part of the American colony is made up of missionaries of the Methodist Episcopal Church." With reference to the Argentine Republic, I quote from the same work, p. 297: "Until lately there were so few Americans that they were hardly worth considering. Now Americans of the better class are coming, and they will soon form an important factor in the Republic." We have no way of learning the number of Americans in Brazil. On November 29, 1893, the American merchants of Rio de Janeiro signed a protest against the bombardment of the Brazilian capital by the insurgents. It is safe to say that every American there signed that protest and there were but eleven signatures by Americans. It may be reasonably inferred that the number of Americans in other parts of Brazil was then inconsiderable; and it has probably remained so. In the other South American countries American interests are equally important. In Colombia Americans are few and far between; in Ecuador the American is seldom met; in Bolivia he would be regarded as a curiosity, especially if he were out of jail! There are probably not one hundred resident American business concerns in all South America. On this point I have applied to the State Department at Washington, but it has declined to furnish definite information for publication. VI. COMMERCIAL EFFECT OF AMERICAN SUPREMACY IN PORTO RICO Unanswerable statistics are afforded by the brief period of American supremacy in Porto Rico. Prior to American occupation the trade of that island was small and fitful. The island contains only 3606 square miles and has about 1,000,000 population. The influence of the United States has been manifest only since the treaty with Spain on December 11, 1898, a period too short to give more than a glimpse of the wealth and commercial splendor which await this island in the future. But already the results of education, progress, and morality are lighting up the faces of the inhabitants of that beautiful island. To say nothing of the schools, of the millions spent on good roads, of the security and personal liberty vouchsafed them under American rule, let us turn to the dry but eloquent figures of trade, and see what progress Porto Rico is making as measured by the yard-stick of commerce. The total exports of Porto Rico to all the world in 1898-1899 were $3,093,830; and in 1899-1900, $2,991,416. The average annual exports to the United States for five years prior to June 30, 1898, were $2,271,099. Let us follow the figures of exports since that date. There we see the wickedness of American rule written in figures which cannot lie! A people that were exporting only about $3,000,000 worth of products a year prior to 1898 are now selling $18,000,000 of their products yearly. Prior to 1898 the United States sold to Porto Rico speak of. Let us read the figures to-day: nothing to There we have the record! This little island of less than 4000 square miles, and a population of less than a million, is just commencing its commercial development; yet it to-day consumes practically as much American goods as Paraguay, Bolivia, Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador combined, countries which have an aggregate area of nearly 2,000,000 square miles, and an estimated population of 13,000,000. Such are the changes made in only six brief years under our flag, in the face of many obstacles which will hereafter be removed. The flag means civilization, commerce, something to eat, something to wear, and a chance to sleep without the necessity of keeping one eye open and a magazine gun at hand. We are only commencing in Porto Rico; and further, we are making a similarly favorable record in the Philippines. A CHAPTER I THE COLONIZING POWERS NATION may profit from the lessons of history. It is therefore well if we examine the principles which underlie government. The more we study this subject, the more are we likely to agree with Mr. Hannis Taylor, when he says: "Those who are attempting to maintain that this nation is a sterile monster, incapable of reproducing itself after the manner of all other civilizing nations, cannot venture to appeal either to the past history of colonization in general or to the special history as involved with our own." There are well-meaning men in the United States who "view with alarm" all growth and progress on the part of this country. These people couple the words "commercialism," "militarism," and "imperialism" in a manner which would have us infer that untold dangers and iniquities are sure to beset any expansion of our trade or influence in the world. Some of these men are able, honest, sincere, and patriotic Americans, like the late Senator George F. Hoar. Senator Hoar belonged to that school of statesmen who take literally the doctrines written by Jefferson into the Declaration of Independence, and would apply these doctrines automatically to every problem which confronts us, as though they were of divine origin. It is needless to say that no such certain and mathematical regulations of the affairs of men are possible, but that the personal equation is the thing of supreme importance, and that in this sound judgment and common sense are the chief factors. These elements are of as much importance in the interpretation of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States as in matters of less weight. As to the negro, Senator Hoar believed that the Declaration not only makes the negro free, but that he must, by virtue of the same doctrine, be invested with suffrage and all the rights of citizenship. The Declaration says that "all men were created equal," and to the Senator this meant that the Chinaman, the Malay, the Hottentot, all of them, shall have unlimited right to come to our shores, become citizens, and hold office. Some philanthropist in the early days declared that our land should become a home of the oppressed of all nations; ergo, |