348 SELLING LATIN AMERICA 
assistance, thereby placing us in a much more 
advantageous position than we formerly oc 
cupied with relation to developing our trade 
along reciprocal lines, for a lending nation 
can always dictate to the borrowing one. 
Following the stringency in the European 
money markets and their inability to lend 
further financial aid to Latin American en 
terprises, there has been a decided slump in 
property values of all kinds, thereby giving 
the American investor desirous of entering 
these fields an excellent opportunity to acquire 
controlling interests at the minimum expense 
in undertakings which will ultimately rehabil 
itate themselves as money making propositions. 
These conditions should not be lost sight of 
during the readjustment of values in this part 
of the world. 
To be more specific, perhaps 80 per cent, of 
the world’s supply of bismuth comes from 
Peru. This metal is largely used in the arts 
and medicine. An Italian company owns 
practically all the mines. Germans and Eng 
lish buy the ore and ship it to their respective