United States business men are hoping that not only German but also, as in the last last war, British and French trade will fall into their hands. But how to proceed? The problem of exporting does not exist; but the problem of securing payment is causing many headaches in Washington. Past experience with large loans to South American Republics has been such as to put a taboo on them second only to that on war loans to Europe. The lesson of the many defaults has not been forgotten. It is recognized that in the long run they can only export who also import. But the obstacle is that most of the principal products which Latin America sells are those of which the United States has an abundance at home. Very few of Latin America's principal products—coffee is one of the few—find a ready market in the U.S.A. The United States' neutral status thus does not give her any overwhelming advantage, and a number of other circumstances favour Britain, Our purchases from Latin America are large and likely to increase We buy more than £90 millions of goods from Central and South America and sell less than £40 millions. Apart from this import surplus with the whole continent, we have an import surplus with each republic separately, with the single exception of Colombia. The pound sterling is cheaper than it was. Many of the products recently bought from Germany were formerly obtained from us and only diverted to Germany by way of barter and compensation agreements. Now is the op-
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