The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1916-03-16
SAYS NEED MERCHANT SHIPS
Is Certain That if American Studies
Wants and Wishes of Foreign
Buyers it May Build Up
Permanent Trade.
<From Wednesdays Daily

= American manufacturers must study
the needs of foreign buyers if they are
to build up a foreign commerce at this
opport1ne time and retain it after the
war is over and the European countries
are again ready to resume their traffic
with nations now forced to deal with
the manufacturers of the United
States" is the opinion of DR.. w. G..
Huntington of Chicago, agent of the
United States government in its de-
partment of commerce which has
branch in Chicago as well as other
branches in New York, Boston, Atlanta,
st. Louis, New Orleans, San Francisco
and Seattle.
DIR. Huntington spoke Tuesday night
at the dinner given by the Mems Club
of st. Matthew's church.
The object of this department is to
get the people of the United States
into touch with foreign trade. In pur-
suance of this end, he said, the depart
ment is making an attempt to educate
American industrial managers in the
various things which must be done in
dealing with the foreign merchants
whose business ideas are different
whose business ideas are different from
ours, in order to secure their trade per-
manently.
"The war has cast great burden on
this country the speaker said, Gin It's
responsibility to supply this foreign
demand satisfactorily to them and
profitably to US.
Germany cannot supply the demand
and England and France are much
crippled as to foreign trade. We have
not paid much attention to foreign
trade heretofore. 1t is very important
now that we get this trade and put our
selves into position to keep it. TO do
this three things are essential: First,
the development of banking system
that will meet the requirements Of the
new situation.
"Second, the development of trans
portation facilities, especially water
transportation. We must supply means
Of getting our goods to those foreign
countries.
Third, education. The manufactur-
ers of this country must be educated to
the needs and wants of the jewellers in
foreign lands. We must study the kind
of goods they want and send them. We
must learn their business methods and
meet the habits of their trade. Their
inclinations must be consulted.
"a banking system must be estab
lished whereby credits and ratings can
be obtained so that our merchants may
be assured of getting their pay for
goods sold ON credit.
THE education demand is so great
that one New York banking house that
ha established six branches in South
America, ard hopes to establish large
number of others and cannot get men
competent to do the work, and had to
meet the demand, put three humid
red young men who are in col
leges in New York, into banking
houses a half day each day to learn
modern banking methods, ready to take
positions in these foreign branch banks.
In considering education for this
work, the matter of learning foreign
languages enters in; also, general infor
nation as to the character of the ma
ton and country to be visited and the
kind of goods it wants, and reporting
system upon the credit Of the purchas-
ers. -
The speaker said the government is
anxious to help American merchants
and manufacturers in their plans to Sc
cure foreign trade.
In giving absurd instances of Ameri-
can business people who wanted to in
troduce articles into other countries, he
said among the average of 500 visitors
to the Chicago office every day in
search of government aid, a manufac-
turer of face creams came. The manu-
facturer wanted to send face creams
into Bolivia as there was population
of several millions which seemed a
likely field into which to send goods.
When the government officer in charge
explained that two-thirds of that popu-
lation was native Indians living In the
hills, the face cream manufactures de-
eided to look elsewhere for patronage.
DR.. Huntington said one couldn t
make Cinnamon use beds Nof American
pattern, no matter how comfortable
the salesman knows them to be, and if a
manufacturer wants to sell beds to-
Cinnamon he must make beds according
to the Chinese ideas Of what beds should
be. He said this idea applied to every