The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-24

have been permitted to come into Ecuador,
and the few here now are having a hard
time. I met here at Guayaquil an earnert
young fellow from Denver. who has recent
ly come out to do missionary work. He tells
me the field is a great one, but that his re-
ception by the people is far from cordial,
and that he has been warned not to go to
certain places to preach, or his life would
be in danger.
OUR TRADE WITH ECUADOR
have spent some time in looking up the
chances here for American trade. There are
practically no statistics, and it is hard to
get at just what the trade of the country
amounts to- 1t probably ranges somewhere
between ten and fifteen million dollars
year, the imports being less than the ex-
ports The bulk of the imports come from
Europe, and the articles we send here are
those which we can make more cheaply
and of a better quality than the Europeans.
This is especially the case with hardware.
The American hardware has, find bet
ter standing wherever l have been than any
other. The axes and knives made at Hart
ford. Conn, are celebrated here, and the
Germans and other Europeans are initiating
them almost to the trade marks. They make
much poorer and cheaper article, and sell
chiefly by their fraudulent imitation. The
American firearms command the highest
prices, and they are also initiated. Smith &
Wesson revolvers. for instance, have been
copied by the Spaniards and labeled in large
letters. Smith SS Wesson cartridges are to
be used with this revolver. When the
South American customer who cannot read
English is shown the revolver he is told
that it is a Smith & Wesson, and the above
CHI
find it useless, or that it bursts after few
shots. The genuine American revolvers,
SS-caliber, sell for $50 in silver, while the
imitation Spanish-made revolvers sell for
$l4 The most of the cottons used in Ec-
uador come from Great Britain. About
$,0O00O0 worth of English cottons are con-
sumed here every year, while we do not
sell $4,000 worth. If our cotton factors
would study the market and make the
goods these people want they could easily
get this trade. for our cottons are better
than the English. There are practically no
iron manufactures in Ecuador. and all iron
work and hardware must be imported.
There are a few water mills near Quito
which weave cotton, linen and wooden
goods, and also a silk hat factory, for the
Quito swells all wear plug hats and black
kid gloves.
Here at Guayaquil there are a number of
chocolate factories, which grind up the
cocoa beans and make them into the choco-
late of commerce. AS to lumber doubt If
there is a modern sawmill or planning estab-
lishment in the country. Such boards as
have seen made have been sawed out by
hand from the logs, one man standing on
top of the log and pulling the saw, while
another below furnishes the force for the
downward strokes. The most of the lum-
Der used on the coast and on this river is
brought here from Oregon and Puget
sound, and it often sells as high as 10
cents foot Georgia pine is brought
around Cape Horn, a distance, Judge, of
about 5000 miles. All imported lumber pays
a duty of about a cent for every eight
pounds, and in addition to this one of 80
per cent. ad valorem. Our chief exports to
Ecuador are lumber, lard, kerosene, flour
and barbed wire for fencing The great dis
advantage that the United States has in
competing with Europe is in the high
freight rates, aud in the fact that the Amer
leans do not drum up their trade by means
of commercial travellers, as the Europeans
do. France or England can send goods to
the ports of Ecuador for % shillings, or
about $6.25 a ton. The freight rate from
New York around the Horn is 2712 cents a
cubic foot, or nearly $12 in gold per ton.
while the rates by the Isthmus of Panama
are fully one-third more. The exchange on
New York is about per cent. higher than
on London, so that the American exporter
labors under decided disadvantages. When
an isthmian canal is built this will be ail
changed in favor of the United States, and
the trade of this western coast of South
FRANK G. CARPENTER