346  SELLING  LATIN  AMERICA

marine,  necessitates  less  material  movements  in
the  medium  of  exchange  in  payment  for  goods
on  the  part  of  those  concerned  in  the  transaction ­
  and  more  firmly  entrenches  each  in  the
other’s  business  and  friendly  relations.
The  various  countries  comprising  Latin
America  are  in  no  sense  manufacturing  ones.
They  possess  few  if  any  factories  or  plants  and
these  are  usually  devoted  to  the  perfection  of
some  local  necessity,  such  as  wines,  cigarettes,
cigars,  soap,  sugar,  and  other  articles  for  personal ­
  use  or  consumption.  They  are  however
the  largest  producers  of  raw  materials  the
world  knows.  Due  to  our  shortsightedness  as
a  nation,  we  have  allowed  the  European
merchant  and  manufacturer  to  take  these
products  from  Nature’s  laboratory,  elaborate
the  finished  article  therefrom  and  during  each
stage  of  its  perfection,  from  its  origin  to  its
completion,  we  have  paid  a  profit,  not  to  one,
but  to  several  enterprising  foreigners.
The  Latin  Americans—in  fact  no  nation—
will  buy  from  us  for  sheer  love  or  their  high
regard  for  us  as  a  people,  or  even  from  dire