The Washington herald., 1912-11-17
AMERICAN TRADE SPIES SEARCH OUT
BUSINESS SECRETS OF ALL COUNTRIES

cations Of particular industries. We had
fourteen Of them In the field last year. i
city in South Africa needs electrical ap-
paratus. or q railway In China means Il
buy steel rails and locomotives, or ths
tarin on certain articles has been changes
in some country, we notify the persons
and companies in the United States who
are interested In such information. We
try TO keep our eyes on the whole work
10 the profit Of our own people.
And business men write US 60,000 let
ters a year, (which shows that they arr
very much interested in markets othei
than those right here In the United States
II was not always SO, however. Thii
country was new and we had neither the
capital nor the desire to carry our pro
ducts to customers In Europe or Asia
Countries which might be called finished
because they had fully developed their re-
sources and perfected their methods, wert
In the period Of our growth, pushing tlIeil
trade all over the world. They became
established, you understand. in the Orient
in South America and IN Africa. The pres.
sure from within drove them to seek trade
conquests in strange lands, in lands which
We neglected in the struggle we were
making to build up ourselves.
Great Sales Made Abroad.
NN~ooAOAAoAAgg
supply Of some commodity. we would ship
the surplus abroad. But such outlets were
merely periodical and were abandoned
the moment business again became brisk
In the United States. Now, however, a.
our own country is approaching its finish.
ed stage, our manufacturers perceive that
profits can be made in the foreign trade
but that such trade. to be certain and ad-
vantageous, must be won and then re.
talned. We are selling two billions OF
products year in outside markets-one
billion OF raw cotton, wheat, and so on
and one billion of manufaStures. The
figures are large and encouraging, bui
they are not so large as they will be II
we seriously attempt to extend our for
eign commerce.
"A merchant knows the names Of his
best customers and tries to keep on good
terms with them. That is business. Coun-
tries should adopt the same sensible pol
Icy. When We boastfully and irresponsibly
talk about war, or say that we are 50
strong and rich that we can snap our
fingers in the faces of the rest of man.
kind. we do not know, perhaps. that
Great Britain annually takes $5o4, 600 000
of our cotton and other products and that
Canada pays US SS29, ,oo00 900. Nearly one
half of the money we draw from foreign
markets. you see, comes from the two
countries that speak our language and
are our kindred in blood, character. and
aspirations. Germany is third among our
customers, with purchases amounting to
500, 10000 Mexico. Immediately at our
door. which We can reach by land or wa
ter, buys $500 900 Of our machinery, kero-
sene, and other manufactures Cuba,
right on our coast. spends so, 0.o00 a year
in our markets. South America spends
S132, 900 900 and little Central America ST.
100000. 1t should be remembered, how
ever. that Europe gets ten dollars to our
one in South America.
Good Things Made in America.
The United States is actually doing an
immense business in foreign countries, al
though only per cent Of its twenty. thou
sand million dollars worth of products is
annually sent away from home. Our
sales of raw cotton amount to 500, ,0OO, 900
and it is the best cotton in the world.
We can keep on growing cotton for all
time to come and more and more money
will keep flowing in for that one particu-
lar crop. American cotton is sold on its
merits and the same is true OF our manu-
factured products, which excel in mate
rails and workmanship and the ingenious
ness of purposes and designs. The Yam
kee aptitude for making machines that
do the work OF men is bringing us money
from all over the globe. Our tools, cleo
tricai apparatus, sewing and adding ma
chimes. cash registers, hardware, house
hold devices agricultural implements, au-
tomobiles, and plumbers supplies can't
be matched anywhere on earth.
Also we are selling certain kinds of
cotton goods in the Orient in competi-
ton with England and Germany. Manu-