New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-03-11
GAINING FOREIGN TRADE.
WHERE AMERICANS FAIL IN THE WORLDS
COMPETITION.


COMPETITION
INFORMATION THE FIRST REQU1sIrE-ENGLIsH
EXPERIMENTING TRIUMPHs OF GERMAN
rpApE-,N SPANISH AMERrcA-oN THE
DANUBE-NEED OF HIGHER COM
MERcIAL EDUCATIoN-ExAMPLE
OF PARIS CHAMBER OF
CoMMERCE-BEIGIUM.
Paris. February Is.
The abortive attempt to reform the United
States consular service In the interests OF Amer>-
can trade starts up several pertinent questions.
They are connected with the insignificant pro-
portion which our manufactured products hold
In our total expectation. and with the methods
followed by the Governments and manufacturers
or merchants of countries more successful than
our own in selling their wares In foreign mar
kets The first requisite of any commerce Is to
bring together supply and demand. This must
regularly be the work Of business intelligence
acting on Trustworthy Information.
A silly chance is said 10 nave been the fortune
making Of "old Billy" Gray. OF Boston. who sent
out to Cuba a cargo of warming pans which hap
pened 10 meet a long felt want for molasses
ladies' If the history Of British commerce couid
be written in detail. ii is probable that many an
Unforeseen incident of the carrying trace mas
been the occasion OF new and successful business
operations But such strokes Of luck are not
to be expected in the ordinary course OF
trade American manufacturers or merchants
like those Of the rest " the world. nave
to learn for themselves where their wares are
in demand and what chance they run OF compel
ing successfully with the present supply some
times the present supply is insufficient. or ne"
demand may be created-as in the case 81 patent
medicines Now whatever consular service
may do II is certain that accurate Information
on questions of this kind has usually to be Cd
tanned by private enterprise.
In England this work seems to be LETT NANNY
10 the business firms which are interested These
may employ tho good offices OF merchants unions
or similar associations for entering into commu-
n,cation with commission merchants on the spot
or other persons familiar with the field wh'ch
II Is proposed to open up Consular ana other
Government reports may also help To genera
knowledge which. from business point oil view
gives little more than basis Tor guesS"o'h
But the accurate inspection u the foreign mar
ket and the estimate Of its probabilities has to
be left to agents specially equipped for the WORK
II is a common complaint that the institution
OF commercial attaches to the various Enshsh
embassies has been OF little value for Increasing
British trade. Probably IL was intended tof
something else But English merchants nave
often failed to make good use 81 their special
agents-for n perverse reason which the adVahc-
ing commerce Of Germany has seen through. but
which the still beginning foreign trade - Amer
lea follows bllndy Because she has two cen
tures advance In time, England has been abie
To work out her commercial salvation by hu-or-
no inrO1dS
her foreign markets by German manufacture ana
commerce show which country has the better
system.
In Eastern Africf n certain cotton print was III
demand for the large gaudy handkerchiefs when
n re used 10 wind around The head as n turbhh 10y
the women An English firm improved III" pat
term as Il thought. and changed the size In long
So The negro tribes would have nothing !" d"
with the new article. The convenience oi long
habit and "A tradition 81 sacredness. perhaps
superstition were bound up with the "'i s""i"
and design. The same bunder was repeated
few years later In changing the traditional c'lorS
~ tho "chauia - or kerchier hcadi ~ IN"
Servian and Belgian women. Last year An Eng
lish firm doing business IN Frnnc" had le't on us
looms "A lob lot 81 hanikerchefs. which had I" p"
cut mp In under sizes. on "A venture thel were
shipped To- Buenos Ayres. whore they ""r" sofa
of N once and large order given 'or more
t. AVOID the expense u setting up ~?'c'a'
,oom the new lot made with reduction al
one Of the dimensions bv a good part ~ An
irch. Thus changed. the handkcrchi"fs lost their
only charm-thc fashion 81 special size
among the Argentine ladies and children Tor
whom they were intended. The 10, remains un-
sold
These are only trihlng instances. which scarcely
seem to 60 beyond the every-day hazards OF
commercial ventures Similar examples might be
given to explain the failure or certain Nn'r'cnn
machines IN Europe The manufacturers couih
not or would not conform some tr'ning a''ach-
ment TO the different circumstance ~ Foreign
use In all such cases the fault belongs 10 the
business expert whose vision could not trav"i
beyond his own technical knowledge Of hiS iTade.
That is. he knew vel. tAe one tang ne hhd AZ
ways seen done. but he was wanting IN me R'"-
era trimming which would have made him s"nsl-
tive to loca prejudiccs and needs Among Eng,
lish and yet among American commercial
agents this lack Of general training often com
prises an ignorance OF the language ~ the coun-
try where the market IL sought
The pervcrse reason which prevents Engnsh
and American business men from requiring o'
their agents this capacity Of obtaining complete
inform alton is 81 two degrees In England an"
three In America.
recularlties Of foreign ne. until some failur"
makes them felt. To English tast" the new
color vastly improved the chamia. why should
not the Bulgarian women ike II? To the Amer
ican's mind the lamp fixtures 81 his own country
are simpler and better IN every way than IN"
meta physical German inventions which ar" found
everywhere in italy; but the Italians do not
seem to Il.
Now the slow Gern1an. whom the Anglo-saxon
has despised from business point u view unti
his alarming successes Of recent years is trained
painfully In the languages ~ the people win
whom he is to treat. In London Itself. wherever
there Is need OF foreign correspondence, tn" Ger
nan clerk is now found. oven In English houses,
and this mere acquaintanc" with languHg-s may
be taken az the secret Of IN" predominant. not
warranted by their relative numbers. which has
been gained In the United States by the foreign
merchants Of Jewish race. In neighborng Mex
leo Germans have begun by making themselves
necessary Intermediates for the sac Of Ameri-
can commodities and have ended by introducing
in their stead cheap limitations Of them made In
Germany. Twenty-Five years ago. after English
money had helped to build tho first railroad
'riiz Ia he Irlt ial rld To-