Samples of no value pay no duty, but if worth more than one milreis duty is levied. The amount is deposited in the Custom House and if the goods are checked and sent out from the same port the duty will be returned.
The Central Railway has a mileage book and the Leopoldina Railway gives a discount of 20 per cent on samples and on fares of travelers.
Information on various matters may be found in the latest Exporters’ Encyclopædia; and is furnished to members by the Pan American States Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the American Manufacturers Export Association.
As to the resources of the South American countries and the variety of goods which may be exported thither to advantage, these things are set forth in detail in many books, in consular reports, and in back numbers of the Pan American Bulletin, to be found in our large libraries. I have here space for a few remarks only. Since the continent as a whole is still thinly settled and largely undeveloped, its productions and exports are chiefly mineral and agricultural, its imports manufactured goods, as is the case generally with young countries. Conditions in some respects resemble those in the United States half a century ago. Everywhere railways are being laid, and bridges built; towns are needing sewers, electric lights, street cars, and all modern improvements. The great cities are for the most part supplied with these, but many smaller ones are thinking about them or have merely made a beginning.
Material and equipment for the building and operation of railroads are needed in every country, bridge building material as well. Our steel men, our locomotive and car builders have been wide awake to such matters and are doing excellent business in some of the countries. Where, as in Argentina, most of the railways are financed with British capital, Americans have less chance in proportion than in those countries where American capital is considerably employed, as in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.
Agricultural machinery of almost every kind and agricultural tools are in great demand on the East Coast, on the vast estates of Argentina, to some extent in Uruguay and Brazil. They have a smaller sale on the West Coast, where mining machinery is one of the prime necessities. Electrical apparatus of all kinds is everywhere needed and is largely supplied by the General Electric and other companies.
Although most of the countries have coal, the mines are not greatly developed except in Chile; hence much is imported; a good deal of lumber also, in spite of immense forests, as yet unavailable save in a few localities.
In all of the countries the chief import is textiles, principally from Europe, though the United States furnishes a good deal of the coarse grades of cotton, canvas, etc. Industrial machinery, automobiles and other vehicles, utensils, hardware, corrugated iron, sewing machines, paper of various kinds, motors, scales and balances, surgical and mathematical instruments, pianos and piano players, petroleum, gasoline, etc., lubricating oils, typewriting machines; canned goods, particularly on the West Coast, including milk, meat, and salmon, especially for miners, also used in the rubber country; leather goods, boots and shoes, watches, soap, druggists’ supplies and medicines, lard, twine, motors, dynamite, arms and ammunition, fence wire, pumps, pipings and fittings, tin plate, glass, porcelain, watches, phonographs, photographic material, and all kinds of novelties and general merchandise are among the articles imported; a few animals, chiefly blooded stock from Europe.
Should one desire to engage in business for himself in any of the Republics, there are good openings for persons with capital who speak the language. Persons without money are warned by our consuls not to go, unless they have a definite engagement or are specialists in certain lines where experts are pretty sure to be desired.
It is unwise to trust implicitly the stories about wonderful mines, though these doubtless exist. If genuine, they are often impossible to exploit without an enormous outlay of capital as was the case with the Cerro de Pasco mines; moreover, as thousands if not millions of people have been deceived about mines in the United States and in regard to many other money-making schemes, it is still more foolish to give credence to tales promising untold wealth in those distant countries. With the best of intentions the enthusiast is liable to be mistaken and deliberate fraud is common; therefore, caution is ever needed. Yet with careful investigation opportunities in almost any line may be found in some one of these rapidly developing countries, superior to those afforded in more thickly settled regions of the earth.