Arizona republican., 1907-11-11
A TRADE CONFERENCE
 INVITED BY SIRAUS
The Object of it is the Establishment of Closer Relations Between Com
 merciai Bodies.

Correspondence of the Republican)- lCommerce and Labor has invited a number of commercial bodies to meet ,with him on December 9th to consider methods of establishing closer rela- tiOns between the commercial bodies Iof the country and the Department Those invited to send delegates include the Chamber of Commerce of New
 York City and the New York Bboard of Trade and Transportation: the Chafn
 bers of Commerce of Atlanta, New or leans. Boston. Minneapolis. St. Paul. lCincinatti. Cleveland, Portland. ore, Pittsburg. Charleston, s. C.. Galveston. IRichmond. Seattle and Milwaukee,; the Boards Of Trade of Chicago, Balti- more and Philadelphia and the Mer- chants Exchange of Cincinnati. So many cities are interested in this pro- position that 1t was impossible to &C., lcomodate delegates from all at one time and consequently several confer ences will be held
 The idea of these conferences is to crystalize the work of extending our foreign commerce in manufactures and
 
 the effect their action is expected to have upon Congress. Although the work of extending our foreign com merce has been largely increased dur ing the past few years especially since the organization of the Department lof Commerce and Labor and of the Bureau of Manufacturers. at the same time the United States is far behind t..sl ...... lmercial conditions and it's efforts to bush the scale of its manufactured Iproducts. Complaint is often heard of the progress made by Germany and other countries and the lack of effort on the part of our manufacturers to press their goods in foreign markets, whereas the success of the German merchants could be more correctly at- tributed to the indefatigable efforts lof the German government to find markets for German manufacturers. | A striking illustration of the difference between what the German Government does in this direction and what is done by the United States. is a com parison between the offices of the American Consulate General at Berlin and that of the German Consulate at 1 New York, which offices may be con- sidered of equal importance to their respective countries. The American i Consul General at Berlin is assisted by a deputy who acts as consul general in the absence of his chief. and who is charged with responsible work all the time, and who draws the munifi- cent salary Of sl.0O0 per year. The staff consists of three clerks with still smaller salaries, together with a de- putty consul general who receives no compensation. The staff of the Ger man Consulate General at New York consists of d Consulate General one consul. three vice-consuls, one com mercial attache and a force of trans lators. clerks. etc. making a whole staff of about thirty persons. or more
 than that of tie entire Bureau Of Manufacturers of the Department charged with the promotion of com merce with the whole world. While .he time of our consuls is taken up with routine work the foreign office and the Department of Commerce of Germany are promptly supplied with up-to-date information on any mat ter which may have the remotest ! bfeii ptlffl1U interests m the United States or upon German American relations anywhere in the world. because they have men with ex- pert knowledge and free from routine work stationed in the principal centers of the world for that purpose.
 In connection with the coming con- ferences an official of the Department | of Commerce and Labor today said: Tt is highly important that the people for whose benefit the work of the De- pertinent is to be done be kept in close touch with it. Today there is no pro- vision for systematic cooperation be- | tween the department and the various commercial and trade associations which are most affected by it's work: l Except for the correspondence which goes on between the Department and individual business firms and occas- ionally some commercial organization there is no medium by which regular | interchange of opinion and active CO., operation on comprehensive scale could take place. While our chambers Of commerce and other business as- sociations are not organized on the lines of the German chambers never theless they are part of the business world, and could help our department, both by furnishing useful information and advice and by helping to dissem- mate the information which it can give to the business community. The mere Knowledge of the fact that the department desires and uses such infor nation would prompt these organiza- tions to communicate facts to the De- partmcnt which today frequently re- main unknown for want of a proper understanding of their importance or for lack of established avenues of communication and dissemination What has been said of the cooperation between this Department and business organizations in this country is also true of cooperation with American chambers of commerce abroad, which could be made to render useful service to the country at large through the | medium of the Department"
 While it is hoped that the Chamb- | CTS of Commerce will, through closer | relations with the Department, become | valuable adjuncts in the commercial | campaign, it is not expected they will attain the prominence of the German | Chambers of Commerce as the condi- |