The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-06-12
ment of the Peruvian debt by the organiza-
49,

IN return Peru gave the corporation all Of
its railways, the right to mine guano on the
Peruvian government territory to the
amount of 100000 tons and large area of
coffee land on the other side of the Andes,
which is now being developed. OF course
no one except Mr.. Grace knows just what
the profits of this deal were, but I have
heard it said here that he alone made not
less than 81, 100000 out of 1t. This was not
a large sum considering the magnitude of
the interests involved and the diplomatic
and business skill required to handle them
in competition with Dreyfus & Co. and
others Of the biggest capitalists of Europe.
To-day the Graces do all of the loading and
shipping of the guano for the Peruvian cor
poration, employing hundreds of men for
the purpose. They also own cotton planta-
tons in southern Peru and have the man
agement of the Vitarte cotton mills above
Lima, which are the largest cloth mills of
Peru. The chief business of the firm is,
however, as commission merchants and as
importers of American goods. In their
houses here and at Callao you will find sam
pies of nearly everything made in America
which is likely to 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 introduce anything that will sell.
FOR AMERICAN SHIPPERS
AS far American trade is concerned the
house of Flint, Eddy & Co. are doing here
the same class of business as Grace & Co.
They have samples of almost everything
and are pushing all sorts of American man
ufactures. One of the best posted men on
such matters is Mr.. F. L. Crosby, the head
of Flint, Eddy e. Co., of Lima. He has been
handling nothing but American goods for
the past twenty-five years. He is thor
ough American and has at the same time
good knowledge of the Peruvian character
and the needs of the people and country. /
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 if.
they have been opened on the way. If they
are put in secondhand boxes and renailed
they are sure to come here with something
The steamers specify the condition Of each
case, and do not hold thmselves responsible
if the cases are secondhand. If 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 it 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 properly, and especially so in
packing. Goods are handled roughly on the
ships and the strongest cases are needed.
Another important thing is to pack so that
the duties here will be as small as possible.
Many classes of goods are taxed by weight.
and I have had stuff sent to me in such
heavy cases that the duties amounted to
fifty times the value of the goods. Samples
should always be shipped as samples, and
every factory should have 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
copy of the tariff of every country to which
it sends goods, and packs accordingly"
COMMERCIAL PIRATES.
you speak of the Germans, Mr.. Crosby"
said I. do they do much business in Peru"
Eyes. they are fast monopolizing the
trade everywhere. When I 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
score of big German establishments and
only one or two large English ones. The
Germans are driving out the English every
where. They are unscruplous as to meth
DDS and will do anything to get trade. They
are, in fact, the pirates of the commercial
world. The American sells his goods and
is proud to call them American. He will
not make a poor article because he does not
think it fair to do so. This is also the case
with the English and French, but the Ger
man cares for nothing but to SELL He will
call his goods American French or English
according as these goods are the most in
demand, and by putting in poor material
will make a cheap article which looks like
that he claims to sell. The Germans make
Rogers knives which will not cut butter
without they are heated They label them
Rogers, Sheffield, and use the Rogers
trade marks. They make holdings splashed
with gilt, and mark them from the United
States and they initiate our wall papers
and mark them American. 1 wish I could
show you some of the building blocks which
they sell under the name of 'Crandalls.'
They look as thought they had been cut
out with a Ratchet. They used to initiate
the Domestic and Singer sewing machines
and labeled them with the American trade
marks, but they have stopped that and now
call them the Singer style of machine,
etc. This with the people who cannot read
English, serves the same purpose. They sell
cheap limitations of French and English
stockings under pirated trade marks. They
sell Havana cigars made in Hamburg and
kitchen furniture from Germany labeled
made in the United States They 60 not
care whether their goods are honest or not.
All they want is to SELL
WHAT WE SELL IN PERU.
What do we sell to Peru, Mr.. Crosby?" 1
asked.
Our total sales are now about three-quar-
ters of a million dollars year, and, as Peru
buys more than 81 coo annually. you will
see that more than nine-tenths Of the
Peruvian trade is with Europe Before the
war with Chile, when Peru was rich, she
bought almost three times as much Amer
lean goods as she does now The trouble
is that we do not buy great deal of Peru
Trade is reciprocal, and people buy where