The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-25

is jncrsasing. Thers is considerable bus mess done In electrical machinery by the General Electric Company and the West inehouse Company. Many of the towns already have electric railroads and cleo tric lights, and telephones are being put in almost everywhere. M
 There is an American in Florence who Is making carbide for acetylene gas and there are American importers in Milan and Genoa.
 American Warehouses Needed.
 am told it would pay well to open American warehouses in both Genoa and Milan Genoa has direct connection with the United States and 1t is to a large ex- tent the commmercial center of Italy. It has one of the best harbors of the Medi- terranean sea. having spent something like. sao.0o 900 during the present genera ton on harbor Improvements. This ia to be stir farther increased by a breakwater which will cost about ss.oo0ooo. under stand that American contractors have of- fered to undertake the job and to accept
 bonds in payment therefor.
 Milan has something like half million people. It Is the center of trade for the Lombardy plains and is a splendid place 1 for the sale of farming tools and farm | machinery. It has many factories and its wholesale houses have connection with every part of Italy. A warehouse here | could show it's goods to people from all | parts of the country, and if 1t were man. r aged by Americans who spoke Italian 1t | would do well.
 | What Italy needs is American drummers with a knowledge of the Italian language | and of the customs and habits of the peo- pie. The Italians are slow. They don't | care for catalogues. but they want to see
 samples and talk over the goods face to | face with the seller. The American druni- mer -ehould come intending to stay until | he knows the field and be willing to take
 time for his sales. You can't hustle an l Italian. At present many American bicy- l cles are being used. Some two wheeled blows are sold and also a great many | reapers and mowers and a few threshers. i The Italians claim that our threshing ma l chimes are not economical; they say they waste the grain, and therefore they pre- | fer other makes.
 How to Drum Greece.
 l We sell some goods to the Greeks, but I mostly through. British, German and Ital- l ian merchants. who label them with other | names. The American exporter has thus l to pay a big profit to the foreign middle
 man. and he loses the chance of making a l reputation for his goods, as the trade I marks are changed. As if Is, four-fifth6 | of the American goods sent to Greece are l handled in this way American commer. cial salesmen should visit Greece in per. | son and work the country. accompanied by their sample trunks. The Greeks want
 the best. and they will pay for 1t if they
 know they are going to get 1t. The Euro
 peans give them long credits. but I am l told that many of the Greek merchants
 are unreliable. and that every customer | should be fully investigated.
 1 This trade might be prospected by the | American drummer stationed in Italy. I | takes but a day or so to cross the Medi | terranean from Italy to Greece. The bes
 place to stop Is Athens where there are | excellent accommodations at a cost of {;
 a day. Greece is a small country and I
 can be easily worked. At present we arr
 annually selling the Greeks about 1500'
 bales of cotton They buy our caiicoe'
 and sheetingss eotir watches and jewelry
 also our farm tools and farming machin
 cry, Tn return we annually import from | them from fifteen to twenty thousand tons of seediess raisins. known as Zantt | currants. t..,.
 The Balkan States and Turkey.
 The Balkan states of Servia. Bulgaris and Roumania are all using more or lesi l.American goods. Their total trade. how