An Awakened Continent 



65 



inheritance — a conference, in fine, which 

 will seek nothing, propose nothing, en- 

 dure nothing that is not, in the general 

 sense of all the delegates, timely, wise 

 and peaceful." 



The policy which Blaine inaugurated 

 has been continued ; the Congress of the 

 United States has approved it ; subse- 

 quent Presidents have followed it. The 

 first conference at Washington has been 

 succeeded by a second conference in 

 Mexico, and now by a third conference in 

 Rio de Janeiro; and it is to be followed 

 in years to come by further successive 

 assemblies in which the representatives of 

 all American States shall acquire better 

 knowledge and more perfect understand- 

 ing and be drawn together by the recog- 

 nition of common interests and the kindly 

 consideration and discussion of measures 

 for mutual benefit. 



BOTH NORTH AND SOUTH AMgRICA HAVE 



GROWN UP TO Blaine's policy 



Nevertheless, Mr Blaine was in ad- 

 vance of his time. In 1881 and 1889 

 neither had the United States reached a 

 point where it could turn its energies 

 away from its own internal development 

 and direct them outward towards the de- 

 velopment of foreign enterprises and for- 

 eign trade, nor had the South American 

 countries reached the stage of stability 

 in government and security for property 

 necessary to their industrial development. 



Now, however, the time has come ; both 

 North and South America have grown up 

 to Blaine's policy; the production, the 

 trade, the capital, the enterprise of the 

 United States have before them the op- 

 portunity to follow, and they are free to 

 follow, the pathway marked out by the 

 far-sighted statesmanship of Blaine for 

 the growth of America, North and 

 South, in the peaceful prosperity of a 

 mighty commerce. 



To utilize this opportunity certain 

 practical things must be done. For the 

 most part these things must be done by a 

 multitude of individual efforts ; they can- 

 not be done by government. Govern- 

 ment may help to furnish facilities for 



the doing of them, but the facilities will 

 be useless unless used by individuals; 

 they cannot be done by resolutions of this 

 or any other commercial body ; resolu- 

 tions are useless unless they stir individ- 

 ual business men to action in their own 

 business affairs. The things needed have 

 been fully and specifically set forth in 

 many reports of efficient consuls and of 

 highly competent agents of the Depart- 

 ment of Commerce and Labor, and they 

 have been described in countless news- 

 papers and magazine articles ; but all 

 these things are worthless unless they 

 are followed by individual action. I will 

 indicate some of the matters to which 

 every producer and merchant who de- 

 sires South American trade should pay 

 attention : 



SOME ESSENTIALS OF SUCCESS IN THE 

 SOUTH AMERICAN FIELD 



1. He should learn what the South 

 Americans want and conform his product 

 to their wants. If they think they need 

 heavy castings, he should give them 

 heavy castings and not expect them to 

 buy light ones because he thinks they are 

 better. If they want coarse cottons, he 

 should give them coarse cottons and not 

 expect them to buy fine cottons. It may 

 not pay today, but it will pay tomorrow. 

 The tendency to standardize articles of 

 manufacture may reduce the cost and pro- 

 mote convenience, but if the consumers 

 on the River Plate demand a different 

 standard from the consumers on the Mis- 

 sissippi, you must have two standards or 

 lose one market. 



2. Both for the purpose of learning 

 what the South American people want 

 and of securing their attention to your 

 goods, you must have agents who speak 

 the Spanish or Portuguese language. 

 For this there are two reasons ; one is 

 that people can seldom really get at each 

 other's minds through an interpreter, and 

 the other is that nine times out of ten it 

 is only through knowing the Spanish or 

 Portuguese language that a North 

 American comes to appreciate the admi- 

 rable and attractive personal qualities of 



