RECIPROCITY 
347 
necessity for that matter. Most of these coun 
tries achieved their independence from Spain 
because they refused to be further exploited by 
the mother country. It behooves us as modern 
and liberal minded, wide-awake business men, 
to develop our trade in these territories so that 
our exports to each country will be paid for 
by the things which we import from it. This 
is not a difficult problem to solve, especially as 
at the present time our imports from them 
exceed the value of our exports to them by ap 
proximately $100,000,000 yearly. This sum 
should represent the amount of trade expan 
sion with the United States these countries 
will be in a position to stand on a reciprocal 
basis. 
Another feature in this connection which 
has developed since the beginning of the pres 
ent war is the monetary situation in Latin 
America. These countries as the world 
knows were borrowing nations, and practically 
dependent upon Europe for all of their financ 
ing. To-day Europe cannot aid them in this 
respect and they have turned toward us for