Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-08-20
WHERE j. s. FAILS
/ INQUEST OF TRADE
Manufacturers Too Stiff-NeCk-
ed to Meet Views of
Customers.
CHEAP SHOVELS WANTED
BY THE ITALIAN LAB0RER
British and American Concerns
Scorn Chance Which Ger
mans Seize Eagerly.
BY HERBERT COREY.
Copyright. 1850

I.EGHORN. Italy, July 24.-If the
American manufacturer wants to get
and hold-the tremendously rich Ital-
ian trade, it is up to him to get it and
hold it. de is hampered by a lack of
bankh>x facilities and by a present
shortage of ships. lie can cure those
troubles in time. Meanwhile he can
Eet-and hold-the Italian trade in
spite of the handicap, if he will play
the game.
I'VE like to talk about the English
manufacturer" said one American.
well he's just as stiff-necked and OBJ
stinate and dull as we say he is. What
We do not realize is that our own man
ufacturers are in great part as dull and
obstinate and stiff-necked as the Eng
lishman is. We will not yield point
10 make a dollar any more readily
than he will. We are just as convinced
that we are the salt of the commercial
earth. The most wonderful business
opportunity in the history of mankind
will be offered to us when this war is
over, and the nations that used to be
our competitors are fiat on their backs
and faced by the necessity of rebuild
ing before they can go out for trade
We can't miss getting a good part OF
the trade that will be thrown at us.
No matter how stupid and careless and
arrogant we are, that trade Will be so
insistent that we can't evade 1t all
But unless we open our eyes we Will
miss a great part of what we might
get.
Which statements are worthy of con-
sideration. despite the fact. reported in
American papers recently at hand, that
hundreds and thousands of men are
out of work here Factory doors have
been barred against them, and yet here
is the kingdom of Italy begging for
American goods. 1t is market We
can get and keep for future genera
lions if we just know how.
Must Sell What Market Needs.
I'VE won't make cheap goods said
one business expert here. I'VE are
like the Englishman in that. The Ger
man makes cheap goods and sells 'em,
too"
Do not put up righteous nose at
the German in this instance. He makes
the goods the trade wants. Thousands
Of Italians: for example. go to South
America for pick-and- shovel work
each year. They are well paid. by the
Italian standards At the end of the
season they have enough money to
ness until the next season arrives. No
one in their villages ever had SO much
money in the memory of living man as.
these returned pick -and-shovelers.
so that they can throw them away at
the end of the season with a clean
heart. The Englishman will not make
cheap shovels for this trade. He has
house standard to maintain. he says.
His grandfather never made cheap
shovels and he's jggered if the grand
son will make cheap shovels. The
American says the same thing. except
that he makes it worse by sneering
between times at the boniness of the
British mental structure. 1t never oc-
ours to either of them that they might
make that cheap pick and shovel and
call 1t by Georges name and get
profit out of it. The German doesn't
care at all about the brand of that
shovel. He gets the profit.
German cheap labor helps in this. of
course. No labor anywhere is so ever
lastingly cheap as the Chinese, but the
German is able to go into the Chinese
market and undersell John on some of
Johns own specialties. But there will
not be so much of that cheap German
labor after the war. 1t may be. too.
employment will be gone. Sheffield
makes the best steel in the world for
needles, but because German labor is
80 cheap the needles were sent to Ger
many in the rough to be finished there.
When the war broke out the British
war department had trouble in getting
surgical needles and the like. Sheffield
makers have perhaps seen the light.
As for US. we have done a good deal
OF talking about our genius with ma
chines-about the highly paid American
labor that could undersell other peO-
pie because it was so efficient. Well
right after the war will be the time
10 show goods. The counters are open
now. for that matter. Italy wants our
nj on, bod