TRADE WITH LATIN AMERICA 223 
dredging of harbors and erection of docks, 
while France, relying upon the admitted and 
acknowledged fact that all the civilized world 
looked to her for its fashions, styles, millinery, 
articles of clothing and dress, toilet goods, and 
luxuries, very naturally took advantage of ex 
isting conditions and used this as a foundation 
on which to erect her trade. Whatever com 
mercial prestige either Spain or Portugal ac 
quired in these countries was due almost en 
tirely to the presence of thousands of citizens 
of these nations, who created a demand for ar 
ticles of home production, and this is rela 
tively small. 
In this simple but thorough manner was the 
trail to business success in this field blazed. 
The experiences of our predecessors, and the 
lessons they learned should stand us in good 
stead in our efforts and help to direct our feet 
from all possible pitfalls. In fact we should, 
by following and improving on their attempts, 
if this be possible, acquire a commercial su 
premacy in this territory in less than half the 
time taken by the Europeans.