Before the United States came into the war, that country was the channel of much German trade with Latin America. That road is now closed. The United States Government has gone further. It refuses coal in North American ports to ships proceeding from South America to neutral countries in Europe, unless the innocence of the cargo can be conclusively proved. This regulation shows that the United States authorities have knowledge that the ultimate destination of much South American cargo, particularly from the Argentine Republic, has been Germany. The blockade becomes more stringent through the co-operation of the United States and of Brazil, and through the action of the statutory list of "persons and firms with whom persons and firms in the United Kingdom are prohibited from trading." British commerce is a big and living thing, and the prohibition hits very hard any firm placed on this Black List. One finds here not only Teutonic names, but also innocent-sounding Latin names: for if a Latin-American is found to be acting as agent or cloak for a German trader, he finds himself pilloried on the Black List beside the German. There are obvious ways of evasion. The name of a clerk or door-keeper or a lady type-writer may appear as consignee. A varied ingenuity has to be met by constant watchfulness, and the list is regularly altered and kept up to date. The Black List has been much criticised for omissions, which are sometimes due to motives of expediency. But the bitter complaints about its injustice are unsolicited testimony to its efficacy. A striking example of its working was manifested in September 1917. After the outbreak of war, such of the Chilian nitrate works as were owned by Germans were unable to sell their nitrate or even to obtain jute bags, the supply of which is in British control. The unsold stocks went on accumulating, until one by one the German nitrate works were compelled to close down. Long negotiations between Santiago and Berlin found at last a remedy for this waste. It was agreed that the large deposits of Chilian gold in Germany should be set against the German-owned nitrate in Chile. The Chilian Government bought the nitrate, and paid the German owners by drafts on Berlin, which were met out of the Chilian money deposits in Germany. Thus Germany received Chilian gold in exchange for the inaccessible nitrate, while the Chilian Government received nitrate in exchange for its inaccessible gold. Chile then sold the nitrate for American gold to the largest manufacturer of explosives in the United States. Thus, one result of the blockade and the statutory list is that this German nitrate goes to make munitions, to be hurled at the Germans on the French front from American guns. The German Government, by sanctioning this sale of explosive material to its enemies, gave evidence of its earnest desire to stand well with Chile. On the other hand, Germany was impelled to this agreement in order to obviate grave financial loss to