260 Lectures on Brazilian Affairs
VIII. THE AMERICAN CONTRIBUTION
The most interesting part of the dislocation of the world
market can be traced to the contribution of the United
States. Since coffee had reached paramount importance
among Brazilian exports, the United States became a pur-
chaser of this product on a large scale. A Brazilian writer,
Nelson Sodre, has recently said:
The history of Brazilian commerce might be described in three decisive
stages: the Lusitanian, the English, and the American. The first pre-
dominates in colonial times and during the Kingdom. The second involves
the Empire down to 1870. The third starts in 1870 and comes down to us.
Each one of them is marked by the pre-eminence of trade transactions,
with Portugal, with England, and with the United States. To emphasize
the importance of the pre-eminence in political and social events of the
country, it is sufficient to study the period in which each of them pre-
dominates. The colonial institutions were essentially Portuguese. The
imperial ones had living features marked with British (an experiment in
parliamentary regime). With the cropping of democratic and liberal
ideas at the end of the Empire, the increasing importance of the United
States of America is revealed by their larger share in Brazilian Commerce.
The transaction regime thus leads to imports of political ideas and state
institutions.
As a general statement this may be a half-truth, but in the
present case it does certainly explain also many non-com-
mercial features of Brazilian social life in evolution.
Great Britain, France, Germany, Argentina, and Belgium
are the most important purchasers and suppliers of Brazil.
Yet until recently, 1934, the United States was the unchal-
lenged leading supplier of Brazilian requirements. This
position of pre-eminence emerged during the war and lasted
over fifteen years. But in 1934, Germany started improving
her position substantially, and overtook Great Britain in
1935. Two years later, in 1937, she succeeded in overtaking
the United States as well. From 51 million pounds sterling
sold to Brazil in 1920, American exports declined to 6,400,000