In 1895 the exports from the United States to the Argentine Republic amounted in value to $6,686,999 and the imports from that country to $8,947,165. In 1912 the exports from the United States amounted to $53,158,179 and the imports to $29,847,016. These figures sufficiently indicate the results likely to follow the active campaign of the manufacturers and commercial bodies in this country, recently initiated as a consequence of the war. The conditions arising out of the great upheaval caused by that world disaster have furnished the occasion for the exercise of an effort without parallel in the United States in any previous attempt to secure a larger share of South American trade. In this movement the Argentine Republic must necessarily be the main objective, owing to the vastness of its resources and commercial activities. Yet, although there is no doubt that the United States should and will constitute a still greater source of supply to that country of manufactured products, machinery and other articles, not only during the war, but for a long period after its close, it is necessary to consider that in order to secure a permanent extension of international trade upon a scale of magnitude apparently justified by superficial conditions, serious attention should be given to matters of reciprocal interests and the past relations of the Argentine Republic with the European countries to which it has freely opened its markets. In this connection the words "reciprocal interests" must be taken rather in a literal sense than in the sense of reciprocity, as that expression is usually understood when applied to international treaties. Even though the question of tariffs does not now form so insuperable an obstacle to a large interchange of commerce between the two countries as was formerly the case, the fact that the balance of Argentine's trade with the leading countries of Europe has always been in her favor, renders it a condition precedent to a permanent expansion of international commerce that there must be a greater quality of interest than exists at present. In other words, the United States must offer corresponding advantages to the Argentine Republic to attract a transfer of a considerable share of her commerce from European competitors.