176 REPORT ON COOPERATION IN AMERICAN. EXPORT TRADE.
came from the United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium, the United
Kingdom alone furnishing over one-half. Of the imports of locomotives,
 75 per cent came from the United Kingdom, 20 per cent
from Germany, and about 2 per cent each from Belgium and the
United States. Of the imports of passenger and freight cars, about
57 per cent came from Great Britain, 11 per cent from Germany, 19
per cent from Belgium, and 12 per cent from the United States. The
imports from Germany and Belgium were almost wholly confined to
steel freight cars.  -Recent
 events in Uruguay have furnished an example of the importance
 attached by the British to the retaining of a dominating
position in the railroad investments of that country. In order to
keep out all American investments in such lines, the British railroad
interests in Uruguay went to great lengths in their endeavor to prevent
 the Uruguayan Government from having one of its State roads
built by Americans. They were not successful, although, in order
to keep the American competitor out of a country which they claimed
as their exclusive field, they put in a bid much below the American
firm. Their avowed purpose in making this bid was to prevent the
investment of any foreign capital except British in Uruguayan
sailroads.
The present situation in the foreign investments in railroads in
South American countries clearly indicates that if the trade in
American railroad equipment and supplies is to be put on a stable
basis and steadily developed a permanent demand must be created
through the ownership of railroads built, equipped, and operated by
Americans. This will serve as a solid base of operations from which
to develop the trade in railroad supplies, and in time will lead to the
development, in the territory served by such roads, of other enterprises
 financed by American capital. This will stimulate the demand
for American goods of all kinds. To succeed, in the face of the
present strong combinations of British railroad capital and the
advantages which the cartel systems have given German and Belgian
manufacturers, more complete organization of American financial
and manufacturing interests will be needed than exists at present.
Only large and powerful concerns can enter the field with any prospect
of success against such competition. The fact that in 1913, under
the conditions of competition existing before the war, the imports of
railroad material from the United States into Argentina amounted
to over 10 per cent of the total imports of such material, leads to the
belief that, with equal facilities of combination in the fields of investment
 and exportation, the development of the American trade will
proceed rapidly.
In the development of projects calling for electrical installation
and supplies a condition exists similar to that in the railroad invest-