Show U r AM E aa ca 11 mv 5 1 k I 1 roil 1 4 1 I 1 I 1 v ft t 21 AN the united states spare south america during the next five years can it supply during the next 12 months south america wants these amounts within the period stated the needs ot of several ot of the countries are pressing they must get money somewhere when the war cloud broke at least half hal a dozen countries were negotiating in europe tor for loans most ot of them were in the midst ot of commercial and financial crises due to economic causes which were at a t work the world over part ot of the loans wanted were merely to take up old obligations by new issues but in every case there was also a demand tor for additional capital which would have increased the total indebtedness the war has dealt a death blow to these expectations in the famous jockey club at buenos alres aires where international finance Is discussed it Is now perfectly understood that with the european countries staggering tor for the next nest 50 years under the debts which the war will create there will be no more loans tor for south america the same understanding exists on the coffee exchange in rio do de janeiro and on the bourse in santiago brazil ll 11 has met the 18 situation nation brought about through th the inability u to float new loans by providing ng tor for a new issue of paper currency in addition to the abundant volume which already Is in circulation cu cul atlon time may demonstrate the wisdom or the of this action as an emergency measure but it shows the demoralization that the european war has caused south american public men and the diplomatic representatives of the different governments in washington who know how great the dependence has been on europe and who understand fully the fiscal status of their respective countries inevitably evit ably turn their eyes to the united states and it Is through them that the query comes as aa to whether the united states can supply a few hundred millions capital the answer which may be given to the question will determine whether the united states is to obtain commercial supremacy and to dominate south america financially european financiers who until the new neny york stock exchange was closed were getting gold by unloading american 7 securities in their look ahead are now doubtless revolving the same question as to what the united states may do in the way of financing south america to them the question takes the form of a query whether any of the indebtedness of the south american governments can be shifted to the united states and it if so how soon and under what terms two billion dollars represents in round numbers what tho the south american countries owe in the form of public debts what may be called the national debts do not toot foot up this sum but the municipal and state or provincial debts some of which are not guaranteed by the national government bring up the total all the south american countries have had the borrowing habit some of the weaker and more reckless ones have given the whole continent a bad name tet the truth Is that in view ot of resources and natural wealth and the rapid development that has been going on Is not an extravagant public debt total it will be found moreover that the very large proportion of the debts has been created by the countries which are solvent and which scrupulously I 1 y meet mee t their obligations since the int international er national imbroglio in which tho the united states took a hand Vene venezuela zuel a has been paying off its debt until now the total amount outstanding is less than colombia has what la is known as a consolidated debt which does not exceed the country has managed to meet the interest in a manner to satisfy even the critical british foreign bondholders bond holders committee colombia it gets the panama gratuity from the united states or not wants a general loan of something like to bund railways and rehabilitate the country gene generally rany has a public debt not exceeding 20 in V t t 4 ti X 11 rr temporarily some of the south american countries hutzl ta will suffer as much from IJ the war as tho the nations which actually are engaged in it they will not only be unable to obtain money abroad but also their whole t foreign commerce will be dislocated through the loss of markets some of the countries have met ant the emergency by following the example of P the european nations and d decreeing e c r e e I 1 n g moratoriums harassed south american financial institutions and big commercial firms which were in difficulties may 01 therefore bless the war W as A av 11 avoiding the necessity of V forced payments but they will welcome it only as aa a means of immediate relief to debtors who otherwise would be ba forced into bankruptcy y most moat of which grows out of 0 the bonds issued tor for the guayaquil Gu ayaquil and quito railway these are held in england france and the united states the provision made for the sanitation of guaya aguaya quil carried with it a prospective kan of 10 A proposition which was brought to ke new york bankers a year ago was tor for a blanket loan of to to take up outstanding obligations provide for the sanitation of guaya aguaya qu lland Iland to leave a balance zw hr national purposes A new york banking house a few years ago tided ecuador over a stringency by means of a temporary loan and realized a very handsome profit peru after the war with chile in 1881 was left with a debt so monumental that it never could have recovered it the burden had remained the country worked out ot of the situation by turning over the state railways undera andera long lease to the peruvian corporation which was also given the remaining guano deposits and various land concessions ces the Pen irlan corporation and the government have bad more or loss less friction under the arrangement bat bar so tar far as its status as a borrowing nation was concerned peru was able to face the world without a big debt during the last quarter ot or a century the total indebtedness incurred has rint not been large it now amounts approximately to peru was in the market tor for a loan when the european war broke out bolivia the country of south america left by the war with chile without a seaport also was able to start the peace era without a big national debt the amount of the different forms of what may bo be called the bolivian debt Is now between and paraguay on account of 0 its numerous revolutions and possibly tor for other reasons never has had much success in securing money from europe its present public debt Is between and the open opening ilig of railway communications with buenos alres and other chapters of peaceful development have inclined european financiers to look more favorably on paraguay and a loan tor for the country was in prospect until a month agog ago now it if paraguay borrows it will have to be in new york instead of in london taking the group of countries which are not large borrowers out of ken it will be found that the bulk of the public debts of south Amel american countries are those of the argentine republic brazil chile and uruguay this group of countries owes europe that is the governments owe europe more than they are able to meet their obligations though some of the loans may require refunding on new basis the borrowing nations are really the ABC A B C or mediating south american countries which helped president wilson settle the mexican imbroglio and uruguay the total of the argentine obligations is variable according to the amount ot of ce dulas or national mortgage bonds which are in circulation two years ago the argentine fl debt abt was approximately A year later it had risen rise nominally to something more than a year ago argentina sought to float a new loan in france but the conditions were unfavorable A new loan on the same basis would doubtless still be desirable but the argentine argentina 11 1 government would look to new york rather than to parts paris or london for funds Bra brazils various debt deb t issues now approximate m ate there have been loans for or public improvements prove ments and other objects brazil as a vast country greater brazil in n size than the united states wit with h undeveloped resources the extent of which Is no not t yet known has been a tree free borrower within the Is last st year there have 1 I 1 j been various propositions tor for new 1 IL loans to take up the old ones it Is not likely that any brazilian loan can now be floated in europe and none Is therefore likely to be sought by the government later when the inevitable readjustment takes place brazil most likely wi will 11 seek to place her loans in the united states chile calla now has outstanding obligations in the nature of public debts to the amount of 0 2100 00 the country has borrowed largely on the underlying security of the nitrate beds a and nd the revenue to be obtained from them the european war interferes s with the demand tor for these ferell fertilizers and a temporary result may be that the workmen in many of the nitrate fields will be out of employment however the permanent source of wealth which chile possesses in the nitrite nitrate beds remains uruguay tor for an agricultural country may be assumed to have a pretty large debt since the total now amounts to yet the republic which Is on the go gold id standard and which has a dollar worth more than the dollar of 0 t the he united states holds high rank in european financial circles because of the certainty with wh which ich its financial obliga obligations eions have been met A few months ago when an emergency loan of 0 was wanted uruguay made vain efforts to place it in the united states ultimately it had bad to be placed in london paris and antwerp at 86 by far the larger part of the public debts of 0 the south american countries Is held in england while some of the loans which have been placed through london have been apportioned to other monetary centers in europe and have been absorbed on the continent probably between seventy and seventy five per cent of the obligations remain in 13 england these general facts about the debts ot of the south american countries and their distribution in europe are essential to know in judging of the probability of Anie american rican capital at some period in the near future relieving europe of a part of its south american financial burden heretofore there has been no market in the united states the main question recurs and on it depend in large degree the future trade relations ot of the united states with south america can the united states spare south america during the next five years can it supply during the next 12 months |