Evening star., 1922-09-03
FILM TO HELP UNCLE SAM )
:. EXPLOIT GOODS ABROAD
Pictures Visualizing Score Of Larger In.
dustries to Be Shown at l8 Expositions
in Next Is Months.
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

IT YUcLE SAM is lining up the
silent salesmen" to beat for
eiGn competition in all the
| ~ markets Of the world. The
old-day drummer couldn't carry a
locomotive engine in his grip to show
In China or a ten-ton truck to India.
and yet seeing is believing" the
world over. The modern film does
more. than eliminate the cost Of trans
porting one cumbersome and weighty
sample. 1t shows every step and
stage Of the journey from the raw
material, through the processes OF
manufacture and the routes of trans
portation, to the finished products
and their actual use in industry or
the home.
! Under the inspiration and encour-
agement of Secretary Hoover. the
bureau of foreign and domestic com
merce has been working effectively
for the last five months. in co-opera-
tion with the bureau of mines of the
Interior Department. which has been
developing the idea for three years.
and in hearty cooperation with
American industry. which is just
awakening to the direct and far
reaching possibilities of beating for
eisn competition and propaganda and
building up cumulative business
through visualizing the American in.
dustries and their products.
| During the next fifteen months
there will be eighteen great indus
trial expositions held throughout the
world. and in every one of these mo-
ltion pictures, visualiEing about twenty
of the largest industries in the United
States, will be shown. This real ad-
vertising means real business, as
check-up has already shown conclu-
sfvely. So far the bureau of mines
and the Department of Commerce.
working together. have prepared films
] for trade promotion and industrial
I education on. eighty-six subjects.
Cs-0perative Benefits.
| This is one of the most convincing
| Illustrations of how cooperation
among and between the hundreds of
federal establishments and agencies
can be productive of greater efficiency
in service rendered to the people with
economy OF federal funds. While the
motion picture trade promotion work
In the Department of Commerce has
been going on for only fve months,
that depaffmsnt has thus far accu-
mulated library Of motion picture
films that. would have cost the gov
ernment 100000 to produce. while 1t
has actually cost the Department Of
ICommerce less than $500. The bureau
of mines has accumulated a library of
films pertaining to the mining indus
| try that represents an. expenditure of
more than 100000 to duplicate. and
the actual expense to the government
was about $500. Members of Con-
gress, usually captious critics, and
the leading business men Of the coun-
try agree that is pretty good business.
The use Of the motion-picture films
abroad to boost Americas exportable
surplus has one of its greatest advan-
!tages in being an offset to anti-Amer-
lean propaganda. 1t is direct trade
! Eetter, and, what Is more to the point
for the future of foreign trade, it
makes the people of the world better
lacouainted with our Industries. with
the superiority of American products
and with our customs and life. The
motion picture films are making
friends for us all over the world.
Already fourteen films of leading
IAmerican Industries have been sent
/! to Rio dc Janeiro, Brasil, to be shown
At the worlds fair which opens there
September Z. and Is to continue until
March 1. These films carry Portu-
ruese and Spanish titles. Commits
| Cn1lfar NJ Areri.
can exposition wrote to Secretary
Hoover, asking him to have as many
industrial films as possible sent down
there, in view of the vast number OF
films being shipped in by Germany.
France and England. Germany. for
example. has been flooding all Of
South America with films, accom-
panied by a legend which says that
"all of the products shown in this
film will be found in the German ex-
ihibit at the exposition in Rio de
Janeiro." The Aims that the Depart
ment of Commerce has shipped in
lclude these stories: OF watch, Of
the automobile Of electric meter. of
tcoal, of oil, Of rock drilling, of COM
pressed air. Of sulphur. Of asbestos.
of steel, Of abrasives. Of oxygen, of
waterpower, of electric transporta-
ton. of heavy excavating machinery
and other subjects.
900. Feature Filns Scheduled.
Fifteen feature films on chemical
and allied scientific or industrial SUBJ
5ects have thus far been definitely
scheduled on the motion picture pro-
gram of the eighth national exposi-
tion OF chemical industries. which
| will be held during the week of Sep
tember II in the Grand Central Pal
ace. New York That is an example
of how these films are being en-,
ployed at home for educational pur-
poses as we'll as abroad for making
trade friends.
Now for an illustration Of how CO.
operation between government agen-
cies and .buainessi leaders for busi-
ness enlargement will also combat
foreign propaganda. When Morton F.
Leopold. engineer In charge of motion
picture activities, bureau OF foreign
J and domestic commerce, appeared last
week before the National Association
i of Agricultural Implement Manufac-
turers in Chicago one Of the biggest
> men in that association related his
personal experiences. He recently
went to Europe on British ship. A
! tmotion picture show was given aboard
ship. The first reel was thes usual
4 romance, with noted actors filmed.
, This was Immediately followed by