RECIPROCITY 365 
and the United States, and which through its 
various local branches and stores, as well as 
its numerous employes, is a potent factor in 
introducing American goods and American 
ideas to all with whom it comes in contact. 
Its large fleet of ships come to all the leading 
seaports of this country, and the vast trade 
which it now controls, and which is still in its 
infancy, is capable of enormous growth. As 
one example of what its business means in 
freight alone, I may state that from the port 
of New Orleans this company shipped, last 
year, nearly 150,000 car-loads of bananas to the 
West and Middle West. The model hospitals 
which it has installed in each of the countries 
in which it operates for the free treatment of 
its servants have caused our physicians to be 
highly respected throughout this portion of 
Central and South America, and as a conse 
quence the native now comes to the United 
States for serious surgical operations and 
medical treatment, instead of to Europe as 
formerly. Further than this, the intimate as 
sociation bound to result from so many Ameri