Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-26
A Wide-Awake Yankee.

Ol the controversy over the sugar bounty.
A Wide-Awake Yankee.
Aside from his important mission from
commercial standpoint, Mr.. Emery is
most interesting personality. He is fifty
one years old. with white hair and beard,
Yankee, he confesses himself. When he
was sixteen years old he migrated to Sibe-
ria without a dollar secured a clerkship in
a small American house, learned the lam
guage of the country and the way to do
business When twenty-five he began bust
ness on his own account, and he has sue
cessfully pursued his course until today he
is the largest American wholesale and re-
tail dealer in merchandise of every deScrip-
ton in Russia.
He has now large stores along the Amoor,
upon Lake Baikal and at different points
along the trans-Siberan road. and his bust
ness runs well over a million dollars year.
He has, 1t is said, made a great fortune in
this trade. which he still holds. though he
has given the management of 1t over to his
subordtnates.
Not the least interesting of the events of
Mr.. Emery'S career is the account of his
travels. He has circled the globe sixteen
times, each trip being a strictly business
one. Twenty-one times he has crossed ST.
IBERIA, sixteen times by horses and five by
rail. He now lives in Moscow, but one of
the aims of his present visit to the United
States is to find place here to make his
home, for, he declares. he has made up
years among his own people. Incidentally
he Is much fascinated with Washington a.
a residence city, and it is not unlikely that
when he returns to Moscow, as he expects
to in few weeks. the memories of the ma
tional capital will go with him as his posi-
bic American home.
The Tariff Differences.
Particularly disastrous at this time is the
way Mr.. Emery regards the little tariff DIFF
49,, u
trade there was only just in its infancy"
were his words, land the period of infancy
In building up American trade in such
country as Siberia is a period of some
length
What is the remedy" ...
We'll. that Is just what I came to Amer
lea to find out. commercial treaty with
Russia Is, in my opinion. the only feasible,
speedy and sensible way out of the present
condition. Such treaty could annihilate
the sugar question instantly; it could easily
be made to facilitate the importation of
American made goods into Russia without
the roundabout method now employed of
first shipments to Germany or England
This feature, by the way, has always been
one OF the great obstacles in the way of
American trade progress in Russia. Nearly
all of the American goods sold in that vast
country with its $50, 900 of population
come into the country through Germany or
England. Germany particularly is our
man goods are sold In Russia as American
goods, simply because American goods have
superior reputation. Another disadvan-
tage of this system to America is that the
country through which our shipments pass
to reach Russia must necessarily have a
slice or profit from them, and this makes
the Russian market harder to find"
Another Handicap.
Another point in which the American
manufacturer is behind his foreign COM
petitors in Russia Is in the matter of
consular service and commercial agents
England, for instance, has five highs
ar1ed commercial agents in Russia all the
time. The work of these agents is in
looking after every phase of commercial
advantage and conditions which prevail,
and Of informing their home government
at once. On the other hand, Mr. Emery
finds 1t the hardest kind of work to get
the American manufacturer to take the
slightest interest In such matters of detail
An instance of this he cites regarding agri-
cultural implements, which Is one of the
largest lines of American trade. The Rus
sian plowman harnesses his horses differ
emily than the American. The casting
at the end of the plow beam Will not
answer the purpose there. but the Ameri-
can manufacturer consistently refuses to
make the required casting, and this has to
be made abroad through special order of
the importer.
at is just such little things as this that
count IN nursing foreign trade into
prominence" continued Mr.. Emery, and it
Is just here that the American fails. How
ever. since coming here this time 1 am told
on every hand that the American manu-
facturer don't care whether he gets any
foreign trade or not. that he has enough
to satisfy him>at home But what l want
TO impress on him Is that 1t Is the market
for his surplus which will undoubtsd
become factor sooner or later Because
this high pressure of prosperity cannot last
forever, and all Europe is extremely quiet
now"
A Dubious Undertaking.
The prospect of getting a reciprocity
treaty through the Senate to encourage
trade with Russia is found to be rather
dubious undertaking by Mr.. Emery He
says the only hope OF such a treaty lies
In the demand on the Senate by the Amer
lean manufacturers themselves and he will
therefore turn his energies toward awak-
ening these manufacturers upon this point
To this end he has spent some days in New
York and Boston and will go to Chicago
tomorrow on the same Grand
Mr. Emery believes that an American
bank. with large capital. could be organized
with headquarters at st. Petersburg and
Moscow, and branches In the other cities of
Russia, and also in Siberia and Central
Asia. which would not only be enormously
profitable but of the greatest value to our
commerce In connection Herewith he
would also have American importing
room, with sales rooms and show rooms
where the Russians could examine the
goods and could know that they would syeAt
what they ordered. which Mr.. Emery saws
Is not the case with many of their orders
today.
Mr. bad ,.,;&A O.