Latin America really began to show itself in the 20th century. There was high economic growth occurring, and with the growth of an economy brings the debate of whether the economy should be fully government ran or if it should be run by the economy. There are arguments for and against each one of these options.

During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s there was as a great export boom. This included sustained economic growth that Latin America had never experienced before. From 1877 to 1910 Mexican trade alone grew nine hundred percent. Brazil was producing two thirds of the world’s coffee by the early 1900’s. By 1929 Cuba had production of sugar of five million tons. Between 1870 and 1900 the railroads were built up to aid in the transport of the exports. They went from 2,000 miles to 59,000 miles. Landowners really benefited from this because the value of their land increased dramatically with the need for land for the railroad tracks. Also, the boom in exports helped the middle class people such as professionals, merchants, and office workers because they were able to perform secondary functions (Chasteen in Chasteen, p. 182-183).

However, in order to have railroads and crops to export there is a need for law and order. Mexico and Brazil were the first ones who had their government’s step up and become involved. Then Bolivia, Cuba, and Nicaragua followed them. In other areas people were building up support to have more state intervention relative to foreign ownership and trade. They made the state take over foreign owned banks, utilities, railroads, and mining properties. They also forced income redistribution with mandated wage increases and public spending (Harper and Cuzan, in Hillman, p. 152). An increase in exports brings an increase in government revenues from export taxes. Also armies and police forces were able to have modern weapons and more training. The increase in railroads help to increase the pace of transportation and troops were able to get to areas faster to end rebellions. With this and the fact that families were busy with the export boom, civil wars occurred less. Middle class people were given better employment opportunities in the bureaucracies and the schools with the increased government revenue. With having more stable economies, Latin America experienced more foreign investment. However, all of these positive effects only helped the minority of the population. The majority of the population didn’t have much of an option. There were income and literacy requirements for voting and there were managed elections anyway. As long as there was an export boom the neocolonial government had the vote of the large land owners and the judges did their part to disqualify people from voting. Most people knew about this but just came to see it as the way things were (Chasteen, in Chasteen, p.193-194).

There is a short story entitled “The Switchman” by Juan Jose Arreola that describes the existence of railroads in Latin America at this time. The building of railroads was very significant for the countries of Latin America. It showed that they were growing and prospering. They were growing enough where they had enough money to fund the building of railroads and enough importing and exporting to use the railroads. In this story there is a man that says the country is famous for its railroads. He states that great progress has been made in publishing timetables and issuing tickets. He says that railroad guides include and link all of the towns in the country. He says that they sell tickets for even the smallest and most remote villages. He says that he has seen many trains go by him at the station he was at and that he has seen many travelers board them. Now although this story is bringing a humorous light to the existence of railroads in Latin America, the railroads really were very important at this time. This story was written most likely in an attempt to make fun of Latin America’s railroad system. However, during this time Latin America did increase the amount of railroad tracks that it had and it did help them greatly (Arreola, in Gonzalez, p. 312-317).

The short story entitled “Juan Esquivel: Cotton Plantation Tenant” by Vincent C. Peloso gives a description about the characteristics of a plantation during the 20th century in Latin America. It is about a man named Juan Esquivel who accepted a contract from a labor contractor agreeing to move to a place called Pisco. Esquivel left for Pisco with his family and their few possessions. He arrives there with thirty four men and women who had also come to hopefully live a better life. There were two categories of tenants on the plantations. There were renters or tenants and sharecroppers. The renters or tenants had some privileges such as having a fixed rent. The sharecroppers paid fifty percent of their crop as rent. The ratio of sharecroppers to tenants differed depending on the market or land use policies. The tenants of course had the higher social status and had more independence in choosing which crops they wanted to grow. Esquivel worked very hard and was the largest and most productive tenant. The rising price of cotton kept him even with his rental payments. Then Esquivel had some of his major fields flooded and the Palto administrator said that is was not the plantation’s fault and that he still had to pay his bills. Esquivel was able to get small loans from merchants who used his crop as collateral. So he was then, like many others, caught in this never ending cycle. This story shows how hard life was to be a tenant in Latin America at this time. If the market was good then they did fairly well. However, if the market was doing badly then they didn’t do too well. Here, they would benefit with government intervention if the market wasn’t doing well (Peloso, in Beezley and Ewell, p.114-121).

Overall, the economy of the countries of Latin America was definitely growing and prospering in the 20th century. There was a great export boom in Latin America that helped to support the growing economy and allowed the railroad system to become more built up. With the increasing status of the economy, the government was forced to step in and make and enforce laws, as well as collect taxes. With the increasing amount of government participation, some people benefited while others were hurt. Some people would rather have the economy just rely on the market. If the market is good for something, then they will try to make or sell that item. However, with a growing economy, it is hard to have a completely free market system. There needs to be some rules and regulations. The United States has a free market system, but yet we still rely on our laws and regulations. The best economy will have the best of both worlds. They will have the free market system allowing the market to decide, as well as rules and regulations in place in order to back up their economy.