The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-06-12

o,UOU,UVU TONS, ana a large area OIL COL
fee land on the other side of the An
course no one except Mr.. Grace knows
just what the profits Of this deal were,
but have heard 1t said that he alone
made not less than a million dollars
out Of it. This was not large sum
considering the magnitude of the in
terests involved and the diplomatic and
business skill required to handle them
in competition with Dreyfus & Co. and
others of the biggest capitalists of
Europe. Today the Graces do all Of
the loading and shipping of the guano
for the Peruvian corporation, employ
ing hundreds of men for the purpose.
They also own cotton plantations in
Southern Peru and have the manage
ment 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 mer-
chants and as importers of American
goods. In their houses here and at
CaIlao you will find samples 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 loco
motives. They take orders for all kinds
of American goods and engage in con-
tracts to almost any amount. They
have their statesmen, who travel
through the country, and are anxious
to introduce anything that will sell.
POINTS FOR AMERICAN SHIPPERS
AS far as American trade is concern
ed 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 manufactures. One
Of faI 40,.c,
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
thorough American and has at the same
time a good knowledge of the Peruvian
character and the needs of the people
and country. l had a long talk with
him this afternoon, during which he
gave some points for American ship
pers. Said he: "TLe 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.
Ali 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 missing. 1t
is easy to open an old box. The steam
eIs specify the condition of each case
and do not hold themselves 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 inch
es 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 care
less also in billing the goods properly,
and especially so in packing. Goods
are handled roughly on the ships and
the strongest cases are needed. An
other 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 al
ways be shipped as samples, and every
factory should have copy of the tariff
laws of 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
SHdIS ecu IOI ny measurement. EVERY
German house has a copy of the tariff
of every country to which it sends
goods, and packs accordingly
THE COMMERCIAL PIRATES.
You speak of the Germans, Mr..
Crosby" said l. do they do much
business in Peru?''
Eyes, they are fast monorolizing the
trade everywhere. When I came here
over twenty years ago there were no
German houses and from twenty to
thirty big English houses. Now there
ara more than a score Of big German
establishments and only one CT two
large English ones The Germans are
driving out the English everywhere
Ihey are INSCRIPTIONS as to methods
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 Amer
lean. 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 German
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 arti-
Gle 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
l wish I could show you some of the
building blocks which they sell under
the name 'Crandalls.' They look as
though they had been cut out with a
hatchet. They used to initiate the Do
nestle 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 ma
chine, 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 Go 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.. Cros-
by?" I asked.
Our total sales are now about three
quarters Of a million dollars a year,
and, as Peru buys more than eleven
millions 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
American goods as she does now. The
trouble is that we do not buy a great
deal Of Peru. Trade is reciprocal. and
people buy where they sell. If the
reciprocity treaty which the PERUVIAN
minister at Washington is now trying