Central or South American republics. The Veragua, for instance, is named 

 for a mountain range in the Republic of Panama. Fortunes in gold have 

 been taken from the Veragua mountains. 



Probably the American public never realized how much bananas meant 

 to them until World War II, when the United Fruit Company's ships had 

 to be diverted to other more important uses than carrying this fruit to our 

 stores and breakfast tables. Much of this great green cargo now enters the 

 United States through the great port of Baltimore; and bananas are not 

 the only commodity carried north by this famous steamship company. 

 The Veragua-type ships, northbound, also carry coffee, abaca, lumber and 

 logs (hardwood), chicle, cinchona bark (medicinal extracts), honey and 

 cardamom seed (essential oils). Shipments southbound include wheat 

 flour, rice, cereals, canned goods, cotton and other textiles, drugs and 

 medicines, refrigerators, bottles, onions, poultry and livestock feed, salt, 

 machinery, hardware, fencing wire and plumbing supplies. 



Such, then, is the Great White Fleet of today. Proudly it sails from 

 various domestic ports to the friendly waters of Middle America. These 

 ships are seagoing ambassadors of good will, destined to play a role of ever 

 increasing importance in the vital pageant of trade between the Americas. 



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