The sun., 1919-07-28
AMERICANS LOSE
IN EXPORT ORDERS
Chile Has Hundreds Of Claims
Against Shippers in the
United States.
NJ LELAND O. BALL.

Secretary of the American Channbnr Of
Commerce., Valparaiso, Ohtts. WTef-
ten Especially for the Ldttn
Amerfoun Section Of THE
Sum.
There are hundreds of claims In Chile
against American firms. mostly com
mission houses. for material shipped not
IN accordance with catalogue or sample.
So many, in fact, that American COM
merce 10 beginning to feel the effects.
now that European competition Ia quot
ing in this market
We all know, and the Chilean mer-
chant fully believes, u.at just az good
or even better products can be manu-
featured in the United States as In
Europe Therefore It In up to the
American manufacturers to sec that
their goods are properly represented In
Chile by carefully investigating and
studying standards and customs here,
and by using the greatest care TO see
that their products are handled by re-
sponsible. experienced export commits
sion houses.
First, let us take an example which
illustrates:N The inability of q certain
commission house to supply the proper
grade OF material in time to comply
with a guaranteed shipment and the
fatal results caused by shipping other
grades sizes and packing In order to
comply with their shipping engagement,
which by the way should never have
been made during war times.
For years a certain Chilean merchant
has been supplying American window
glass to the Chilean State railroads for
use In their stations and passenger
coaches. He had always placed his or
Aax- x~.NNI
tablished New York commission house.
which in the past supplied his require
ments with never a question In fifteen
years. The order In reference was
most explicit, as follows-the only dif-
ference being in the number of cases I:
Fifty boxes single window glass. two
millimeters thick. fourth quality, In boxes
Of ninety feet.
Five hundred boxes double window
glass, minimum of three millimeters
thick. third class. twenty-six ounce. In
boxes of 100 feet
The order was accepted as above with
guaranteed shipment, but upon arrival
the parcel differed from the order in
the following points:
Instead of boxes of ninety feet and
100 feet the glass was packed in pack
ages made up of two boxes each, Of
forty-hve and fifty feet, respectively. the
two boxes being made into n package or
crate and held together with cleats Of
one inch lumber thereby increasing the
bulk 30 much that ocean freight for
measurement was charged instead Of for
weight AS the parcel was sold t. o. b.
New York the extra freight. amounting
to about AZ per cent. was for account
of the purchaser. and q loss TO him.
inasmuch as he had calculated his selling
price to the railroads on the current
freight rate for weight and not meas
urement.
The thickness OF the single and double
glass did not come up to that specified
in the order. lacking as much as one
half millimeter in some cases. and the
double glass was evidently not twenty
six ounce, as It did not bear the seal
which has always been pasted on each
sheet Of this grade OF glass The pur-
chaser was only able TO make delivery
to the railrcad2 upon payment of a hne
for each piece that turned out under
thickness. The length OF the single glass
varied up to two inches over the or
dered length.
class usually shipped to this market
the straw packing was poor and did
not keep the glass from shaking, with
the result that there was 25 per
cent. breakage. as compared to the
usual 10 per cent. allowed for in this
market
Another example OF failure to COM
ply with an order and where the fault
lies with the manufacturer will illus
trate another cause for the bad name
American trade Is making for itself
in Chile:
A well known English importing
house in Valparaiso ordered ESQ coils
No. gauge vanished wire from
large steel company in Pittsburg. After
several months delay the order. which
had been accepted for prompt shipment.
finally arrived in Valparaiso. turning
out to be, however. made up OF 100
coils OF No. 10 gauge and forty of No. 5
gauge. 1 could not have believed such
a mistake possible had I not investi-
gated the parcel carefully by checking
the marking tags which bore the Gus
toner's initials and order number. When
the claim Is sent in tie shipper will
never believe that such a mistake could
have been made by the shipping de-
partment but It is just such careless
occurrences that are keeping American
Arms from getting repeat orders.