Transportation in Latin America

Abstract

BEYOND WHAT most of us have learned in school, very little is generally known about our neighbors to the south. During the past twenty years many changes have taken place in those countries, and yet we continue to think of them in the passing terms of coffee from Brazil, hides from Argentina, tin from Bolivia and lead from Mexico. Without a doubt, coffee, hides, tin and lead imports are some of the outstanding products of our National Defense program, but there are many more items being developed which also require our attention. Favorable export balances are piling up throughout South America. We must not lose sight of this because the balances are providing currency for the importation of United States machinery and other manufactured goods. We can go still further by saying that most of the machinery they buy from us helps to develop new products, which in turn find their way to this market. Industrial South America today might be compared with the United States one hundred years ago. They are expanding their industries, and they will continue to expand if we are able to supply their needs. The expansion which was gradual during the past forty years has been accelerated in some instances by the present war. Before the outbreak of the war Germany and England were extremely important competitors in South America. In fact, though the United States held first place in supplying Latin America as a whole since 1913, we were supplying less than one-third of their total imports. Statistics show that in 1940-20% or I/5 of our total exports went to those nations. European trade with South America today is at an absolute stand-still. They are,