Evening star., 1922-03-30
SAYS U. S. PRODUCERS
SHOULD STUDY MARKETS
Correspondent, Commenting on Star
Editorial, Gives Advice to Manu-
facturers Seeking World Trade.
To the Editor of The Star:

To the Editor of The Star:
| The writer has been very much in
terested In reading the editorial in
| your issue of March Is. based upon
Chamber of Commerce in Constanti-
| nople. Our own chamber is in hearty
accord with all that has been said by
the Constantinople chamber on this
subject: but we desire to emphasize
one point which is not referred to in
your editorial and which will sooner
or later determine whether or not the
american manufacturer will be able
to maintain a place in foreign trade.
which must be maintained If the va
rious industries of this country are
to be operated to their full capacity.
The matter of primary Importance
Is that American manufacturers
should study the requirements of the
markets in which they wish to do
business. and then should manufac-
| ture goods in accordance with the
requirements of same: but this. un-
fortunately. is not the American
method. The average American manu-
facturer Is SO sure that America Is
| that no one else knows anything at
! all. that he desires to force goods
! made in accordance with his ideas
upon the other nations of the earth.
whether they wanr them or not.
The American manufacturer was
l
the war and the months Immediately
| following the armistice. due to the
general disorganization of the indus
| tries of our principal competitors.
manufacturers are inclined to think
that what they could do during the
war period they can continue to do
indefinitely: and they expect their
representatives to go into foreign
markets of the world and sell Ameri-
l m in q ho ifc
Kalamazoo or Kankakee or Oshkosh
| or any other town in the United
! States without reference to the
| wishes or desires of their actual Gus
| toners, no matter whether those Gus
| toners be located in Europe. Asia or
| Africa.
| This attitude on our part is re-
sented by the very people that we
| desire to do business with. and their
| resentment is not without justifica-
foreign fields can tell many stories
| illustrating the loss of important
business because American manufac-
| turers insist on disregarding the
| needs and requirements Of the coun-
tries with which they attempt to do
business. but 1 think one illustration
| will suffice to prove our contention.
The Greek foot is shaped differently
from the American. in that it has
much higher instep and it is impos-
a shoe made on an American last.
After the armistice several American
manufacturers in their eagerness for
foreign trade with complete ignorance
Of the requirements of the Greek
| market. sent large consignments of
shoes to Greece. which. of course.
were not sold and in most cases have
been returned to this country. If
these people had sent a competent and
practical man to Greece first, to study
the requirements Of the market, their
experience with the export trade of
that country would have been much
! moro satisfactory and profitable.
This same idea could be illustrated
in many different ways. 1 personally
have been asked by a large group
Of manufacturers in this country to
tell the people of France. England.
Italy and various other countries of
Europe that their ideas of architec-
ture were all wrong. and should be
changed 80 that they could use build
ing material made according to Amer
lean methods The answer given was
the obvious one, that the countries
in question had been building houses
many generations before America was
even discovered: that they knew