The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-06-12
INVASION BY THE GERMANS
POINTS FOR AMERICANS AS TO HOW
GOODS SHOULD BE PACKED.
A Letter That Contains Information
for All American Manufacture
ers and Business Men.
Copyright. 1898. by Frank C. carpente

| LIMA, Peru May 12-One Of the most i'm
portant parts of my present mission to
South America is to look into the prospects
for American trade. There is big market
for our goods in these countries but it is
one which we will have to cultivate much
more than we are now doing if we get our
| share. So far 1 have met but three COM
mercia1 travellers from the United States.
| One of these was Mr.. Sullivan, who was
taking orders for lubricating oils. We trav-
eled together from Ecuador to Pacasmayo,
Peru, and he told me he was on his way to
Chile and the Argentine. l came from New
York to Panama with an American named
Herzig, who was on his way down the west
coast to buy cocoa, hides and feathers for
several New York firms, and I am told that
the agent of the Carnegie Steel Company
is now taking orders ill northern Peru. On
the other hand, L find English and German
| drummerS everywhere. Krupp's agent has
| just left here. There are two English dry
goods men on the same floor with me in my
| hotel. They have large sample rooms and
| have long tables covered with every variety
of cotton and wooden goods. One of these
drummers is from Manchester and the 9TH
er is from Nottingham. They have both been
for weeks going through Central America
on mules, and they are now working their
way down this coast. They stop at every
large port and work the trade One of them
will go from here to Bolivia, and will visit
the interior cities of that country carrying
his samples for hundreds of miles on mules
These men have big stock with them. The
Manchester man tells me he carries about
| two tons of samples from port to port, and
that he has to load about dozen mules
when he goes into the interior. The Noting
| ham man sells on commission and pays his
| own expenses, which, he tells me-, are
about $40 in gold a day. He says thaf his
houses have three men to work the West
| Indies and Spanish America. He takes in
! Mexico, Central America and the Pacific
| coast. Another salesman has the West In
dies and the coast of the Caribbean sea, and
a third Brazil Uruguay and the Argentine.
| This is the usual arrangement of the Euro
| pean houses for working the trade. All of
| these European drummers speak Spanish,
they know the countries well and are posted
as to the financial standing of the various
! buyers.
| VALUE OF SOUTH AMERICAN TRADE.
| The United States should not think that
| it can get these markets without a hard
| fight and long fight. The business has
been studied for years by the European ma
tons, and 1 will show later on some of the
underhand methods by which they attempt
to crowd themselves in and the Americans
| out. The business is naturally ours, and it
| will pay to fight for it. This continent con-
tains 81, 600 square miles, and it has more
| than 40 900, coo people, all OF whom are
| sumers, though the wants of the majority
| are few. The resources Of the continent
| all told are great beyond conception. The
products will steadily increase and we al
ready buy about $150,0OO 900 worth of them
nx1V olnc he nfh nd
amount to only $4O,OO0.OO0, and our purchases
are said to increase five times as fast as
our sales; and this Notwithstanding we are
| now the greatest manufacturing nation of
the world. There is no nation that has so
| large stake in the battle for foreign COM
merce as ours. We now have more than
| Sc 900 OO0,0 600 invested in manufacturing, and
| we turn out net product of $4,000 1900
| worth of goods every year, and it is esu-
mated that our factories can in six months
| make all of the goods that our home mar
| kets can use. We have 100000 workmen
| engaged in our factories, and if we would
| keep them busy we must force our way into
| the foreign markets. We need our own
! ships. Here on the west coast of South
| America freghts are cheaper to London
| and Hamburg than they are to New York.
| and you can, I am told, send goods to
4 Liverpool
| cheaply than to New York direct either via
| Panama or the Straits of Magellan. To-day
| there are two lines of steamers which ply
| between the United States and Pacific South
| America. The firm of w. r. Grace & Co.
| have four or five ships of 5000 tons EACH
| which make monthly voyages via the straits
! between Callao and New York. and Flint,
| Eddy & Co. have what is called the Mer-
| chants line which dispatches a steamer
| every two months or oftener as the de-
| mands of trade require. Even these lines
| have materially increased our trade. The
| Grace line, which was started in 1892 to
| take the place of the sailing ships owned
| by the company, had in 1895 trebled the
| carrying trade of this firm, and f. L. Cros-
| by of Lima, who represents Flint, Eddy d
/ Co. here, tells me there is decided increase
in imports since the Merchants line has
| been put on.
These two New York firms-W. ]. Grace &
| Co. and Flint, Eddy & Co.-do the great
| bulk of our trade with South America. IN
| Ill recently Flint, Eddy & Co. have to a
| large extent confined themselves to the At
| lantc coast, but they have now combined
with or absorbed the old firms of Hemenway
| g. Brown and Brown, Beeche & Co., and
| have their houses in the chief ports Of the
| Pacific coast as we'll. found them at Pan
anna and Guayaquil. and they have also
| houses here and at Valparaiso. The Graces
have for years been one of the great powers
| in Peru and Chile. and to-day they handle
| perhaps more valuable property than any
| other firm the west coast. They have
| carried through some Of the biggest enter
| prises ever attempted in South America
and their profits are said TO have amounted
| to millions. To-day there is hardly any big
thing in Peru in which they have not an
| interest. They have sugar estates amount
| ing to thousands OF acres. and on one plan
| tation which they control Chimbote
north of here. they have 5000 acres in cane
| and as much more which is not under cult
walton. The capital invested in this estate
| is 100000. and the property and machin-
] cry on 1t probably cost more than that sum.
! 1t was NJ. p. Grace, of New York, now the
| head Of the English banking house of NJ p.
/ Grace s. Co.. who brought about the settle