being $300,000. It is doubtful if our trade here could be materially
increased. Cayenne is the only town to visit, and may be best reached
from Trinidad or from the French possession of Martinique or Guadaloupe.
French money is in use and while dealers give drafts on Paris or London,
most of them having business with New York, do so through some branch of
the Credit Lyonnais.
No traveler’s fee is required. French is spoken.
All of these possessions are ruled by officials sent from the motherland
for a term of years.
XIX
EUROPEAN POSSESSIONS IN THE WEST INDIES
Four European countries, England, France, Holland and Denmark, have
possessions in the West Indies. They are readily accessible, cleanly,
attractive, hospitable, and will repay a visit both for business and for
pleasure. All of them are dependent on the outside world for their
staples and food supplies, and to-day are receiving great attention at
the hands of the Canadian merchant, who has in many instances supplanted
us, especially in such necessities as flour, dried fish, butter,
potatoes, onions, cheese and fruits. Their trade is well worth catering
to, and much of it can be diverted into American channels. With the
exception of Martinique and Guadeloupe, English is spoken universally,
even in the Dutch and Danish islands.
The Dutch colony of Curaçao consists of the island of that name, and the
adjacent islands of Bonaire, Aruba, St. Eustache, Saba and the southern
part of St. Martin, the northern portion belonging to France. These
islands are small and situated about 60 miles off the coast of Venezuela
to the north, having a total area of 403 square miles, Curaçao being the
largest, and about 30 miles long with an area of 210 square miles. They
are mostly all of coral formation and cannot raise enough food for the
sustenance of their 50,000 inhabitants, 30,000 of whom reside in
Curaçao.
Wilhelmstadt with 25,000 is the capital and the residence of the Dutch
Governor. It is well equipped for coaling and provisioning ships, being
a free port, and as it is in the beaten path of travel from Europe to
the Panama Canal its future seems bright.
The inhabitants of these islands are poor whites who have intermarried
and a few blacks. Curaçao, however, is the home of many wealthy Jews,
whose forefathers were banished from Portugal, these islands having
formerly belonged to that country. They are all merchants or traders,
owning coasting vessels that ply along the Latin American shores and the
other islands. Their credit is good and they are thoroughly up-to-date
in their business methods.
While Dutch money is used, American, English, French, German and other
currency is received at the current rate of exchange. There are no
government banks, but each merchant has credits in the United States or
Europe and buys and sells exchange against it.
The total exports of these islands are less than $1,000,000 yearly,
$300,000 representing coal brought from the United States and resold to
steamers. Many straw hats made from fibre imported from Venezuela and
Colombia are exported, the yearly production being about $350,000. Aloes
to the extent of $70,000 and dividivi, a dye wood, to the value of
$25,000, with hides, skins, and a native lace are the chief exports.
Aruba ships some phosphate rock and has one small gold mine in
operation. Much smuggling is done into Latin America.
This group imports about $2,000,000, $500,000 coming from the United
States, $250,000 from Holland and the remainder from the leading
European nations. They require flour, rice, beans, onions, garlic,
corn-meal, condensed milk, medicines, oil, candles, tinned foods, soups,
hams, cottons, shoes and hardware.
No duty or fees for travelers are charged.
The “Red D” (American) Steamship Line has a ship a week from New York to
Curaçao, and the other islands can be reached by coasting boats from
this port.
The Danish West Indies consist of three small islands in the Caribbean
sea, St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John, their total area being 138
square miles, with a population of about 25,000, mostly negroes, a few
mulattoes and some European officials. St. Thomas, the largest in the
group and about 26 miles from Fajardo, Porto Rico, is used as a coaling
station for Hamburg-American ships in the Latin American trade. Its
imports of $1,000,000 in 1913 are chiefly accounted for by one item—coal
from the United States amounting to $550,000. Much bay rum is distilled
here. The Panama Canal may revive the trade of this island, owing to its
location in the lane of steamship travel.
St. Croix, with 14,000 people in its 81 square miles of area, raises
sugar and cotton. They also make considerable rum.
The United States in 1913 exported $600,000 of St. Thomas’s $1,000,000
imports and $550,000 of St. Croix’s $800,000 worth of imports.
No fees are charged in these islands for commercial travelers.
American money is used here as much as Danish. There are no banks,
merchants maintaining credits in New York or European markets from the
sale of their exports and drawing against them. English is spoken
universally.
The Quebec Steamship Company sailing from New York connects with St.
Thomas; the other islands being reached by coasting vessels from this
point. There are many opportunities from San Juan, Porto Rico, to get to
St. Thomas.
These people buy from us coal, food stuffs, flour, dried fish, candles,
oil, rice, onions, beans, shoes, clothing, boots, medicines, soaps and
other staples.
The French islands in the Caribbean Sea are Martinique and Guadeloupe,
and they import their requirements from the mother country, owing to the
fact that such goods pay no duties. The town of St. Pierre, Martinique,
with its entire population of 70,000 inhabitants was totally destroyed
by an eruption from the extinct volcanoe of Mt. Pelee, May 8, 1902.
Josephine, the first wife of the Great Napoleon, was born at Fort de
France, Martinique.
We sell these colonies some food stuffs, oils and necessities, our
yearly sales to Martinique being about $700,000 and to Guadeloupe about
$900,000.
Martinique raises sugar and manufactures rum, her sugar production being
about $3,000,000 yearly, and her rum export equalling $2,000,000
annually. Guadeloupe exports about $3,000,000 yearly, mostly cocoa, bay
leaves, and vanilla beans.
The natives all speak French, and are mostly negroes and half-breeds,
with the usual admixture of French officials and soldiers. Guadeloupe
has about 1200 square miles and a population of 160,000, while
Martinique possesses an area of 380 square miles with about 200,000
inhabitants.
The smaller islands of Marie Galante, St. Barts and half of St. Martins
also belong to France and get their supplies from either Martinique or
Guadeloupe.
The Quebec Steamship Company maintains a direct service between New York
and these islands, connections for the smaller ports being made by
coasting vessels. France also has a line of ships from Europe direct.
The British West Indies are made up of the following islands:
Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Turks Island, with Caicos Islands and
Caymans; Barbados; the Leeward Islands, consisting of Antigua, St.
Kitts, Barbuda, Redonda, Virgin Islands, Nevis, Anguilla, Montserrat and
Dominica; the Windward Islands comprising Granada, Grenadines, St.
Vincent, and St. Lucia; the Bahamas and Bermuda.
Of these islands the population perhaps numbers 1,500,000, mostly
blacks, and mulattoes, with a small percentage of white officials and
merchants. The larger islands of Jamaica with 900,000 people, Barbados
with 200,000 and Trinidad with 300,000 are the only ones worth visiting
for business purposes, as merchants in these places have trading
connections with residents of the smaller localities. Kingston in
Jamaica, Georgetown in Barbados, and Port of Spain in Trinidad are the
only large cities, and have good hotels and prosperous business houses.
English is spoken exclusively everywhere and American money accepted at
its face value as readily as English currency in all these possessions.
The larger islands have branches of Canadian and English banks with
direct connection in New York. Credits are good.
In 1913 the exports were as follows:
Trinidad and Tobago $26,000,000
Jamaica and her outlying islands 11,000,000
Barbados 5,000,000
Leeward Islands 2,800,000
Windward Islands 2,900,000
Bahamas 1,300,000
———————————
$49,000,000
Trinidad, (with Tobago, twenty miles distant), 1754 square miles in
area, is perhaps the most important. Of the $26,000,000 it should be
noted that $11,000,000 was for coal, trans-shipped and not produced in
the country, thereby reducing her actual productive power in money to
$15,000,000. Her chief exports were as follows:
Cocoa $7,000,000
Sugar 2,000,000
Asphalt 1,300,000
Petroleum 400,000
Cocoanuts 500,000
in addition to copra, rum and molasses. Of these exports the United
States took $7,000,000, France $2,500,000, England $2,400,000, Canada
$875,000, and Germany $675,000.
Her imports in 1913 were $13,750,000, England supplying $4,500,000; the
United States $4,000,000, Canada, $1,250,000, France $300,000 and
Germany $200,000.
Both England and Canada are favored by a preferential tariff.
Jamaica covers an area of 4424 square miles. Its exports in 1913 were
$11,000,000 as against $14,000,000 in imports. Her chief exports are:
Bananas $5,000,000
Logwood 850,000
Coffee 750,000
Cocoanuts 650,000
Rum 500,000
Sugar 260,000
Ginger 180,000
Tobacco 180,000
Of these the United States took $6,200,000, Great Britain $2,000,000,
France $750,000, Canada $425,000 and Germany $425,000.
Jamaica’s chief export is bananas, almost all of which are taken by the
United States, who in return sells her 50 per cent. of her imports,
England, Canada and Germany following in the order named with
$5,300,000, $1,300,000, and $340,000 respectively to their credit.
Jamaica has no preferential tariff with the United Kingdom and will not
have so long as the United States continues to be her best customer.
Barbados’ area of 166 square miles is the most densely populated piece
of land in the world, with 200,000 inhabitants. It imported $6,500,000
worth of goods in 1913 and exported $2,600,000. It is a great coaling
station for ocean vessels, its trade in this line alone amounting to
$2,400,000 last year.
The United States took $330,000 of its production in 1913 and sold it
goods to the extent of $1,850,000. England controls most of its trade.
Its chief articles of export are sugar, rum and molasses.
The following table shows the imports and exports of the chief of the
remaining islands:
_Islands_ _Imports_ _Exports_
St. Kitts and Nevis $1,250,000 $ 950,000
Antigua 830,000 850,000
Dominica 720,000 735,000
Montserrat 150,000 180,000
Granada 1,350,000 1,800,000
St Lucia 1,500,000 550,000
St. Vincent 600,000 550,000
All of these islands have a preferential duty treaty with Canada and
Great Britain, despite which our own sales with them in 1913 were about
$2,000,000.
Sugar and rum are their chief products. Dominica and Montserrat export
limes, lime juice and citrate of lime. Granada and St. Lucia export
cocoa, and St. Vincent’s chief product is arrow-root. Last year St.
Lucia supplied 135,000 tons of coal to vessels, most of which came from
the United States.
The Bahama group, of which Nassau with 13,000 population is the capital,
exported last year goods valued at $1,300,000, of which amount $850,000
was in sponges and $350,000 in sisal, the United States taking $620,000
worth. The imports in the same period were $2,000,000, of which we
supplied $1,400,000.
Bermuda, 20 miles square with 3,000 inhabitants, depends for its
existence upon the tourists who visit it and what we purchase from and
ship to its shores. Its chief exports are Easter lilies, potatoes and
early vegetables, 4,000 out of 12,000 acres being under cultivation,
yielding the islands $500,000 yearly. Of its $2,775,000 imports this
country supplied $1,600,000, England $750,000 and Canada $350,000.
None of these islands is self-sustaining. They need the necessities of
life; flour, foodstuffs, hams, meats, vegetables, butter, lard, candles,
oil, shoes, cotton, textiles, drugs, soaps, toilet articles, glassware,
machinery and corrugated iron.
The Quebec Steamship Company and the Royal Mail Steamship Company,
sailing from New York, stop at the leading cities of the larger islands,
an inter-island steamship service being provided for. The Lamport and
Holt line touches both at Trinidad and Barbados on their northward trip
and the United Fruit Company boats stop at Jamaica. The Hamburg-American
Line ships call at many of these islands.
XX
FOREIGN TRADE WITH LATIN AMERICA AND HOW IT DEVELOPED
No military campaign was ever planned with such exactness of detail and
precision as that which characterized the preliminary movements of the
exporting nations of Europe to acquire control of Latin American
markets. When the Franco-Prussian war was over and the Powers of the Old
World had settled down to a development of their resources, it soon
became apparent that foreign fields must be sought in which to dispose
of the excess products of their industry. With that object in view
governments, trade associations, manufacturers, shippers, exporters,
civic and social societies, colleges, merchants, and individuals united
in one harmonious movement to accomplish this purpose. While each nation
followed more or less the same general plan, still Germany attacked the
problem with the thoroughness so typical of its people that its course
in this direction may be taken as an example of what should be done in
similar contingencies, and it may be well worth mentioning in detail.
To impress the Latin American people that their trade was courted by the
nation as well as the individual producer, government commissions were
dispatched from Europe to each of these countries, when possible in a
war vessel of the nation sending them. With much pomp and great ceremony
visits were exchanged between the members of this body and the
authorities ashore and every effort made to develop a national feeling
of regard between both parties, very much the same as we did when
Commodore Perry opened up Japan to the world. Much time was spent in
each country and nothing was overlooked that might be of any aid to
accomplish the object in view.
Following these emissaries from the European Power came officials of
trade bodies and business organizations, college professors and writers,
each one studying the situation from his particular point of view and
noting the things most required and the methods under which business was
conducted. One of the subjects given the most complete and far reaching
attention was the question of banking relations and how to best develop
this important field, for it was early seen that this would form the
most essential link in the perfected chain of business success. In the
meantime the home government had caused to be printed throughout its
territory, full and specific facts regarding the countries, the nature
of their soils, everything obtainable about the flora and fauna, their
mountains and minerals, the various waterways, climatic conditions and
what crops could be grown with profit, with complete data concerning
business opportunities. Commercial schools were opened wherein the
student was taught Spanish and Portuguese, and perfectly drilled in
Latin American business methods and etiquette. Realizing that much of
their future success in these lands would be dependent upon having
colonies throughout them, every effort was made to encourage emigration,
the official authorities knowing full well that affection for the
Fatherland and a belief in the superiority of its products, would
materially help in the dissemination of its goods and keep up a demand
for home made articles, until they had through their own merit obtained
a foothold among the natives. As a direct result of this plan of
colonization, fully one-fourth of the population of Chile are either
German or of German descent, and the southern section of this country
reminds one more of a portion of Germany in its type of building, the
characteristics of the inhabitants, their dress, the nature of their
business and their modes of living than of a Latin nation. The same is
also true in the southern part of Brazil, where the Germans have many
colonies, each provided with public schools in which natives are really
taught German before acquiring their mother tongue.
The real ambassador of commerce—the traveling man—courteous, polite,
affable, familiar with trade customs, national mannerisms, and speaking
both Spanish and Portuguese perfectly was on the scene early, paying
particular attention to the demands of the merchant. If a certain style
of cloth was too wide, the obliging German made it of the dimensions
required. If the color was too subdued for the aboriginal customer of
the native merchant, the pattern and pigment were changed to suit the
buyer. If plows were required with one handle instead of two, so that
the farmer could have the other free for manipulating his cigarette, his
wish was cheerfully complied with. The idea that filled the mind of the
salesmen from Europe was to give the customer just what he wanted, and
this rule was never deviated from. No attempt was made to force the
storekeeper to adopt the customs of Europe in anything, but stress was
laid on the fact that their only object was to oblige in every way the
buyer, and cater to his demands. The suggestion from the storekeeper
that he got six months’ time from England’s manufacturers, on this line
of goods, was combated with the unanswerable argument that the seller
would be pleased to bill the order at eight months if desired.
Samples of native-made articles that sold well were also purchased by
the wide-awake representatives and sent home with full and complete data
as to price, cost of manufacture, quantities consumed, and any other
useful hint that practical observation might suggest, so that those in
Germany might have an opportunity to experiment with a view to reducing
the cost of the article and thereby obtain commercial control of this
particular line. In a word, no stone was left unturned to accomplish the
object always in view, namely—the complete capture of these markets.
As orders began to come in and were ready for exportation Germany
suddenly realized that she was confronted with a problem which she had
not seriously considered before—that of a national merchant marine.
Without ships this vast business, now practically acquired, was at the
mercy of the foreigner who had vessels in which to convey it to the
markets across the seas. With the exorbitant freight rates which were
beginning to be charged, as cargoes multiplied and ships became scarce,
it became obvious that all this newly secured trade would be seriously
jeopardized, if not completely lost, unless the entire situation was
under the absolute control of the Government and in the hands of the
German people. Accordingly the State took up the question, and to make a
long story short, the result was the development of the enormous German
merchant marine,—perhaps the most complete and perfect in the world—with
subsidies from the national treasury, which enabled ship owners to quote
a freight rate per ton so low, that it was cheaper to ship German made
goods from Hamburg to Valparaiso, than from Hamburg to many of the
interior cities of the Fatherland for home consumption. This last stroke
of generalship in this business campaign for commercial supremacy gave
Germany the greatest impetus toward reaching the goal upon which her
eyes were fixed, and as a result her export trade as well as her import
trade, increased by leaps and bounds, making her the envy of all Europe,
a condition which in the opinion of many people undoubtedly had much to
do with precipitating the European War.
This briefly is the story of how Germany secured control of not only
Latin American trade, but much of the over seas business of the world.
In the republics to the south of us the national effect of this
commercial invasion is very noticeable. Natives were invited to visit
and get acquainted with Germans in Germany, and when they accepted were
the recipients of such courteous treatment and became so thoroughly
impressed with the perfection of the German nation in every field of
enterprise, that they returned enthusiasts on the subject. One of the
results of this is seen to-day in the armies of Colombia, Mexico, Chile,
Argentine, Venezuela and some of the Central American countries. They
have all been instructed by German officers, imported for the special
purpose and kindly loaned by the German military authorities—a fact
worthy of serious thought when we think that some day Germany may turn
covetous eyes upon some parts of Latin America. To see some of these
troops march past with their peculiar knapsack, their goose-step and the
_pickelhaub_ helmet, makes one feel that one is in Germany for the time
being, anyway. Throughout the length and breadth of Central and South
America are to be found German delicatessen shops and hotels; German
stores and breweries; German banks and steamship lines; German salesmen
and German schools, each one dependent on the Fatherland for supplies,
and in turn playing an effective part and contributing a strenuous share
toward forcing Germany to the front in every way.
In developing local markets their methods were equally unique and
practical. I recall for instance the first brewery started in Venezuela.
Venezuelans knew of beer in much the same way that we of the States know
of _mate_, the herb used so extensively in the Argentine, Uruguay and
Paraguay, for making a beverage—that is they had read about it and heard
people refer to it, but few really knew what it looked like or how it
tasted. All were naturally more or less suspicious of it. Nothing
daunted the phlegmatic Teutons who had invested their money in the
erection of the plant in pursuing their stolid, predetermined plan of
introducing beer as a national beverage in lieu of the light clarets and
other wines, formerly so much in use in these countries. A building on
the most prominent corner of the city of Caracas was leased and in it
chairs and tables were arranged as in German beer halls, while adjacent
to the bar at which the beer was served direct from the barrel, was a
lunch stand which provided excellent delicatessen food. When everything
was ready, invitations were sent broadcast to the better class families
to come and accept the hospitality of the brewing company without cost
for the purpose of becoming better acquainted with the health and
strength-giving properties of real German beer. Physicians were
“sampled” in detail and told when to prescribe and what to expect from
this wonderful beverage in certain diseases and especially during
convalescence. Within a few months’ time the saloon became a rendezvous
of the elite. Ultimately beer supplanted all other alcoholic drinks in
this particular city. The same plan was carried out in other towns and I
am certain that Latin America to-day can boast of more breweries, per
capita, than Germany. Other local trade problems were attacked and
solved in the same sensible, simple and practical manner, the result
always being that German products grew in favor and in demand.