The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-08-22

never attend school grow up to be like
Texas ponies that have never beer
handled by man until full grown The,
Kick and balk and run away and arr
of little value to themselves or any.
one else. And no state or nation car
in this day and time afford to raise
such citizens Respectfully.
| JOSHUA FRANKLIN
Pyriton. Clay county, August 20, 1915
man in South America (where expense.
are twice high as at home) the righ
man might handle as many lines a.
+, would make his efforts economically pos
siple until such time as the development
Of the trade would justify individual
representation and closer attention
II this can't be agreed upon 1t ought
certainly to prove paying venture fol
the combined manufacturers of the Bir.
mingham district, possibly through the
auspices of the Chamber of Commerce
to send out general representative with
samples of all of their products to be
| exhibited at principal centers and ar
range for local representation. Descrip.
tive circulars and price lists should be
in idiomatic Spanish and Portuguese, and
all weights and measures given in the
| metric system.
What Chicago Is Doing
| The Chicago Association of Commerce
| is finding 1t profitable to maintain an
office at Buenos Aires with a travelling
representative in South America to fur
| nish information concerning markets for
| the products and trade of Chicago. 1t
| has been a great pleasure to note a
| large variety of American manufactures
| displayed for sale in many stores and
show windows of the cities visited, prin-
cipally automobiles, machinery ma
| chimes. implements, tools, iron and steel
i ~ 81 -F,.I
notions, medicines and shoes, but have
failed to discover any goods of southern
manufacture, except plows and cane
mills made by the Chattanooga Pillow
| company. and boilers and refrgerators
| also from Chattanooga.
The preponderance of tools and cut
| lery in the hardware stores visited ap-
peared to be of German manufacture.
| have been pleased to find very eff
cient and active southerners as consuls
| at most of the points already visited,
who would naturally take special pleas
ure in aiding the development of south
ern commerce In their respective terri
tories. l found an old established firm
| at Sac Paulo, Messrs. Upton & Co., doing
a Furnishing business in automobiles,
farming machinery, implements and
| TOOLS exclusively of American manufac-
ture. They sell large numbers of plows
and cane mills from Chattanooga. No
Brazilian farmer is without a cane patch
for his supply of "pinga," a strong al
coholic drink distilled, without govern
| ment tax or interference. from the fer
mented juice of sugar cane. I fancy it
| is more deadly than any of our moon
shire" WHISTLES. When visiting a 10000
acre coffee plantation, in the centre of
the great coffee district of the state of
Sac Paulo, where the big coffee crop
| was being gathered, l witnessed the
process of grinding cane and distilling
pfnga" on a rather large scale. OF
about 15.000,000 sacks of coffee produced
by Brazil, over two-thirds of the worlds
supply, some 100000 sacks, are pro-
duced in the state of Sac Paulo alone.
sacks of coffee weighs about so kilos.
Build for the Future
We should not seek so much to profit
by the present unprecedented opportu-
nifty to sell our goods at fancy prices
and on hard terms, but rather by this
opportune occasion to establish ourselves
permanently in new markets that we
can hope to maintain against European
competition in normal times. The manu-
facturer and merchant who overlooks the
Importance of this will have abundant
reason to regret it. l am afraid we
have been too prone to look rather con-
temptuously upon the republics south of
us and to think that anything was good
enough for Them judging all of them
by the misconduct of certain Central
American countries Our mistaken attl-
tude and Indifferent treatment is not
well calculated to engender neighborly
feelings, much less encourage closer COM
mercial relations. These bad impressions
received down here mixed with a GER
tain natural jealousy of our preponder-
Ing power and influence in the western
hemisphere, have given rise to great rear
and distrust of us. The masses of the
people of South and Central America
have a deep rooted belief that the
United States have designs on their ter
ritory, and are constantly expecting us
to swoop down on Mexico and all of
Central America to the Panama canal as
prelude to swallowing up South Amer
lea. These false notions can be best
corrected by closer contact, better &C.
quaintance with each other and en-
larged business relations.
One of the most serious objections we
have found in dealing with Latin-Am
lea has been the long credits demanded,
pernicious system for which the Ger
mans, in their eagerness for the trade
are largely responsible. leave 1t for the
reader to judge If any Of the European
countries now at war, least of all Ger
many, will be able to continue the long
credit system in vogue here or finance
the further development of these coun,
tries after the staggering waste of blood
and treasure in this frightful war. Our
greater wealth and vast resources will |
surely afford us overwhelming advan- |
tages in the trade and development of |
South and Central America. We need |
only apply to this fateful situation our |
unmatched energies, skill and enterprise |
In this promising field of labor, to be as |
sured of acquiring and maintaining the |
leading position in this important trade |
Enlarged Banking Facilities
Heretofore, We have shamefully taken |
no part in local banking facilities, so es-
sential in handling South American |
trade; but the National City Bank of |
New York is now blazing the way, with !
branches already established at Buenos |
Aires, Montevideo. Rio de Janeiro, Sac,
Paulo and Santos. Mr.. John c. Allen, |
manager at the chief branch in Buenos |
Aires. informs me that other branches, |
including principal points on the west |
coast will eventually be established. The |
bank maintains a commercial department, |
a sort of information bureau. prepared |
to furnish needed information for the |
benefit of Americans in their relations |
with the South American trade.
This tardy commencement in extending |
our banking facilities to South America
will likely be followed by other large |
banks as soon as the great, opportuni- |
ties here are fully appreciated at home |
The recent suggestion, which appears to |
have originated In Chicago. for organiz- |
ing an American foreign bank with a |
commanding capital, destined to serve
our interests more especially In Latin
America. should be given every encour-
agement. There Is an. almost unlimited |
in. IT. r.