364  SELLING  LATIN  AMERICA

large  sums  in  practically  all  of  our  sister  re„-publics.
  .With  each  step  in  this  direction  we
as  a  nation,  and  also  our  manufacturers  and
merchants,  become  more  firmly  entrenched  in
the  Latin  American  commercial  world,  and
our  mercantile  supremacy  in  these  lands  is
more  positively  assured.
As  a  typical  illustration,  of  what  can  be  done
in  these  countries  when  the  subject  is  handled
intelligently  let  me  mention  the  case  of  the
United  Fruit  Company,  which  operates  in
Colombia,  Cuba,  and  practically  all  of  Central ­
  America.  Starting  in  187a  with  a  small
beginning,  this  organization  is  now  one  of
the  most  solid  to  be  found  anywhere  in  the
world.  In  Costa  Rica  alone  they  have  invested ­
  over  $19,000,000  in  bananas,  while
enormous  sums  are  also  being  expended  in
other  countries  in  sugar,  coffee,  cocoa,  cocoanuts,
  the  development  of  mines  and  the  building
of  railroads  and  hotels.  In  fact  the  prosperity
of  all  these  nations  is  directly  due  to  the
presence  of  this  great  organization,  which
finds  a  market  for  its  products  in  Europe