The St. Louis Republic., 1903-01-11

ne trades not only with Belgium. but with
| Germany. France. Spain and Itaiy.
MR.. DE LERQ INVADED EUROPE
! WITH AMERICAN TROTTtR.
Among other things Mr.. de C1era SELL
! American harness. carriages and wagons
and it was i'm talking of this branch nf th'
business that ne told me how he invade
| Europe with an American trotter
SAID he:
4 first came here as an agent for one o
The biggest carriage factories of the tnitet
. Stat.a
My employers thought thcy could sci
their goods herr" and. ] speak and write
! German and French - well AS English
| they chose me to Introduce them. | lai.
out III" campaign and they gave me tn,
; money 10 carry il out
! In the first place l bought buggy witt
. rubber tires and ball bearings and in tht
! second fast American trotter to carry III,
over tho country
I Il brought these with me 20 Europe ant
! Travelled in my carriage through HOLLAND
/ and Belgium. going from Antwerp TO Ber
! lin visiting the greater part of Germany.
NO one mad ever seen buggy like mine
| and the carriage dealers everywhere gave
/ me small orders.
| II could drive about forty miles a day
! stopping at big town almost every night
! Il had a folding bicycle. and | would now
/ and then rest my horse and get orders for it,
! when | went over the same ground six
/ months later | found that the men who had
. ordered my carriages were not trying to sell
| them, as they did not want American COM
petition.
! The result was that I established agen-
cies myself. and from that time to this !
have had good trade"
What class of Belgians buy American
carriages | asked.
''oulv the rich.
''Thoy are too expensive for the poor
was tn" reply. but the nobility are glad TO
get them.
Two Of my earliest customers were the
Nicome de Buisseret and the Baron de
Chamhres well known over Europe as The
owners Of fine racing horses.
What did you do with your American
trotter?''
Il sold him His knees got sprung by
rough roads. and took slo0 for him.
The purchaser entered him for the races
in different parts OF Belgium and made s., 800
out of him in one year
OUR GAS STOVES AND
THE SWEDISH IMITATION.
I walked with Mr.. de ClerG through his
big store on the Boulevard Anspach. not far
from the Bourse
II has every sort of American notion
American inks. erasers. pens. files, scales
and all sorts of knickknacks / was espe-
cially interested in a gas radiator which Mr..
de Clerq tells me he was the first to intro
ducc into Europe. Said he:
The BeIgians live in flats which are sell
dom heated. They were glad to get the
radiators. and at the start | sold thousands
OF them at s. apiece.
THIS gave big profit. but the Ger
mans and BelGians are now making cheap
limitations
The Sweles are sending In n copy which
win drive the American radiator out of the
market.
r will have to make my money out of
something else.
This has been the case with nearly every
or" OF my American importations and
have come to expect It.
i take up an American novelty and work
it for five years, knowing that at the end
Of that time the natives viii copy it and
undcrsell me.
Then l drop 1t and take up something
else.
Just now Mr.. dc Clerq went on, "I
have a knife sharpener. a little wheel AZ
fair. which | can sell by the thousands
Here is one now. i have ordered the
makers to cable me terms and prices, SO
that ! can order from 1900 to 5000. as
want them. l must have the goods here in
order to do business
These people won't wait. and they won't
buy from catalogues They must see the
goods themselves.
IF tell a customer it will take six
weeks I" supply him he goes somewhere
else
HOW OUR FURNITURE
GOES TO EUROPE.
1 am especially interested in the way