Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-09-18

ness colleges, manual training schools,
etc. land most of the higher institutions
of learning have special technical de-
partments, but the new era of CONNER
cial expansion. which has recently be-
gun, would seem to demand superior
facilities, similar to those which Ger
many has adopted, for training the
hand, the taste and the judgment of
our producers of goods to be sent
abroad, and for specially equipping
The agents who are TO sell them. In
other words, to succeed in foreign
trade, we must procure the means of
doing the best work and of disposing
of it to the best advantage. The
Germans have proven that education
is the most efficient means, and, if
education be employed in combination
with the we'll known energy. acumen
and inventive genius of the typical
American, the results can scarcely fail
to be remuneratiye.
One of the most important auxiliaries
of such education would be national
museum in Washington. which would
do for the country at large what the
Philadelphia Commercial Museum is
aiming to do for Philadelphia. 1t
often happens that the reports from
Consular officers are accompanied by
samples of new inventions in manu-
features or Of special lines of goods
made up for certain countries or classes
of trade. At present these samples are
filed away in the State Department.,
and are seldom seen by the manufac-
turers or exporters who might be most
interested in them. 1t is impossible to
make useful disposition of them, for
there are neither space nor facilities
in the department for exhibiting them
to the public. Samples of this kind
might readily be collected from all
parts Of the world, and would multiply
indefinitely. They could be made the
nucleus Of collection of inestimable
value, showing the changes and de-
velopment of manufactures in all the
more important industrial centers.
The work, of course, would be one of
great magnitude, but it would be a
legitimate outgrowth of the present
efforts of the Consular service, a de-
velopment merely of what it is really
doing, and as such, it would seem. a
proper object for an expenditure by
Congress which would be fully justi-
fed by its greau possibilities for pro-
noting our industrial progress.
Such a collection would prove to
American manufacturers, with the
conclusiveness of an object lesson, the
important results to be obtained by
directing their efforts to the produc-
ton of the grades and patterns best
suited to particular markets abroad.
Most of the Consular reports which
aim to point out the special require
ments of trade in a particular locality
dwell on the fact that little or no re-
gard is paid by our manufacturers to
the quality, styles, colors or even sizes
and lengths of the goods which they
send abroad. The peculiar wants of
their customers are seldom consulted.
A "piece" Of cotton or wooden cloth,
for example, is Of the same length for
South American market as for one at
home, though the purchaser there may
be accustomed to a different measure
ment. The patterns and qualities are
also the same, Notwithstanding the fact
that the South Americans taste and
fancy may run in quite contrary direc-
tions. The English manufacturer
knows better. He makes up his goods
for South America, or Africa, or Asia,
not to suit himself or his home market.
but to meet the wants of the particular
market he is seeking. If foreign
customer wants goods of certain
length or certain pattern, he makes
them for him and captures his trade.
As yet the American manufacturer
has not found it worth his while to
edo business in that way" But he
must come to it if he intends to enter
seriously into foreign competition.
Another serious drawback to the
American export trade is the way in
which we put up our goods to send
abroad. In January, 1894, the State
issued series of reports
ON the subject of packing goods for
export, in which many valuable sug-
gestions were made. From these, the
general deduction, which is reinforced
by host of examples, may be drawn
that stlye of packing that might do
we'll enough for this country, or even
for Great Britain, or Germany. or
France, would not do at all for South
American countries, where transporta-
ton is largely by mule back, or for
the interior of Africa, where goods are
almost exclusively carried Oil the heads
or shoulders Of the natives. Yet Amer
lean goods are often sent to points
where railroads are unknown, in pack
ages of size and stlye Of covering
suited only to railroad transportation.
Even the goods themselves are made
in sizes and lengths which preclude
their being broken up into convenient
parcels.
One of the subjects treated of in the
series of reports referred to-that of
cotton baling-had a special interest
for the South, and its importance to