Evening star., 1939-06-04

The 1888 figures show that the United
States took 81 per cent of all the goods
exported by Argentina and sold her It's
per cent of all the goods she imported.
Great Britain was the salesman of 1873
per cent of Argentina's purchases and the
buyer of 31.8 per cent of her sales. Ger
many indeed, bought more from Argen-
tina than the United States did, lis per
cent, but Germany sold the Argentines
only l0.4 per cent of the South American
countrys purchases. This is one of the
few available instances of an unfavor-
able balance against Germany in South
America.
U. S. Second Among Suppliers.
Last year, then, the United States
ranked third among the buyers of
Argentine goods and second among the
Argentine suppliers. This countrys rela-
tive Importance was not always so great.
In 1881, for instance, we cut a smaller
slice of the Argentine market than Great
Britain, Germany Belgium, France and
Holland. Last year, when Argentine
sales to the world declined to 1,400,-
$4,000 pesos from 2,308 294 ,661 pesos in
1887, the United States dollar imports
from Argentina were divided among
these goods:
Linseed, s16,55S, ,992; WOOL s6,e68, $50;
hides and skins, s5,666 699 canned meat,
$3,997 ,261; quebracho, $2,334S25; wild
animal skins, s1731, 1865; animal by
products. 81 ,678, l46; metals and minerals,
$1,227016: preserved meats, $724, $50;
fruits, $5l5, ,160; seeds (excluding lin
seed, S27S, 1874; dairy products, s216,144;
miscellaneous, $717,129
In that list were 29.522 ,07O pounds of
corned beef for the United States, 860143
pounds for the Philippines, 585, ,191
pounds for Puerto Rico, 183600 pounds
for Hawaii and 90,217 pounds for the
Virgin Islands. This resume leads to the
conclusion that it was not simply to an
nounce the proposed purchase of $4,000
pounds of Argentine corned beef for the
Navy that moved Mr.. Roosevelt to talk
about the beef, but to make the
Argentinians feel good by complimenting
their COWS and produce
DItlSH nave dNOTeu 1EedlmeHL.
In 1929, the United States supplied 264
per cent of Argentine imports, which is
more than can be said for Great Britain
even today. The British have large in
vestment in Argentina, where they run
five railway lines, with 81 per cent of the
country's rail mileage. They are sig
natories, too, of the Roca Agreement,
trade document signed in May, 1888, ac-
cording reciprocal favored treatment by
each country of the goods of the other.
Great Britain looks on this agreement
as a strictly unilateral instrument, while
the agreement which Mr.. Hull would
complete with Argentina is a most-fa-
vored-nation treaty. But the presence
and influence of the British have their
virtues in that they probably have been
the chief factors in curbing an expan-
sion of German influence.
The great advantages accorded Great
Britain through special foreign exchange
operations as compared with the United
States can be understood through read
ing paragraph in a report on Argen-
elilc cCOllOlIly pun UOScIIlcI Ill tIlc bTll-
ish Embassy in Buenos Aires. Speaking
of competition for sales of tinplate to
Argentina, the report says:
I'm general, the quality of the United
Kingdom product has continued to i'm
prove. Prior exchange permits are, how
ever, not available to the u S. A. prod
ute, which has in consequence to be
paid for at the free exchange rate; so
that the landed cost of the United King
dom product, for which official exchange
is available, is approximately 20 per cent
cheaper"
In other words, the Argentine govern
ment through an official exchange rate
offers sort of subsidy for British i'm
ports.
The United States is the predominant
salesman of such materials as tractors,
windmills, automobiles, tires, fountain
pens Con which, to quote the British,
large sums are. spent by the manufa~-
turers on local propaganda locke
tobacco and cigarettes.