An Awakened Continent 



67 



tiology, a graduate of the Columbia 

 School of Mines and a graduate of Col- 

 onel Roosevelt's Rough Riders smelting 

 copper close under the snow line of the 

 Andes ; I have ridden in an American car 

 upon an American electric road, built by 

 a New York engineer, in the heart of the 

 coffee region of Brazil, and I have seen 

 the waters of that river, along which 

 Pizarro established his line of communi- 

 cation in the conquest of Peru, harnessed 

 to American machinery to make light 

 and power for the city of Lima. Every 

 such point is the nucleus of American 

 trade — the source of orders for American 

 goods. 



7. It is absolutely essential that the 

 means of communication between the two 

 countries should be improved and in- 

 creased. 



This underlies all other considerations 

 and it applies both to the mail, the pas- 

 senger and the freight services. Between 

 all the principal South American ports 

 and England, Germany, France, Spain, 

 Italy lines of swift and commodious 

 steamers ply regularly. There are five 

 subsidized first-class mail and passenger 

 lines between Buenos Aires and Europe ; 

 there is no such line between Buenos 

 Aires and the United States. Within the 

 past two years the German, the English 

 and the Italian lines have been replacing 

 their old steamers with new and swifter 

 steamers of modern construction, accom- 

 modation and capacity. 



In the year ending June 30, 1905, there 

 entered the port of Rio de Janeiro steam- 

 ers and sailing vessels flying the flag of 

 Austria-Hungary 120, of Norway 142, 

 of Italy 165, of Argentina 264, of France 

 349, of Germany 657, of Great Britain, 

 1,785, of the United States no steamers 

 and seven sailing vessels, two of which 

 were in distress ! 



An English firm runs a small steamer 

 monthly between New York and Rio 

 de Janeiro; the Panama Railroad Com- 

 pany runs steamers between New York 

 and the Isthmus of Panama ; the Bra- 

 zilians are starting for themselves a line 

 between Rio and New York; there are 



two or three foreign concerns running 

 slow cargo boats, and there are some for- 

 eign tramp steamers. That is the sum 

 total of American communications with 

 South America beyond the Caribbean 

 Sea. 



NOT ONE AMERICAN STEAMSHIP RUNS TO 

 ANY SOUTH AMERICAN PORT BEYOND 

 THE CARIBBEAN 



During the past summer I entered the 

 ports of Para, Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio de 

 Janeiro, Santos, Montevideo, Buenos 

 Aires, Bahia Blanca, Punta Arenas, Lota, 

 Valparaiso, Coquimbo, Tocopilla, Callao 

 and Carthagena — all of the great ports 

 and a large proportion of the secondary 

 ports of the Southern Continent. I saw 

 only one ship, besides the cruiser that 

 carried me, flying the American flag. 



The mails between South America and 

 Europe are swift, regular and certain ; 

 between South America and the United 

 States they are slow, irregular and un- 

 certain. Six weeks is not an uncommon 

 time for a letter to take between Buenos 

 Aires or Valparaiso and New York. The 

 merchant who wishes to order American 

 goods cannot know when his order will 

 be received or when it will be filled. 



The freight charges between the South 

 American cities and American cities are 

 generally and substantially higher than 

 between the same cities and Europe; at 

 many points the deliveries of freight are 

 uncertain and its condition upon arrival 

 doubtful. 



The passenger accommodations are 

 such as to make a journey to the United 

 States a trial to be endured and a jour- 

 ney to Europe a pleasure to be enjoyed. 

 The best way to travel between the 

 United States and both the southwest 

 coast and the east coast of South America 

 is to go by way of Europe, crossing the 

 Atlantic twice. It is impossible that trade 

 should prosper or intercourse increase or 

 mutual knowledge grow to any great 

 degree under such circumstances. The 

 communication is worse now than it was 

 twenty-five years ago. So long as it is 

 left in the hands of our foreign competi- 



