"The trade of the Republic is at present in a condition thus favourable, the wealth hidden in her soil is thus great. She owes this situation to the maintenance of exterior peace, the elimination of fluctuations in paper money, and the establishment of those institutions by which she advances with gigantic strides. We watch her progress, and see her offering to the rest of the world the products of her fertile territories, without restrictions and without preferences that take their rise in grasping tariff laws. Our country thus wins a reputation which corresponds to her pastoral and agricultural wealth and the excellence of her products. "What, sir, would be our rate of progress if the law of our custom-house, which sets up a prohibitive tariff wall against the goods which our people demand and which act as a stimulus to our great industries, were more lenient, more just, and more in accordance with the principles of liberty which we have inherited with our charter of independence!" But, in fact, all influences of to-day seem to be on the side of further restrictions in trade as they have long been on the side of further restrictions in social matters. The principles of liberty are considered by most people as very excellent for themselves but hardly suitable to the rest of the world; but from Manchester to Shanghai the ideal of every trader is Free Trade for the whole world and Protection for himself. As all pull one way, the result is almost everywhere the same, and no country seems less likely to abandon Protection than Argentina. FOOTNOTES: [106] For 1909 the figures were-- Imports £60,551,219 Exports 79,470,102. [107] I have divided the figures, which are given by all authorities in American gold dollars, by five. It is greatly to be regretted that the splendid private enterprise of Englishmen in Argentina receives so little help from English statisticians or the English Government. The statistics are best set forth by an excellent publication, the _Bulletin of the International Bureau of the American Republics_, published at Washington. Even the _Statesman's Year Book_ (Macmillan) gives totals in American dollars. We have far more trade in South America than the United States, but we cannot, in view of the approaching completion of the Panama Canal and the intelligent efforts of American statesmen, hope to retain our position indefinitely if our own Government continues to trust to the policy of "muddling through." [108] According to the _Statesman's Year Book_, the figures appear to be too high. [109] MacCann, "Two Thousand Miles' Ride," i. 160. [110] Ibid. ii. 304. [111] _Bulletin of the American Republics_ (July, 1909), p. 14. [112] As opposed to exportation. [113] The table given below shows the tonnage of the chief ports in 1908:--