7. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS OF LATIN AMERICA. Latin America is the most promising of the undeveloped sections of the world. The North Temperate Zone has been peopled and developed. Europe with 3,875,000 square miles has 465,000,000 people, or 120 per square mile. Asia with 17,000,000 square miles has 870,000,000 'people, or 50 per square miles. North with 8,600,000 square miles has 140,000,000, or 16 per square mile. Africa with 11,600,000 square miles has 150,000,000, or 12 persons per square mile; South America with 7,600,000 square miles of area has but 56,000,000 people, or 7 persons per square mile. Add to South America, Mexico, Central America, Cuba and the island of Haiti, and we find that Latin America has 8,660,000 square miles, 82,000,000 people and 8 persons per square mile. North America has 315,000 miles of railway, Europe 227,000, Asia 62,000 South America but 49,000, and Latin America as a whole, 70,000. Europe has a commerce of $25,000,000,000 per annum in nor mal years; North America, $6,250,000,000; Asia, $4,200,000,000, South America $2,250,000,000 in her best year, 1913, and all Latin America $2,900,000,000.
The three great requirements • of man are food, clothing and manufactures. The North Temperate Zone has been pretty well de veloped as to its producing powers and is look ing to the South Temperate Zone and Tropical America for food and manufacturing materials. The food demands of the Temperate Zone•peo ple are chiefly bread and meat, and the Tropics at present do not ,produce enough of these for their own me. And there are only three places in the South Temperate Zone to which to look for products of this character, namely, South -America, Australia and New Zealand. All of Argentina, all of Uruguay, two-thirds of Chile and the southern parts of Brazil and Paraguay are temperate. They grow wheat, corn and maintain enormous herds of cattle and sheep, and Argentina is now beginning to develop the swine industry. In addition to this the great elevated region of the interior of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia is capable of producing Temperate Zone products, the extreme eleva Lion giving it a temperate climate even under the Equator. Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and
Mexico together produce about 225,000,000 bushels of wheat a year, while Australia and New Zealand, the other South Temperate Zone wheat producers, seldom turn out more than 100,000,000 bushels a year. Of corn, Argen tina is next to the United States in rank in the quantity of corn produced, and actually exports more corn than we do, and Mexico 75,000,000 bushels, while Australia and New Zealand pro duce but very small quantities. Of meats Argentina alone exceeds Australia and New Zealand in combination, her supply of cattle being about 30,000,000 against 13,000,000 in Australia and New Zealand. Mexico and Cen tral America have normally about 10,000,000. Of sheep Argentina has 83,000,000, Australia 82,000,000 and New Zealand 25,000,000, though the number of sheep slaughtered for food is small, most of them being retained for wool production. Of swine Argentina has about 3000,000 while Australia and New Zealand have about 1,000,000.. Brazil has as many cattle as Argentina, 30,000,000; Uruguay 10,000,000, other countries of South America about 20,000,000, and Mexico and Central America 10,000,000, making for all Latin America about 80,000,000 against 20,000,000 in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The total number of cattle in all the world is but about 500,000,000. About 125,000000 of these are in India which does not utilize them for food, so that Latin America has now over one-fourth of the world's supply of cattle usable for food. And when we re member that Latin America has at the present time but an average of 8 persons per square mile against 20 persons per square mile in the United States and 120 per square mile in Europe, it will be seen that her possibilities of a large increase in the future are very great, both in the matter of meat supply for the out side world and that of grain, for Argentina in 1913 held fourth rank as an exporter of wheat, and was also the world's largest exporter of corn. Of sugar Cuba is the world's largest producer, her exports in 1918 in sugar alone amounting to about $246,000,000.