We have remarked the need of a greater population in the Latin American States, and the Governments of these in most cases strive to obtain settlers and workers from Europe, offering often what appear to be attractive conditions for immigrants. In Argentina the modern life of the Republic has in large part been built upon this element, largely of Italians, and the national character stands somewhat apart from the other States from this reason. Brazil has also absorbed many immigrants of the Latin race from the Old World, and the Germans here, and in Chile, have formed important communities.
But much remains to be done in this respect. It is seen that a good deal of the immigrant population in Argentina and Brazil remains as a floating or unsettled element. Much of it does not go out upon the land, but congregates in poverty in the cities—a defect of all immigrant systems, even in the British Dominions. In Argentina and Brazil immigrants often cannot obtain land, although the Governments are seeking to modify the conditions of vast estate holding and the rural proletariat.
It may be that the stream of emigrating humanity from Europe will not flow so freely in the future, in view of altering conditions on the older continent. Of late, too, the larger South American States are inclining towards the restriction of immigration.
The opportunities for settlement, for taking up land and establishing industry and reaping reward and profit in Spanish America are, or rather might be, attractive. They might be, in some respects, more attractive than those offered by Britain's colonies, for reasons which I will give.
Why are these opportunities not taken? Here are enormous areas of territory full of natural resources, with, in some cases, a mere handful of folk to the square mile. Here are natural pastures for cattle, lands which will produce fruits and foods of every kind—figs, grapes and oranges, cotton, coffee, cocoa, corn and wine and olives. Not a variety of fruit, not a cereal, not a single article of need for the comfort and use of the settler is there that could not be produced. Here are minerals of every kind known to commerce—gold, silver, copper, lead and iron, and all the non-metallic minerals—to be had for the working.
But above all, there are innumerable small centres of population, of quiet and docile folk, hungering for the presence of intelligent and enterprising settlers who would look kindly upon them, who would foster their local life, increase the productivity of the neighbourhood, take part in their civic and economic advancement. Nowhere in the world is there such desire for these things, nowhere is there such opportunity for the settler for benefiting both himself and the folk around him as is to be found in the innumerable little villages and towns of Spanish America hidden away in Cordillera, plain, valley and woodland. There are literally myriads of such localities scattered over the face of the Latin American world, and I could give many instances from personal experience.
The well-meaning foreigner in such places, with some small capital, becomes one of the most esteemed and predominant personages of the locality. He could acquire and profit by flocks, herds, plantations, mines. There is plenty of labour, among the Indian and other folk, to be obtained—labour, that is, in small local undertakings, not for over-greedy or absorbent joint-stock operations—under the relation of master and servant. Here is an opportunity, then, for those good English and other folk who complain so hardly of heavy taxation and other burdens of life! Any degree of climate may be chosen, from heat to cold, including the "region of perpetual spring," of which we have spoken elsewhere.
It is not intended here to advocate settlement in Spanish America as against the British colonies. The field is scarcely suitable for the settler who has to depend upon his own labour, without capital. He could not possibly compete with the native. The difference is, that here are innumerable old-established centres of population, centres of civic life, and not, as in Canada or Australia, vast areas of unsettled territory where the lonely colonist is remote from social amenities. Moreover, with every desire to people the British Empire with settlers from Britain, it is also to be recollected that British settlers in Spanish America increase the prestige—and incidentally the trade—of Britain in those lands—matters which should be encouraged. In Mexico, in better times, there was something about the atmosphere and environment that very strongly attracted the American settler, and large numbers of people from the United States established themselves in the country—conditions which unfortunately do not now exist.
In this connection we might ask ourselves a serious question as regards Mexico. Have we, the more advanced nations of the world, who mainly by reason of climate and geography have been blessed with a different temperament, made any particular effort to help that country, or tried to influence its people? We have invested our money there, with the hope of dividends. We have maintained our more or less starchy diplomatic representatives. We have issued Foreign Office Reports abounding in figures and pointing out the ways of trade and the resources of the land. But have we tried to influence the country to a better life?
It may be replied that we could not readily do so, that one country cannot mix itself up in the affairs of another. But that is not a sufficient answer. We have been content to take profits from railways and mines, but among the rude and picturesque hordes of Mexican miners, an impressionable and really industrious folk, there might have been some good element at work maintained by a little of the gold we won from them. Is the mine manager or the book-keeper, busied necessarily on the technical details of his post, the only agent we might have kept there?