Page:Walter Renton Ingalls - Wealth and Income of the American People (1924).pdf/72

50 this presentation will lead other statisticians to investigate the subject more thoroughly.

Frederick M. Halsey, as special agent, made a study of “Investments in Latin America and the British West Indies” which was published by the Department of Commerce as Special Agents Series, No. 169. In his introduction to this report Mr. Halsey says: “Before the war the interests of the United States in South America, other than in mines and the packing industry, were negligible. During the lull that followed the closing of the various stock exchanges much attention was given to Latin America, and the first steps were taken to interest American bankers in the opportunities presented in that field. During the early months of 1915 a loan was made to Argentina by American investment houses, and the bonds were publicly offered with success. Other loans followed this one, and a number of shares in railways in Argentina were purchased by investors through London. Two short-term note issues of South American railways were afterwards floated in the United States, these being obligations of the Antofagasta & Bolivia Railway ($3,000,000), and the Central Argentine Railway ($15,000,000). Other investments (largely in mining securities) were made, including bond issues of the Cerro de Pasco mines, the Chile Copper Co., and the Braden Copper Co., operating in Peru and in Chile. American interests have also turned their attention to developing the petroleum resources of Venezuela, Colombia, and Peru, as well as the nitrate fields of Chile, the manganese deposits of Brazil, and other forms of enterprise.”

Mr. Halsey’s report, having been made just previ-