New-York tribune., 1919-05-04

Wv NaAiOoS@h doruptlN tcrfns
mated by the war-and fla
amen property act-American business
concerns are beginning to look ,v,,h
great interest toward the West Ina;os
The strategic purposes for which The
United States acquired its influence in
Hayti and Santo Domingo and the act
uai possession Of the Danish West Ir-
dies, now known as the Virgin Islands
has commercial significance as well
These islands, together with Porto
Rico, contain more than 100000 pco-
pie, all of whom need to be fed and
clothed and catered to, according TO
their particular wants and desires
And in that last sentence lies tho
cruX of the whole situation and ,h.
answer to the question, How are we
to obtain the great West Indian trade
according to their particular wants
and desires"?
Just how far short we have fallen
from supplying the people of the Wcs,
Indies with what they themselves want
was told by many an observer before
the war. But for some reason the
point did not penetrate the mind Of
the average exporter or salesman. Even
during the war careless methods os
packing, supplying substitutes for the
specific articles ordered and the prac-
tlce of dumping surplus goods on the
West Indies seemed to be matter o.
habit among American statesmen.
Improbable Smar;ness
On several trips to the West Indies
during the war | was interested to
observe the attitude of the American
commercial traveller. In nearly every
instance complaints of the West Indian
merchants were borne out by the
actions of the statesmen. In ono case
young salesman boasted to me of his
"l ankee smartness' in unloading lot
of surplus dress goods on the mer-
chants of the Virgin Islands The
goods were Of good quality TO be sure.
but they were neither the colors nor
the patterns which the Danish mer-
chants had ordered. The merchants.
however. had no choice but to take
the goods, for boats were infrequcnt.
the German goods ON which they had
hitherto relied had been cut off. AMI
at the time British and French agents
were occupied clsewhere
Benjamin Cheney. an American OK
porter, who has lived fifteen wears IN
Porto Rico and who is. perhaps. the
best authority on business conditions
IN the West Indies. bears me out in the
conclusion that we need racidal
change IN our business methods if We
are to capture the West Indian trad
In talk with him not long ago in his
nome near San Juan. he said
Nc have been a bit too cocksurc I'm
IN i, !
dies. We have been too prone to ir-
more what the merchants wanted anil
nave tired instead TO force them to
take what we wanted to get rid Of. o.
at pest what we, in an assumption Of
superiority that did not belong to u.
thought they ought to have. Not. o.
course, that all American agents
adopted such methods, but enough
practlsed them to give American busi-
ness men black eye.
German Penetration
Before the war German commercial
interests were firmly intrenched in the
West Indies, especially in Hayti and
San Domingo. Their supremacy was
not due to any superiority of goods
made in Germany, nor even to the un-
derselling made possible by the Kals-
er's subsidies. They got the trade
simply and solely because they sold
the natives exactly what the natives
wanted to buy.
ut is we'll known fact that tho
German agent did not 20 into the West
Indies as a travelling salesman, but
settled in the islands. learned the Ian
guage of the inhabitants whether it
might be Spanish, French, Dutch or
Danish. He became familiar with
native customs, native business meth
DDS, knew to nicely what the people
OF the islands wanted and sold it 10
them. o certain extent other Con-
tlnental agents used the same methods.
but 1t is an unfortunate fact that few
Americans had the plain business sense
to do so.
In order to prevent Germany from
acquiring naval base in the West
indies, the United States liouidatcd
the Dominican debt to Germany OF
So5 '0Oo 700; assumed the Haytian dcbr
10 france OF $4,000 900, and boughs
the Danish West Indies for S25 coo 900
"Germany, as is well known. is max
ing Hercu!ean efforts to regain her
lost trade, not the least of which was
with the W est Indies. If we are 10
OH set her and to Utilize the commercial
advantage which the tremendous cx-
pendltures listed above gave US. We
can 90 so. But it is absolutely essen
t'ai 1ol US to realize that the original
prlnclple of good business means first
OF all to supply what your customer
wants and afterward to build uo in
your customer desire for what Won
have to sell.
And the principle of good business
applies equally as well in the West
lhdles as IN the United States