Omaha daily bee., 1898-06-12

purpose. They also own cotton plantations
in southern Peru and have the management
OF the Vi,arte cotton mills above Lima,
which are the largest cloth mills OF Peru.
The chief business OF the Arm is, however,
as commission merchants and as importers
OF American goods. In their houses here and
at Callao you will find samples Of nearly
everything made in America which Is likely
20 be in demand in Peru. They Import
everything from toothpicks to steel plates
and from nails to locomotives. They take
orders for all kinds of American goods and
engage in contracts to almost any amount.
They have their statesmen, who travel
through the country, and are anxious to in
troduce anything that will sell.
Points for American shippers.
As far as American trade is concerned
the house OF Flint, Eddy & Co. is doing
here the same class of business as Grace &
Co. They have samples OF almost every
thing and are pushing all sorts OF American
manufactures One of the best posted men
on such matters is Mr.. f. l.. Crosby, the
head OF Flint, Eddy & Co. Of Lima. He has
been handling nothing but American goods
for the past twenty-five years. He is a
thorough American and has at the same
time a good knowledge Of the Peruvian
character and the needs OF the people and
country. I had a long talk with him this
afternoon, during which he gave some
points for American shippers. Said he:
The chief trouble with our manufacturers
Is that they will not study the wants OF
their customers and try to satisfy them.
They don't pack their goods well nor mark
them plainly. All goods sent to South
America should be put in new boxes. Then
you can tell IL they have been opened on
the way. II they are put in secondhand
boxes and renailed they are sure to come
here with something missing. 1t is easy TO
open an old box. The steamers specify the
condition of each case and do not hold
themselves responsible II the cases are sec
ond-hand. II goods are not stolen on the
ships they may be stolen at the custom
houses. The marking of the boxes should
be with letters from six to ten inches long.
The Germans are the best shippers in this
regard. They use letters ten inches long
and two inches wide and put them on so
plainly that 1t is impossible to mistake the
directions. Our shippers will use letters Of
not over two inches in length. Their marks
often rub off and the boxes are lost. They
are careless also in billing the goods prop
erly, and especially so in packing. Goods
are handled roughly on the ships and the
strongest cases are needed. Another i'm
pOrtant thing is to pack so that the duties
here will be as small as possible. Many
classes of goods are taxed by weight, and
| have had stuff sent to me in such heavy
cases that ne duties amounted to fifty
times the value of the goods. Samples
should always be shipped as samples, and
every factory should have a copy of the
tariff laws of the countries to which they
ship and study to pack so as to cause the
least cost to their customers. Goods that
Will go into small cases should not be put
into large ones, as freight is charged for by
measurement. Every German house has a
copy of tho tariff OF every country to which
1t sends goods. and packs accordingly"
Commercial Pirates of the World.
"You speak of the Germans, Mr.. Crosby, -
said l. do they do much business in Peru?'
Yes, they are fast monopolizing the trade
everywhere. When l came here over
twenty years ago there were no German
houses and from twenty to thirty big Eng
lish houses. Now there are more than a
score of big German establishments and
only one or two large English ones. The
Germans are driving out the English every
where. They are INSCRIPTIONS as to meth
DDS and will do anything to get trade
They are, in fact, the pirates of the com.
mercial world. The American sells his
: goods and is proud to call them American
r He will not make a poor article becaus,
he does not think 1t fair to do so. Thi!
is also the case with the English ant
/, French, but the German cares for nothin,
] but to sell. He will call his goods Ameri
r can, French or English, according as thes
V goods are the most in demand. and by put
ting in poor material will make a chea,
I article which looks like that he claims t
sell. The Germans make Rogers kniye
q which will not cut butter without they ar
r heated. They label them Rogers, Shelf
U field and use the Rogers trade marks
I They make holdings splashed with gilt an,
e mark them from the United States an,
u they initiate our wall papers and mar
i them American. / wish l could show yo'
some of the building blocks which they sci
v under the name of 'Crandalls.' They Loo
5 as though they had been cut out with
t Ratchet. They used to initiate the Do
d nestle and Singer sewing machines an
, labeled them with the American trad
, marks, but they have stopped that an
Il now call them the Singer style of machine
. ETC. This, with the people who canno
read English, serves the same purpose
. They sell cheap limitations of French an
y English stockings under pirated trad
marks. They sell Havana cigars made i
Hamburg and kitchen furniture from Ger
many labeled made in the United States
They do not care whether their goods ar
n honest or not. All they want is to SELL"
d Ii We Sell in Peru.
e What do we sell to Peru, Mr.. Crosby ?"
v asked.
Our total sales are now about three
e quarters Of a. million dollars a year, ant
s as Peru buys more than eleven million
annually, you will see that more than Mint
tenths OF the Peruvian trade is with Europ,
q Before the war with Chilli, when Peru wa
I rich, she bought almost three times as muc
American goods as she does now. TIL
trouble is that we do not buy a great de-
a Of Peru. Trade is reciprocal, and peopl
buy where they sell. II the reciprocit
!, treaty which the Peruvian minister at Wash
g ington is now trying to arrange can b
carried through 1t will increase our trad
a 100 per cent. At present the chief article
shipped here from the United States al
, petroleum, lard, hardware, machinery an
lumber. The best Of the American petrc
" leum. that Of the $50 test, is sold In Per,
= The cheaper oils come from the native field
- and the Peruvian article will not refine &
= well as ours. All Peruvian families us
lard for cooking, and American lard sci