Arizona republican., 1922-04-11
Tales of German Trade
Success in Mexico Do
Not Stand Investigation
Losing Ground Instead of Gaining, Inquiry IN
City of Mexico ShosOs Have Been Unable
to Make Deliveries Contracted For
By HERBERT COREY
ARTICLE NO. 20

i are old grudges that still rankle, too.
| The English corSair "Drak,' as
spelled by Spanish historians, was
! such busy little cup of tea that he
is still remembered. The French saw
a chance to get foothold here when
We were engaged in our War of the
/ Rebellion and came so near setting
up an empire of their own that if it
had not been for the attitude of the
| United States-when our hands were
! free-they might have succeeded. No
use rehearsing our own little troubles
with the Mexicans. We had 'em.
German Statesmen Busy in 1921
In 1921 there was a larger German
colony of statesmen than of any other
! people in Mexico, and buster colony.
They quoted the best prices they
could. They were aided by the course
of exchange, which enabled them to
make prices at the very time they
most needed the help. They made an
enormous number of sales. But they
have not been able to make the de-
| liveries contracted for. nor has the
quality of their goods been UP to
| the mark. American machines cost
more than the German sort, but they
are worth more. on the authority of
men who were tempted by low prices
and fell.
1.-THE German goods are. cheaply
made of cheap materials, they say.
Not at all what they used to be be-
fore tl/ war"
The consequence has been that
there are German firms in every con-
siderable city in Mexico showing
American goods because they cannot
get tha German article. Further.
when the German goods are retailed
they are apt to be marked up pretty
close to the American price. The
extra profit is tempting, but the faith
erland loses a customer with each
sale. And the German need of raw
material has been so great that the
manufacturers have been forced to
make their deliveries in countries
from which they can get the goods.
Not an Exporting Nation
Mexico just now is not much of an
exporting nation, outside of oil and
political and military activities of the
past few years for that. The manner
in which Mexico has been deadened
in the past ten years is shown by
the fact that-although she could al
most feed the United States alone if
she went to work-the greater part of
her imports in the last year were
foods. A country that cannot till its
own fields cannot export raw material
for manufacturing very successfully.
An incident which illustrates how
seriously the need of raw materials
is felt in Germany developed here re-
Gently. A great English mining COM
pany bought an enormous quantity
of dynamite of German company.
The deal was financed through Lon
don, and it developed that by shift
ing of credits the balance was finally
established in New York. A number
of German firms were in a "bund."
the members OF which co-operated in
feeding this credit balance in New
York and drawing against 1t. Each
firm at some time drew against the
credit established by all the firms. 1t
was an excellent business arrange
ment. for it gave them the sound
credit they must have. and the
smaller firms were aided to work
their business uptoward par again.
Germany on Verge Of Smash
IL Mexico were paying in raw ma
terials right now she could get Ger
man deliveries without a doubt But
she isn't. And the system of long
credits, which was once Nen advan
tage to the German. is now cutting
his throat The German manufac-
turer cannot afford to grant any
credit at all. He must have approxi-
mately cash in order to keep his de-