Evening star., 1915-03-15

the first time in 1913. Great Britain
sold s322.0o0,000 worth OF goods t
Latin America in 1918, and we sole
525.S37.00o, while Germany was 9
rather bad third with s217.s76,000.
| And these figures, which show that
we are really the leading country il
the Latin American trade, do not show
Adequately our hold upon it, for in
the nearer countries we far outstrir
our competitors. and it is only in the
extreme south that they have the bet
ter of US. To push the frontier of ou1
Latin American trade southwark should
be our purpose.
| The truth, then. about our Latin
American trade is that we have held
our own. and in the face of difficult
conditions. An American trying to sell
goods in Latin America is a foreigner
working among foreigners Take as a
| fair sample of the field the great city
of Buenos Aires. There are $4,000
Italians in Buenos Aires and tens OF
thousands of almost every other Euro
pean nationality. When it was desired
to celebrate the Fourth Of July there
not long ago 500 Americans were all
that could be gotten together, and
these comprised everything from deck
hands to missionaries.
When an Italian salesman arrives in
Buenos Aires to sell the textiles which
his countrymen are supplying to Bra
zil in large quantities he goes to de-
partment store run by an Italian and
sells to his own countryman. When a
German wants to sell crockery there
he first goes to a German bank, learns
exactly what firms are apt to be buy
ing his line. how much credit he can
safely let them have. and then goes
ahead, with very little apprehension as
to the result.
Aires is a stranger in q strange land,
without facilities or connections of
blood or nationality. He has got to sue
ceed by his Yankee knack of salesman
ship and by the merit of his goods.
And it is primarily by these things that
he has succeeded
American methods in Latin American
trade will be discussed more fully in
future article. Suffice it to say here
that men experienced in Latin Amer1-
ca have said that they would back a
Yankee salesman who could not speak
the language of the country against a
German who could. American statesmen
have succeeded in Latin America with
lines of goods that men Of other ma
tiona}itfes never have had the temerity
to take down there. The Latin Ameri-
can people are above all things con-
servative and not readily receptive to
novelties and innovations 1t took
American statesmen to introduce them
to talcum powder and safety razors
and cheap playing cards.
The American who took American
made playing cards to South America
affords an inter
Yankee Tricks esting If not
to Boost Trade. Of ' how Yankee
ingenuity gets ahead. The South
Americans had been buying highly or
nate playing cards at q dollar pack
and up from various European nations.
When the American arrived on the
scene with cards at 25 cents a pack
that seemed just as good for all prac-
teal purposes the natives all believed
that he had stolen them. Nevertheless,
the market was good. The firm at home
was amazed at the volume of the sales
made by their South American repre-
sentative. but they realized it could
cedented prosperity. it seemed to them
that every one in South America must
have pack of their playing cards, and
still the orders came in. At last they
Hen1ured to ask the successful sales
man the secret of the endurance shown
by the South American market. He ex
planned that he had taught the natives
how to change their luck by throwing
away the pack after their game.
Thus it is seen the idea that Amer
leans have been outclassed in Latin
American markets is wholly erroneous.
Almost equally SO is the belief that
the hundreds of millions of dollars
worth of that trade which has been
t,- n$h f0 f0r
the taking. When this idea was first
thrown out the Pan-American Union,
the Department of Commerce and other
agencies informed about Latin Amer
lean conditions were deluEed with in
quiries-
What language do those people talk.
and when does the next boat goT was
the general tenor of the letter from
that over $500, 100000 worth Of busi
ness was down there waiting for him
to come and get it fairly seethed in his
brain.
merce and manufacturer associations
and all sorts of other commercial or
ganiZations on their way down to
South America met American engineers
and promoters and business men COM
Ing back, for the overenthusiastic COM
mercial interests Of this country had
overlooked several important elements
in the situation.
In the. first. place, Latin America is
just now suffering from the same in
the whole world. For years all of the
nations of Europe have been competing
to lend money to the Latin American
countries. Europe has turned the
spigot of ready money: Latin America
has only had to hold the bucket-and
pay the interest Now the flow has
been cut off and Latin America has
less money to spend than it ever had
before in its life.
Then. too. the fact that Europe has
been financing Latin America for all
these years gives
European Loans Europe a powerful
Big Factor. snsno,nr no.a upon %, wsas sne
money Latin America can spare. It is
pretty safe to say that by reason of
this hold Germany and Great Britain
and other European countries will be
able to remain important factors in
the Latin American trade. Recently,
American consuls have reported that
Germany has five commercial agents
in the field where we have two. They
even though they do not know when
they can sell another order. Germany
is fighting Just as hard to hold her
share of Latin American business as
she is to hold the Prussian frontier
against Russia.
1t Is plain, then, that we have no
soft snap in Latin America, European
pattonS are not droppfno l.