Fiiuiiuc 63 



If this is so with a single Republic, and the one, too, 

 in which this country has the largest stake, wliat must 

 the total German trade be throughout Latin America 

 generally ? It is contended, and we believe rightly, that 

 the German houses have handled business on terms that 

 neither English nor American iirms can entertain, and 

 that they have done it with bills drawn on London houses 

 and discounted in Paris, and so gambled with our money 

 and pushed us out of markets, because by financing them 

 we enabled them to do so. Hence the forty millions of 

 German bills one hears so much about. We do not profess 

 to know anything about finance, but if there is any truth 

 in the above statements, then it is for this country and 

 France to apply the remedy in future ; and we cannot 

 believe they will not do so. The South American trade,. 

 we know from personal experience, has been done (on the 

 surface) at half price for years back, and we have many 

 friends who have had to leave it alone as English wages, 

 &c., make our costs exceed those of the Continental houses.. 

 We have heard the trade described as kite-flying, and 

 those who flew the kites have now cut the string, and we 

 have lost our property. Maybe we shall regain it; when 

 we do so, it is to be hoped that the kite-flying will be done 

 by our own countrymen, and not aliens. If we are going 

 to risk our money, and lose some of it, let us lose it to our 

 own people, not to unfriendly competitors. 



The first portion of these notes was issued by our Editor 

 as a leaflet to the leading firms, Chambers of Commerce, 

 and the Press of this country. It brought back a fair 

 number of answers agreeing with tlie statements, and 

 stating, as a rule, that the writers were already taking 

 steps to push out in those centres where the absence of 

 German competition leaves a void. " But whilst we do- 

 not believe in growing rich at other peoples' cost through 

 quoting impossibly low prices," they add, " we hope other 

 firms, when the boom does come, will not, on the other 

 hand, lose their heads and ask prices that are too high." 



Having dealt with Argentina, let us discuss the German 

 grip on Brazil, as outlined in an excellent work, " Brazil — 

 To-day and To-morrow," by a well-known authority, Miss 

 L. E. Elliott, Literary Editor, Pan-American Magazine.^ 



' New York. 338 pp., including Index. 24 Illustrations. 3 Maps. 

 Price §2-25, or los. net, in London. Weight, 38 oz. The Macmillan 

 Company, New York, London, Toronto, Bombay. &c., or T/ic Pa)t- 

 Atnen'can Magazine, 70 Fifth Auenue, New York. 



