Evening star., 1920-02-15
OUT NEW TRADE SCOUTS

oping a commercial service. Their
cons a
Developing British service has
Commercial Service. ss,f ~ much
to the matter of shipping that it has
not been of much use from a CONNER
cial standpoint. They are putting the
consular service under the commercial
attache service. The British CONNER
cial secretary in Washington would
be the principal man here. and he
would get the consulate to work on
special things and feed that infor-
nation in to him. and he would. be a
commercial policy man.
An interesting illustration of how
the trade commissioner and the
attache service works was given
Roy S. MacElwee, assistant di
rector of the bureau of foreign and
domestic commerce. We have a trade
in Brussels. The bureau
received note from him the other
day to the effect that our greatest
automobiie export organization had.
failed to supply the spare parts for
automobiles, for machines
that are known all over the world,
and that in the city of Brussels there
were about thirty or forty buyers of
American automobiles who were de-
prived Of the use of their cars on ac-
count of this lack of service.
X ::
Immediately the bureau wrote not
only to the firm involved. but to all
the OF h e r
Exported Autos Must firms export
n ing automo
oe A'eAi""Ae' biles and to
the National Automobile Chamber of
the attention of their manufacturers
Immediately that if they could not eX-
port automobiles and keep them going
in foreign country they had better
not export, because bad service would
injure everything else exported from
America, from harvesting machines to
clothes. The bureau holds that the
manufacturers responsibility for his
product never ceases where foreign
markets for American products are
concerned
For the promotion of commerce the
bureau has asked Congress for $780,
600. 1t is not always easy to get
the right sort of men for this foreign
trade promotion service. For exam
pie, during the last three months the
bureau has been endeavoring to get
a satisfactory man for the trade COM
missioner vacancy in Russia man
who has had experience in that terri
tory. There have been many appli-
cants, but there has been great diff
Guilty either on account of the Ian
guage or because the applicants We're
not 100 per cent. Americans on which
point the bureau is extremely careful.
One of the progressive plans of the
bureau is to win trade by the use of
moving pictures to edu-
Using the cate the foreigners to an
understanding of American
MoVleS. industries and their supe-
rior product. For this s69,000 is
asked.
United States agents in the 'field," as
the foreign posts are called, are ire
quently called upon to make talks, Just
as we call upon various foreign visitors
to address chambers of commerce, COM
mercial schools, etc DR.. MacElwee told
the House appropriations committee that
if we can provide these speakers with
the facilities for showing the resources
of the United States in a moving pic
ture that is one of the strongest adver-
tisements that can be set to work.
and Canada have both devoted
much more than this to such an enter
prise. Germany did much propaganda
work in this way before the war
The plan outlined is, for example, to
show how various American motor cars
are manufactured-not one particular
make of car, but all of the best types ;
to have the reel trace the steel from the
Mesaba range down the great lakes to
the mills and make a story of it. In
this way an hour or two of wonderful
propaganda work can be done. DR..
MacElwee himself used to sell elevators.
He described to the committee how he
had wonderful success in showing the
building of the greatest skyscraper in
the world and then flashing the legend:
This building would have been useless
without the - elevators"
This is education work of the high
est and finest sense, but individuals
could not do it
Funds Needed for unless as film
Film Propaganda. not as indivld-
ual commercial concerns. DR.. MacEl-
wee impressed upon the committee that
already the government has in the bu-
reau of mines of the Interior Depart
ment and in the forestry bureau of the
Department of Agriculture Il wonderful
collection of films, and there is not
available one penny to take off copies to
be used to show the enormous lumber
resources of the United States in selling
American lumber abroad.
The House committee on interstate
and foreign commerce has also been
impressed with this moving picture
proposition for trade extension as
"the most forcefu1 kind of American
An Increase of $4,000 is requested
for the commercial attache service
during the year ending June 30. 1921.
This sum is estimated as necessary
for Strengthening the present offices
and openig up new offices in Belgium,
Cuba and Central Amer
lea. The total sum requested is
$3O0.o
At the present time there is a dis
tinct need for reinforcing the per-
sonnel In the posts already estab-
lished and the paying of increased
salaries in order to make the service
more attractive and enable the men
abroad to live in keeping with the
importance of the work and the dig
nifty of their position. The estimates
provide more adequately for personal
service, including interpreters and
translators at such posts as Peking,
Toxic and Petrograd.