DUMPS AT PACIFIC END OF CANAL, SHOWING BREAKWATER IN COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION, REACHING TO NAOS ISLAND Canal channel to the right of breakwater. On island are being constructed fortifications to guard the Pacific entrance The critic who is skeptical about the future of western Latin America and the effect upon it of the Panama Canal should consider, for example, what these countries are doing without the canal and what is their foreign commerce in their present isolated relation to the great commercial routes of the world. Commerce is often described as the life-blood of nations. If this is true, these twelve too little known and appreciated Latin American countries bordering on the Pacific Ocean are certainly full blooded and lusty. Last year without the canal they conducted a foreign trade valued at the magnificent total of $740,000,000. This, in turn, represents an increase of over 100% during the last fifteen years. If the foreign trade of these countries can reach this volume without the canal, it should grow quickly and easily to $1,500,000,000 within ten years after the canal is opened. In this present commerce, with many advantages to Europe in the shipping which comes through the Straits of Magellan, the share of the United States is $277,000,000 or 37%. After the canal is completed and there are new short distances between the principal ports of these countries and those of the United States, I look to see the share of the United States grow quickly to 50% and even to 60% of their total commerce. This situation, however, must not be viewed selfishly. The United States should want to see all of its Latin American sister republics prosper and grow just as fast as it prospers and grows. It should strive to provide a market for their exports as much as it expects them to develop a market for its exports. The Panama Canal, therefore, should mean vast mutual benefit to all the American nations using it. In view of the direct bearing on the meaning of the Panama Canal of the twelve Latin American countries bordering on the Pacific Ocean, let us note some further interesting facts about them. They occupy a combined area of 2,500,000 square miles, which is only a little short of the total connected area of the United States. They have a present population of 37,000,000. Their Pacific seacoast extends approximately 8,000 miles. In this review are omitted the eight other important Latin American countries- Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti. They PRESENT DOCKS AT BALBOA, THE PACIFIC ENTRANCE TO THE CANAL have no Pacific seaboard but still each, directly or indirectly, will feel to a greater or lesser extent the quickening influence of the Panama Canal. Including these, all of the twenty Latin American countries occupy a total area of 9,200,000 square miles, or three times that of the United States proper, and they have a population approximately of 70,000,000. The foreign commerce last year of these twenty countries reached the magnificent total of approximately $2,500,000,000, of which the share of the United States was about 30%. This United States trade with all Latin America, following the opening of the Panama Canal, should rapidly grow to 50% of the total, provided we always bear in mind the purchase of their products as well as the selling of our own. The opening of the Panama Canal will mean that the Pacific coast of Latin America will want in increasing quantities our iron and steel manufactures; our steam and electric railway materials; our structural iron and steel; our sewing machines, typewriters, and cash registers; our cotton cloth; our wood and lumber; our flour, butter, cheese, and lard; our agricultural implements; boots and shoes; jewelry; furniture and hardware, drugs and medicines; automobiles; coal; illuminating and crude oils; news print paper; binder twine; clothing; books and maps; and numerous other articles demanded by a developing country and population. The Panama Canal means that we will have a new route to |