The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-02-04
THEY LIKE ADULTERATI0N
Our Goods Too Honest for the People
of Morocco,


Consul-Gcncral skinner, at MarseIIles
sends an interesting report to the Depart
ment of Commerce on the subject of tn,
Introduction of American goods into Mo
rocco, I'm which he incloses a letter from
a merchant OF that country who explain.
that our goods are too honest for tho
Moors. He says we must adulterate n
we wish TO win out. Here are some quo
tatlons from the letter and the Consul
| Generals comments on the same:
| Il have been unable to go to America
| bnt. faithful to my project, i still desire
TO secure relations with your country.
| l must say however. that l am extreme
| ~ disappointed as regards sheetings and
ecru cotton fabrics. 1t has always SCENE d
| to me that this article, now imported al
| most exclusively from England and In
enormous quantities. might be provided
very easily by your compatriotS, but It
proves TO be the case that it is easier
TO obtain what require in England.
| inasmuch as Morocco demands loaded fab
rlcs. which are q Manchester speciality,
while the American fabrics are entirely
pure: The unloaded fabrics We cannot
use in Morocco however good. II the
British cnn make what the African mar
ket requires. you should be able TO do the
same. Can you not indicate one Ameri-
can mill susceptible OF offering cottons
charged with gum OF lime or whatever
the material happens TO be 2"
To this letter | suggested that however
conservative the native buyer might be
In regard to changing the class OF goods
to which he was accustomed he might
In the end be induced to see the greater
desirabtlity of the honest American wares
which our manufacturers produce. In re-
ply to this letter came the following:
Il am absolutely Of your opinion as to
the preference which ought TO be given
to product absolutely pure. but In the
case or these charged sheeSings we have
rocco and which will require a very long
time to eradicate. The native does not
buy these charged tissues simply because
they present fine appearance. but be-
cause they are stim and white and are
not washable Tho American sheeting on
the other hand is soft and ecru In color.
In short, II is useless to theoriZe. because
the plain fact is there is slight proba b.
ility that the Americans or the French
can succeed in establishing a market un-
I'll they determine to make tho goods
which our English furnlShers already
make. AS TO prices. ] have not studied
them. but have no doubt that American
prices will be lower, other things being
equal"
l am not prepared to say that our man
ufacturers are not right from the COM
merclal as we'll as from the moral point
of view In refusing to adulteratc their
goods; yet, on the other hand there ap-
pears to be some ground for believing
that In the Moroccan market at least the
actual buyers prefer the adulterated
gods, Knowing full well that they are
adultcrated II American exporters de-
sire to secure this business through ex-
listing instrumentalties, they must fur
nish what the wholesale buyers require
There are other African markets where
our sheetings have made progress against
Manchester goods. precisely because they
are soft and genuine The vital difficulty
Is that our manufacturers are dependent
upon foreign mddlemen to provide them
with this business. and II Is useless to
thcorize or moraliZe with foreign firms
which know exactly what they require
and prepared to buy in Manchester IL
they cannot secure Identical goods In New
York