358  SELLING  LATIN  AMERICA
exceptional  profit  to  the  original  investors.
Here  is  an  excellent  opportunity  for  American
capital  to  develop  a  reciprocal  market.
One  of  the  chief  reasons  for  the  scarcity  of
invested  American  capital  in  Latin  America
is  the  indefinite  and  indifferent  attitude  of  our
State  Department  in  failing  to  protect  its
citizens  abroad  or  in  seeking  redress  for  injuries ­
  done  individuals  or  business  conducted
in  these  countries.
No  race  of  men  are  as  enterprising  or  venturesome ­
  or  more  truly  pioneers  in  every  sense
of  the  word  than  we  Americans.  This  trait
is  a  natural  inheritance  from  our  forefathers,
who  left  comparatively  civilized  and  comfortable ­
  Europe  to  gain  a  livelihood  in  the
wilds  of  unknown  and  unexplored  America.
We  are  a  practical  people,  also,  and  when
through  years  of  trying  experiences  we  became
definitely  impressed  with  the  fact  that  in  our
foreign  ventures  we  had  neither  the  co-operation ­
  nor  the  protection  of  our  government,
very  naturally  we  abandoned  these  tempting
fields  of  business  and  allowed  them  to  be