
are safe and will be safe
Latin American Trade Rises.
AS matter of fact, trade with
Latin America has increased per-
ceptibly since war in Europe began.
The United States is selling more
goods to Central and South America
because European exporters cannot
supply the shipping or the products
owing to war conditions. The South
American countries, on the other
hand, are finding it increasingly
difficult to sell their products to
Europe, and they cannot, of course,
increase their sales to the United
States because of tariff barriers. The
difficulties of financing foreign eX-
change in these troublouS times
have given rise to plans for the
establishment of central bank of
settlements which will handle eX-
change problems for North and
South American countries The idea
Is in the embryo stage, but some
thing of the kind may be set up
soon, and, if it is, then permanent
effects may be expected therefrom.
Indeed, the war will leave def
mite impression on the whole char
acter and volume of trade between
the United States and Latin Amer
lea, because once customer relation
ships are built up in wartime, they
are apt to be maintained when peace
comes, especially since the high
quality of American merchandise is
bound to become a factor in the
sales.
Thus, in the matter of heavier
goods, particularly steel, the Latin
Americans are finding that the Ger
man steel, for which they paid low
prices, didn't stand up in the ma
chinery purchased, and that equip
ment bought from the United States
IS demonstrating its superiority
every day in actual use.
Tourist Trade to Increase.
It is too early yet to gauge the
full effect of the war on Latin
American relations with the United
States, but no doubt there will be
a perceptible increase in tourist
trade. This is because many of the
travellers, and particularly the thou
sands who take winter cruises, will
want to see South America this time
and avoid the hazards of European
waters. American steamship lines,
many of which have Government
subsidies, have perfected a service
that is the equal of anything in the
transatlantic trade, and these lines
have a capacity to handle a huge
volume of passenger traffic.
Latin Americans who usually go
10 Europe for vacations are coming
to the United States in large num-
bers. This form of invisible ex-
change" as it has often been called,
adds to the total volume of trade
between countries just as if products
had been exchanged. The more
tourist traffic there is, the more op-
portunity there is for the peoples
Of the two countries to finance ex-
port and import trade. On the
whole, the Latin American trade
picture is brighter than it has been
in years and the chances of better
understanding between the North
and South American peoples will
be one of the most important by
products Of the war.
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