The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-01-22


These were the words of CONNER
cial traveller who goes regularly to
South America as the representative
of some of the biggest firms of the
United States. He sells half million
dollars worth of goods every year and
is well known in every South American
capital. Said he:
To show YOU what ! mean l VIII
give you a few personal experiences.
/ do business both on salary and COM
mission. | have several different firms
and can add others who have special
ties which do not conflict with those
already represent. Last year 1 thought
l could sell American shoes III the Ar
-gentine and Chile. Before l left Chi
cagO I called on manufacturer there,
a man who makes about 10000 shoes
day, and presented the field to him.
He replied that he did not want South
American trade and that he was salts
fed with the United States. l pressed
him, however and he finally told me
he would pay me a commission and
gave ME a box of samples. When l
arrived at Buenos Ayres l called upon
the largest shoe man Of that city, and
upon my requesting him to come to the
hotel to look at my samples he told me
that American shoes were no good and
that he could not sell them. l offered
to take i carriage and drive him to the
nOlGi. Dul lie NOUlQ uOl even SOIlS W
lcok
u then went to a shoe manufacturer,
q man who makes hundreds of thou
sands of shoes every year, and pre-
scented the case to him. He replied: ,
Why, my dear sir, I make shoes
myself and my profits are on the max
ing of them.
But said l. can sell you better
shoes than your are making at less
price than you can make them l know
your shoes and l know I can offer you
a better article at price much below
what your shoes actually cost you.
Now. my hotel is only a few doors
away l have brought these samples
5000 miles to show them to you, and l
think you might come there and look
at them. 1t will not take you half an
hour, and If after you have seen them
you don't want them 1 will thank you
all the same
"'Como MOP CWhy not?O said he I
will come
Gle did come and l showed him the
shoes. When l got through he re-
piled:
"'Well, sir I came here for polite
ness sake only, for I did not think you
had anything l wanted. I believe,
however, your shoes are better and
cheaper than any we have, and that
certain styles of them will sell in
Buenos Ayres l am ready to talk
business. | am sure 1 can handle at
least 100000 pairs of these shoes year,
and that it will pay me to sell out my
factory and put my money at interest.
l viii make a deposit in the bank to
guarantee payment, and on the bass
of that you may order a certain num-
Der of shoes, and as I sell them from
time to time, 1 will make remittances
to Chicago and at the end Of a year
we can balance our accounts
He then gave me a good order
sent it on to the Chicago shoe man and
asked him to cable me when the first
consignment of goods would be
shipped. No cable came. I was just
ready to go to Chile, but I waited from
day to day for two months, when an
answer came by mail that the shoe
company, in view of the war with
Spain, did not want any South Amer
lean business except upon payment of
cash in New York against its bills of
lading. Of course the deal fell through
The. Argentine shoe manufacturer was
man Of large property. He had been
in business for years and had high
commercial standing.
WINDY IN SEVERAL WAYS.
Another experience I had was with
a windmill man." continued the com
mercial traveller, "a man whose orders
were about as windy as his mills.
AOd hl4ON WldI Il6eQ lHGIG is III the
Argentine for windmills The demand
is increasing throughout the southern
parts of South America, and the wicd-
mill business is worth cultivating
saw this and called upon the men who
are at the head of one of cur biggest
windmill establishments. They doubt
ed my statements, but said they would
be glad to have me sell on commission.
asked them for model of the mill
TO carry with me, but they replied that
they could not bother to make one ar d
that if l could not sell them from the
pictures and catalogues 1 need not try
1t. At first l thought l could not ac-
cept their offer, but finally took the
catalogues. At Buenos Ayres, through
my acquaintance there, l persuaded
one of the chief importers of aericul-
tural machinery to take the agency
for the mill. He ordered one and sold
II before 1t arrived; he then ordered two
-otherS at once and within two years sold
about thirty mills. This was during
the days of the recent business depres-
sion, when the Argentine farmers had
very little money. 1t was, l thought.
very good. Well, all l received for
those thirty mills was my commission
on the first mill, which amounted to
less than $15
Later on | made contract with the
Buenos Ayres firm to take 100 mills
eAiiN NSAS lOIO lHal might CrQer
twenty mills to be shipped at once
Wlndmills, you know. run into lot of
money, and the Buenos Ayres people
wanted sixty days credit SO that they
should not have to pay for the goods
before they got them. The American
windmill man objected to that and tele-
graphed that they must have the
money in New York before the mills
We're shipped.
The Buenos Ayres firm, which was
one of high standing, did not like this.
but finally telegraphed that they would
pay the cash. To this no answer came
Tor fourteen days, and at that time a
cable was received stating that the
Windmill men could not cable. but
would write explanations l waited six
weeks for that letter, and with it came
formal contract for 12O mills a year.
dated four months back and not a mill
yet shipped. By this time the season
for selling windmills had almost pass
ed and few more mills could be sold
that year.
When L showed the Argentine firm
the letter and contract they threw
the thing up at once, saying they could
not trade with people who did business
that way. That firm was composed of
Engiishmen, and it was backed up bv
some OF the biggest factories of Eng
land The windmill people had already
seld 1t thirty mills and had received
their money. The order was for moro
than $4,000 worth of stuff a year with
the prospect of great increase"
AMERICAN PLOWS
What kinds of agricultural machin-