tled by arbitration,1 and in 1914 a treaty for the advancement of general peace was signed, which provided that all disputes not settled by diplomatic means should be submitted for investigation and report to an International Commission.2 Chile remained neutral during the World War; and, considering the fact that her outlook was on the Pacific, and that she was so far removed from the seat of hostilities, her attitude was logical. Señor Beltran Mathieu, Chilean ambassador to the United States, thus explains his country's neutrality: "Chile was neither solicited nor compelled, because she was not involved in the political causes of the war nor in its sphere of action, and because no one considered that a nation so far removed from the theater of hostilities might be useful as a military or financial entity, while she was so as a factor of production, for which peace was essential."' At the outset, however, owing to German propaganda and German instructors in the army and the schools, there was a noticeable friendliness towards the German cause. As the war progressed, the attitude changed, and when the United States entered the conflict, Chilean sentiment was overwhelmingly pro-Ally. El Mercurio seemed to express the common feeling: "The nations of South America, bound to the United States by historic bonds and by the intellectual relations which are being daily perfected, are to-day more than ever obliged to sustain the cause which President Wilson defends." Throughout the war the country's vast stores of nitrate were entirely at the Allies' disposal, and the importance of this assistance can not be overestimated. After the war Chile joined the League of Nations, but with the ex For. Rel. of the U. S., 1911, pp. 38-53. U. S. Stat. at Large, Vol. XXXIX, Part II, p. 1645. • Amer. Jour. of Int. Law, Vol. XIV, p. 333 (Apr., 1920). P. A. Martin, "Latin America and the War," League of Nations (Boston, 1919), Vol. II, No. 4, p. 257. See also C. S. Vildósola, Chile and the War (P. H. Goldsmith trans.), Carnegie Endowment for Int. Peace (Wash., 1917). press reservation that the treaty of Ancon would not be submitted to the League. The commercial relations of the United States with Chile before the war were comparatively unimportant. Of the South American countries, both Brazil and Argentina had a greater volume of trade with the United States, and our business with Mexico was three times as great as our trade with Chile. Both Great Britain and Germany surpassed us in 1914, even with the advantage that the Panama Canal gave us. The total trade of the United States and Chile in 1900 was only about $10,000,000; nor was there any noticeable improvement until after the construction of the canal. But, since the opening of the canal coincided so nearly with the outbreak of the war in Europe, it is difficult to determine precisely how much advantage the canal has given to the United States over its European competitors. At any rate, a comparison of Chile's trade with the United States, Great Britain, and Germany in 1913 and 1920 as shown by the table on page 355 is interesting, even if too much importance should not be attached to it. In considering commercial relations with Chile it must be remembered that the republic is at present primarily a mineral-producing country, and that its greatest export is nitrates. In 1918, for example, its exports were valued at almost twice as much as its imports, and of these exports more than one half consisted of nitrate and its by-product iodine. But this condition is primarily due to the recent great demand for nitrates, and to the fact that Chile possesses almost a world monopoly of this valuable mineral. But Chile also has great stores of other minerals, including iron and coal; it has vast regions in the south heavily timbered or suitable for grazing; its famous Central Valley has been called one of the garden spots of nature. Hence the country has tremendous possibilities for the investment of capital and in the future will undoubtedly become the greatest industrial state of South America. $60,350,881 $10,422,659 $60,014,824 $30,772,743 $2,730,508 $30,413,386 $126,174,920 $50,502,544 $177,373,713 1 The figures for 1913 are from Report of the Second Pan-Amer. Commercial Conf., pp. 400-401; the 1920 figures are from the Bulletin of the Pan-American Union, Vol. LIV, pp. 48-49 (Jan., 1922). SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS A. V. Hancock, A History of Chile (Chicago, 1893). G. F. S. Elliot, Chile; Its History and Development (Lond., 1907). W. S. Robertson, History of the Latin-American Nations (N. Y., 1922), pp. 289-313. T. C. Dawson, South American Republics (N. Y., 1904), Vol. II, pp. 135231. C. E. Akers, A History of South America, 1854-1904 (N. Y., 1912), pp. 321-504. F. G. Calderón, Latin America: Its Rise and Progress (Lond., 1913), pp. 164-179. F. J. Maitland, Chile, Its Land and People (Lond., 1914). R. E. Mansfield, Progressive Chile (N. Y., 1913). G. J. Mills, Chile (N. Y., 1914). Diego Barros Arana, Historia Jeneral de Chile (16 vols.; Santiago, 1887). Gonzalo Bulnes, La Guerra del Pacífico (3 vols.; Valparaiso, 1912-19). E. M. Borchard, Opinion on the Question of the Pacific (Wash., 1920). F. E. Clarke, The Continent of Opportunity (N. Y., 1907), pp. 147-180. THE CHAPTER XVI THE UNITED STATES AND BRAZIL HE United States of Brazil is the giant of LatinAmerican countries. In fact, it is about a quarter of a million square miles larger than the United States, exclusive of Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico. It is also an extremely sparsely settled country, averaging only about nine persons to the square mile, as compared with thirty to the square mile in the United States. Nevertheless, because of its size it contains as many people within its borders as all the rest of South America combined. As one writer has put it, if Brazil were as densely populated as Belgium at the outbreak of the World War, its territory would hold more human beings than exist at present on the entire face of the earth.1 When speaking of Brazil one is almost compelled to use superlatives. It has the greatest river system in the world; it has the longest unbroken coast-line of any country in the world; its vast tropical forests and jungles have never yet been completely explored; its mineral wealth is as yet untapped; its agricultural possibilities are boundless. In considering the Latin-American republics, Brazil must be placed in a class by itself for other reasons than its size. Its population is primarily of Portuguese stock, whereas all the rest of Latin America is Spanish. Its history, too, has been cast in an entirely different mold from that of its neighbors. Discovered by a Portuguese navigator in 1500, its early settlements were made by noble adventurers who were given vast tracts of land, or captaincies, where their 1C. S. Cooper, The Brazilians and Their Country (N. Y., 1917), p. 97. |