FOREWORD
“Industrial and Commercial South America” has been prepared, as was the descriptive guide, “The South American Tour,” with the desire to aid in promoting acquaintance with South America and, as a natural sequence, friendship and trade.
As far as possible the facts have been gleaned from publications of the various Governments, in a few cases from those of our own, from high officials of many large companies, and from a few authoritative works. While I can hardly hope that despite all care and effort I have made no slip anywhere, I devoutly trust that no errors will be discovered of such magnitude as I have often noted in my reading of important publications and that any here detected will receive lenient criticism.
The vast amount of labor involved in the collection of data and the effort made to attain accuracy has been such that no time remained for rhetorical embellishment unless with delayed publication.
Great pains have been taken with spelling and accents, the correct use of the latter discovered with difficulty, as they are altogether omitted in many works and in others by no means to be depended upon. Yet they are most important for correct pronunciation.
In this text the spelling of some names varies by intention because the two spellings are frequent and authorized, and should therefore be familiar. Thus Marowijne is the Dutch and Maroni the English name for the same river. So Suriname is spelled with and without the e.
South American names ending in either s or z are found, the z common in older publications. The s is a more recent style, taking the place of z even in the middle of a word. Thus Huaráz is also written Huarás and even Cuzco, Cusco. But I drew the line there, as Cuzco is too well established in English to make the new and uglier form desirable.
My spelling of Chilian is consistent throughout. Formerly so spelled by all, Chile being earlier written Chili, when the Spanish form of the name was here adopted many imagined that the adjective should be changed also. For this no reason appears, but the contrary. The accepted ending for adjectives of this nature is ian, unless euphony demands a different, as Venezuelan. Where the ending ean is correctly employed as in Andean and European, also Caribbean, which unhappily is often mispronounced, the e is long and receives the accent. This would be proper in Chilean as the e in Chileno receives the accent; but as a change in our pronunciation is unlikely, it is better to drop the final vowel and add the suffix ian as is done in many other cases; thus Italy, Italian.
The frequent writing of maté in English is absolutely wrong. It is never so printed in Spanish, though naturally in French; but to copy their form for a Spanish word is absurd. The word of course has two syllables, but is accented on the first; not on the last as the written accent would imply.
Iguassú in Spanish is spelled Iguazú, but the Portuguese form has the right, because it is a Brazilian river, nowhere flowing in Argentina, and for a short distance only on the boundary. The Brazilian spelling should therefore be followed by us, and it has the advantage that it is more apt to be correctly pronounced.
Persons not undertaking the study of Spanish should at least learn the simple rules of pronunciation; the vowels having the ordinary continental sounds, the consonants in the main like our own, though in the middle of a word b is generally pronounced like v, d like th in this and ll like ly. The rules for accent are easily remembered, names ending in a vowel being accented on the penult, those in a consonant, except s, z, and n, on the ultima, unless otherwise indicated by an accent.
The heedlessness of many Americans on such matters is notorious and inexcusable. Knowing the correct pronunciation they continue to mispronounce even an easy word. A notable illustration is Panamá, which many former residents of the Canal Zone and others here persist in calling the ugly Pánama instead of the correct and agreeable Panamá. Although in English the accent is not generally used on this word or on Colón, Panamá is repeated throughout the book to emphasize the correct pronunciation.
It is hoped that other accents given will in general be found correct. It may however be said on Brazilian authority that the accents on Brazilian names are less important than in Spanish.
A considerable divergence in the date of statistics may be noted, for which there are several reasons. In some cases pre-war figures, in others figures for 1917 or 1918, seem to afford a fairer valuation; or they might be the only ones available. Some figures (often in the nearest round number) are given as late as 1921, but to bring all at the same time up to the moment was quite impossible. Great difficulty has been experienced in choosing between conflicting statements and figures. In one case three sets of figures of areas were presented by the same person, before I finally secured the most accurate.
My grateful appreciation is due and my hearty thanks are here expressed to all who in any degree have helped by supplying or verifying data of whatever nature. Officials of the various countries and of many large companies evinced kindly interest in the work and gave freely of their time, few being too busy to afford information. The names are too numerous to mention, but I trust that all will feel assured that their courtesy was recognized and that the remembrance will be cherished.