Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-06-07
THE FIELD NEGLECTED.
MaiI-Order Houses Ignore
Southern Republics.
SAY THEY ARE TOO BUSY
Business in This Country Amounts
to Over $eO,O00,000.
TROUBLE OVER MONEY ORDER
Controversy With the British Pos
tai Administration Which Ends
With an Official Apology.
TROUBLE OVER MONEY 0RDE1
RY WILLIAM r. CURTIS.

written Tor Inc star ann lhe ,niedso Ne'"i"
Herald.
The mail-order houses of the United
States are overlooking a very profitable
i. field for trade in the other American re-
publicS They do some business with
Mexico but comparatively little with thee
countries of Central and South america
and the West Indies. I find on inquiry
that none of the great mail-order houses
has ever attempted to exploit that part
of the world for reasons which do not
apbear satisfactory. considerable bust
ness is carried on by mail between mer-
chants in London Paris Germany and
to some extent with Italy. but compare
lively none with the United States. And
vet We have parcels post treaties with
nearly all OF the other American countries
and colonies. under which it is possible
to send eleven pounds of merchandise by
post for y cents. and that, / believe. is
the cheapest freight rate in the world.
International Arrangements.
The following is list of the countries
with which We have parcels post ar
engagements on those terms: Mexico.
Guatemala. Honduras. Salvador. Nicara-
qua. Costa Rica. Colombia. Venezuela.
Ecuador. Peru. Bolivia Chile British
Honduras. Jamaica Barbados, Trinidad.
British Guiana, Leeward Islands. Wind
ward Islands. Danish West Indies, Ba-
hamas and Bermuda.
We have no parcels post arrangements
with the following countries. but nego
tiations are pending with several of them
which in all probabilit will be success
fully concluded in a short time: Arsen
tine republic. Paraguay. Uruguay, Haiti.
Brazil Cuba. Panama and Santo Do
mingo
1t ought to be easy to build up large
and profitable mail trade with nearly all
Of these countries. especially Mexico.
Cuba. Panama and the Central American
countries.
The people of Brazil and the Argentine
republic order a great many goods by
mail from London. Paris and the Italian
cities. Several merchants in London
carry on considerable trade by parcels
post with the British colonies. But no
houses in London Paris make bust
ness of selling goods by mail as is done
in the United States. The mail-order
system is purely an American invention.
and does not exist anywhere else. With
the exception of small trade with Mex
leo. it is confined to the United States.
and amounts to sixty or seventy millions
of dollars a year. although domestic
postal rates are much higher than those
that have been arranged with the other
American republics.
Vast Domestic Business.
This seems surprising to any one who
realizes the opportunities that exist for
working up trade in an infinite variety
of articles. such as is now carried on by
those establishments with the isolated
settlements in the mountains and upon
the farms and ranches of the far west.
In almost every farmhouse throughout
the western country may be found an IL
lustrated catalogue of one of the Chicago
mail-order houses. They are to be seen
in the quarters of every army officer in
every mining camp. and some of the Chi
cago establishments do business of
more than $1o.OOn.OGO every year by mail
They are the largest purchasers of post
age stamps in the United States; they Of
fer daily hundreds of thousands of dol
lars in postal money orders of small
amounts. which they receive in payment
for the packages they have shipped.
Their mail business Is limited to four
pound packages within the United States.
while package of eleven pounds weight
can be sent to almost all of the other
American republics. They give various
reasons for their neglect of this trade.
chiefly that they have been so busy at
home that they have not worked it UP
and because they have no Spanish cata-
loeues.
The parcels post transactions with the
exception o. Mexico. are practically linn
tied to the shipment of catalogues anil
samples by wholesale manufacturers in
tn. United States. although the POSSIBLE
ties are very inviting to enterprisng retail
merchants.
Nevertheless. there has been a consid-
cradle Increase III the number of pack
ages dispatched from the United States
by parcels post during recent years and
slight Increase in the number received.
Use Of the Parcels Post.
The following table viii show a compar-
fson Of the number OF packages of mcr-
chandise dispatched from the United
States by parcels post 20 tho countries
named ir 1901 and 1907:
1901. 1907 Increase.
Mexico. ............ 26. 5f5 560t2 AT