imports of the Latin-American countries amounted to
$2,000,000,000. Of this foreign trade the United States bought 35 per
cent of the exports and sold to these countries only 27 per cent of
their imports, producing an unfavorable balance of trade amounting to
$200,000,000. Of the goods imported from this country, over one-fourth
went to Mexico and Cuba. In that year Brazil bought from the United
States only 11 per cent of its imports. Argentina, with a larger foreign
trade than either Japan or China, bought only 14 per cent of its imports
from the United States. With the exception of Mexico, the foreign
commerce of the Latin-American states with European countries has
increased more rapidly than with the United States. Various reasons have
been given for this situation. The sensitive South American resents the
air of superiority assumed toward them by the people of the United
States. In our newspapers there is a seeming disregard for the real
evidences of their national development. Revolutions and boundary
disputes have been exaggerated. In general, citizens of the United
States have no comprehension of the advancement of these countries
within recent times and appreciate but slightly that their economic
future is as fully assured as our own. Argentina constitutes an
excellent example of this progress. This country has an area of
1,135,840 square miles. Splendid rivers water the immense plains. The
chief of these, the Parana, which flows 2,000 miles through the country,
carries a volume of water to the sea one and one-half times that of the
Mississippi, and is capable of floating ships having a draught of 18
feet for 600 miles into the interior. Buenos Ayres, with a population of
1,000,000, in 1906 had a volume of foreign trade amounting to
$562,000,000, constituting it the twelfth port in the world. In 1905
over 10,000,000 acres of land were cultivated in Argentina, an increase
of fourfold within fifteen years. The cereals, cotton, fruits, and meats
produced amounted to $350,000,000.

That the volume of trade between this country and the South American
states has been so small has been due also to the fact that so few
vessels flying the stars and stripes are engaged in this trade.
According to the report of Secretary Root, in 1906, there were in the
harbor of Rio Janeiro the previous year, 1,785 ships flying the flag of
Great Britain; 657 the flag of Germany; 349 the French; 142 the
Norwegian, and 7 sailing vessels (