New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-03-11
AAtEELCAN rRlDE ARRO1D.

As orr readers will remember, the Depart
mcnt of State sent out last August trade cir
cular TO our c0nsuls at foreign ports, request
ing information as to the market i'll each cOu-
try for American products and manufactures.
The answers continue to come III, and are
worth close study. Europe offers n sure and
charging market for most peculiarly American
products and manufactures, but 1t requires
more prudence and skill than our dealers have
shown hitherto TO gain command of that mar
kct. II requires a good deal Of outlay and risk
To send wares, produce, and agents To distant
and uncertain market, and there have been
many warning failures in former attempts.
Such failures have frequently been caused by
ignorance of the habits and tastes, rather than
the needs OF the people among whom tho ven
turc was made. SaXOny, for instance, Is
largely an agricultural country, and ought,
therefore, tho manufacturer argues, ~ buy
agricultural implements and machipary. But
Saxony, with nearly million primitive peas
ants earning their living by manual labor,
will have none of machines which would
still further cheaper that labor while her
people would buy our salt peats canned
goods, or mlsins, by which they could more
cheaply clothe and feed themselves. The
Norwcgians, on the contrary, who do not live
! by exports. offer ready market for our ma
chimes, rs well as the other class of goods.
| The American corn-growcr expects the de-
| mand for maize in other countries 10 be equal
! to the real need of so cheap and wholesome a
| substitute for wheat. lie forgcts the prejudice
which induced the Irish, in the year OF fam
! ine to come 10 the verge OF starvation rather
| than cat it, when il was given to them for
| nothing Our dealers must allow large mar
| Gin of time and outlay for overcoming the
prciudiccs, unreasonable but not less actual, OF
| old and settled peoples to new food, new meth
| ods. or new inventions. The ne elect to consider
| this is one frequent cause OF disappointment
| Another. the c0nsuls assert, is that the arti-
ces sent are not always Of the best quality.
Our canned goods, for example, will not COM
pete with those Of France, even in our own
markets. American butter, orr charge in CO.
penlagcn declares. might command every Con-
tincnta market if 1t were properly made and
packed. IIo suggests that Danish dalrymen be
! brought over to teach us their secret. Labor
saving machines sold rapidly in Rhenish Ger
many, until the purchasers discovered that
they were chcaply made and of poor quality
| The market is OF course closed to honest
dealers by such swindlng.
The consuls all hit upon the same plan t.
introduce our goods successfully into Europe
the establishment of dcpots under the charge
of trustworthy agents acquainted with the needs
and tastes of the people, and who can employ
skilled travelling salcsIncn Permanent ba-
! zaars, exhibitions of American goods Mt central
! noiuts srrh "a Paris Bremen. Antwerp and
! Frankfort, are also suggested Our manufac-
tuners, during the Paris Exposition, will doubt
less reach some practical method Of finding the
best markets for special classes OF goods. liith
erto the venture, by individuals, with Euro
pean markets, has been like a lottery in which
there are few prizes and ten thousand blanks