The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-13


 that raises agricultural products and ex-
 ports them to the world. to country,
 that in the near future, unless our pro
 duction of agriculture increases, will be- | come food-comsumng country, and | will depend upon our manufactures for
 our export trade. When we reach that | point I hope that the American ingenu- l ity and the American desire to succeed | in trade. will fit our products so that
 they will attract those to whom we wish
 to sell more than the products of the
 other nations will attract those same | people have confidence in our business
 ingenuity and business enterprise and
 business industry to believe that when
 we are face to face with the facts we
 can meet them; and I think it would be
 wise for us to anticipate that time and
 learn as such a. meeting as this will
 teach, of the things that those desire
 who live in the other countries with
 whom we foster commercial relations.
 because it is the purshaser who has the 4 option to say what he wishes to buy; it 1 is not for the manufacturer to say what
 he wishes to sell; that is, if the 'manu- facturer wishes to go into the selling
 business at all.'
 Once get rid of our indifference, with
 our Yankee ingenuity and business acu-
 men, we will no doubt hold our own in | competition with the world-but our de- I lay in getting started may seriously 1 cripple us for many years to come. We l cannot hope to jump into the field and
 win out over our European competitors with no preparation. We must learn a
 great deal about the people we propose | to deal with-their manners. customs, l habits, temperament, and above all, their
 wants. The Germans are making won- | derful strides in South American com- | merce. but they are sending representa- | tive agents there who speak the lan- | guage of the countries they visit, who l get in touch with the people, live with
 them, invest money to develop their re- l sources, cater to their tastes, make their
 goods conform to the wants of their cus-
 toners. instead of attempting to fit their
 wants to the goods, extend credit to rep utable merchants, give them their conf- dence and treat them their own equals and as they would their own countrymen and they are adding millions to Germa- | ny's wealth. The same Is true of the English and the French. The large busi- ness men of these countries have long been awake to South American progress l and have aided in it, and we will find
 them hard proposition to go up against. even with our wonderful advantage of proximity and the superiority of many of our products.
 | To quote MT. J. A. Farrell, President | of the United States Steel corporation: We are great manufacturing nation and as such, it is only reasonable for | us to look to our neighbors for fair ex- change for our commodities in return for those we obtain from them. Up to with in recent years large percentage of our country's exports came to our manu- lecturers without any particular effort, | but in late years it has been necessary | for our manufacturers to study foreign markets. To be successful our manufac- turers must have a fuller knowledge of their requirements and keep in closer l touch with their customers. Such contact places them in a more intelligent posi- l tion respecting our resources and pro- ducts, and promotes an intercourse which | IS mutually beneficial. System, purpose. and organization, are the only things
 that counts in the long run" Said MT. Isaac A. Manning, U S. con | sul at LaGuaira, Venezuela, in a master | ly address to the conferences: "Ffx in your mind one thing as the principle of | South American business, and immediate ly disabuse your mind of any idea. to the contrary. South Americas merchants | are bright business men, capable, careful 1 commercially trustworthy and reliable They are open for new business and new | ideas, and will help you to introduce new
 goods, but they rightly think the risk of | | equally divided between the exporting manufacturer and the importing merchant l than your old-fashioned demands for cash | in advance provides. You must send your | samples and demonstrate them and orders can be gotten for anything as a result of
 that kind of work. Of the thousands of
 dollars spent in useless catalogues, why not divert part at least to sending out ] commercial travellers with samples? And
 in this I refer to manufacturers of all i lines of American goods. For it is not machinery alone that you want to sell to | the south, Every other line of manu- | facture is taken in a more or less con | siderable quantity and the manufacturers and merchants of the United States are behind their European competitors for | the reasons set forth above and because | you fail to demonstrate your goods in | the open markets of Colombia and Ven ezuela."
 I Again he says: The American travellers l who have visited these republics have | done business, but not what they should | have done. Most of them have been too | "skimpy'' of their time Many of them have no knowledge of the language and | less of the commercial habits and GUS | toms of the country What is needed | is special instruction in the schools of | this country In the Spanish language nish-American geography, history and social and commercial customs, with post | graduate schools for commercial prepara- l tion. At the end of year or two after | esta blishment of these. you who are in- | terested might have a few young men | from whom to draw at least the nucleus | of the army of South American trade ex- pansonists which you are Sure to require 1 within a short time, for it is useless for you to send commercial travellers to South
 America who cannot speak the Spanish | language"
 This. take it. is the keynote to the sit- | uation. Send competent, well posted trav- cling men into these countries and work the trade just as you do in this country. In order to do that your representatives
 must be able to talk business in Spanish in IS of these countries. To do business successfully in BrazilJ-and the opportuni- ties there are wonderful--a knowledge of Portuguese or French would be neces- sary. Spanish should be taught in every high school in Ala bama. A limited knowl- ledge of Latin, such as every high school graduate is presumed to have would make the acquisition of Spanish a com paratvely easy matter. The student would not be able to acquire any great conversational fuency. of course. but with
 a years study of the language in school and a stay of two months in Spanish speaking country. with the daily necessity of practicing the pronunciation and the consequent training of the ear, would give
 him the required proficiency. The busl- ness men of the near future will need to know Spanish if they hope to take part in and reap the benefits of the exten-
 sion of our commerce in Latin-America.
 But it may be said that we cannot wait