never had such advantages when in
college.” Shall we students of the
present day not heed the suggestion in
this remark and remember that these
improvements are not merely for our
pleasure but for our profit ? Ought we
not to prepare ourselves to honor the
college, the state and the nation through
whose bounty we enjoy these increased
privileges ?
OUR SOUTH AMERICAN NEIGHBORS.
Delivered in the Junior Oratorical Contest, June 04, 1890.
If Columbus should suddenly awaken to day
and again become interested in the affairs and
developments of this world, it is a question
whether Chicago herself with all her plans and
preparations to do him honor, would prevent his
embarking directly to visit the sunny land he dis
covered at the mouth of the Orinoco, almost four
hundred years ago. It was the soft climate and
the anticipated gold of that country that enticed
him then, and his curiosity to learn what such a
country has become during these four centuries
might be a sufficient attraction now.
The attention of the entire world and in par
ticular that of the United States is at present to
ward the southern half of the American Conti
nent. It is needless to review the history of this
land. We know too well that it has been little else
than one long chapter of wars a d revolutions ;
but now that we have good reason to hope that
the day is not far distant when war between civil
ized nations will be a thing of the past, the prac
tical subject is, the present condition of these
republics, their mighty resources, and their future
development.
The theme, or even the least of its parts, is
vastly beyond exhaustion in one brief discourse;
but in the language of a certain eminent speaker,
“It is better to know a little about a very great
subject, than to know a great deal about a very
THE FREE LANCE.
little subject.” We become near sighted when
we fix our eyes too long upon that which comes
within the narrow range of human vision.
The nations of the American Continent have
similar forms of government, like sympathies,and
and aspirations; yet in social, political, and com
mercial intercourse, they have, been comparative
strangers. They have known less of and had less
to do with one another than they have known
and had to do with the monarchies of the old
world. Trade well illustrates this. The foreign
commerce of the South American and Central
American states and of Mexico amounts to a
billion of dollars annually, about equally divided
between exports and imports. Of this the United
States controls scarcely one fifth, though in climate,
products, supply and demand they are the reverse
and complement of our republic. They raise
raw materials, have but few manufactures. We
can use the one and supply abundantly the other,
yet we do neither to any great extent. Of our
exports to-day only five per cent, goes to these
sister republics.
How strange it is to say that beyond the Isth
mus of Panama, no passenger, freight or mail can
reach in an American steamer, any South Ameri
can country other than Brazil and Venezuela.
How strange that there should be no steam com
munication at all between our great maritime and
manufacturing nation and the Argetine Repub
lic—a republic as enterprising, as progressive, as
rapidly measuring in wealth, and population, in
proportion to our own. Her capital city, Buenos
Ayres, and the neighboring capital, Montevideo,
are both equipped with splendid capacious har
bors on a great navigable river reaching far into
the interior, inviting our ships to their conve
nient waters ; yet not one of our steamers now
seeks these ports. With Chili, a rich and enter
terprising country, and with Peru, our commerce
is likewise impeded by this want of direct com
munication, while with Equador, Bolivia,
Uruguay, and Paraguay we have no trade at all;
England, France, and Germany, practically tak-