Evening star., 1947-03-16

States and Britain, although other c
and surprisingly enough, Italy, are
tie. However, it requires but shol
world to note that the United
States, the greatest producer of con-
sumner goods on the globe, is running
a rather poor second. This Is imme-
diately apparent, at least in the Am
azon Valley, and for several very OBJ
vious reasons.
In the opinion of Brazilian bank
ers and importers, as we'll as foreign
business residents with a thorough
knowledge of conditions here, the
chief obstacle in our path is the
American buying public itself: our
domestic market is, and no doubt
will Re for some time, tremendous,
and United States manufacturers
are taking a short sighted view of
the export picture in maintaining
shipments at mere trickle.
Must Act Soon
In the eyes of local businessmen,
there is little prospect of change
in this condition for some time: un-
less We begin at once to remedy the
situation, by the time the home
market demands have been met, it
may be too late. One of the results
of our policy is growing resent
ment against United States inter-
ests, in spite of the fact that with
certain exceptions, our products are
definitely on the preferred list.
Another serious disadvantage to
our business relations with North
Brazil lies in the fact that there is
no American bank in the entire
Amazon region. And banks repre-
senting foreign nationals who do
business in Brazil are important.
For example, I know Brazilian
importer who distributes merchan-
disc of many kinds throughout the
valley on fairly large scale. He
has visited the United States many
times, and he likes Americans and
American products. But today he
is giving an ever larger percentage
of his orders to British firms. Before
he can order shipment OF specific
consignment of goods he must
secure import permits, which may
be granted only in Rio de Janeiro.
He sends his application to the
proper quarters and waits. Often he
waits for many weeks. The reason
is simple: Business firms in Rio and
Sac Paulo, the two largest channels
of business In the country, are able
to send personal representative
to the several signers of such docu-
ments within a few hours, and
mailed applications are showed aside
in an ever-mounting pile, to be
attended to in slack periods. 4
British System Better.
The British have a better system.
The Bank of London maintains a
branch here in Belem, which, as a
city of more than 100000 population,
is both large consumer within it
self and main distributing point for
the Amazon Valley. If my Brazil
ian friend wants parcel Of British
goods, no matter how small, he
takes his application to the Bank
of London, which Immediately con-
facts it's counterpart in Rio, and
the thing is done.
The above problems are serious,
but are by no means irremediable,
and Bre lillian businessmen who like
us and our products have been
patient in the face of our blunder-
ing. However. there is one aspect
of the picture which even our best
friends down here cannot overlook:
The rapid f1uctuation OF United
States market prices.
Fluctuating Prices.
The majority Of American export
ers are no longer able to quote
firm price on the commodities they
handle. If a hardware dealer in
Belem or Manaos needs 10 kegs OF
nails. he cannot be sure OF what
they will cost him until the time
of delivery to the shipping company,
which from his point of view Is
often risky business. Also, our
shipping costs have risen far above
those of our competitors. The Brit
ish, on the other hand, have tight
ened their belts, price quotations
are maintained at uniform level,
and transportation charges are low
by comparison with ours.
The British have yet another ad-
vantage. England has always been
a trading nation, and for genera
tions young Englishmen have gone
overseas to become permanent busi-
ness residents. Our ambitious
youngsters, finding ample oppor-
tunities for exercising their talents
at home, do not go abroad. unless
sent there in the interests Of an Oil,
rubber or shipping company, or as
technical representatives of large
manufacturer of mining equipment,
etc. Thus, while in nearly every
Brazilian town of any consequence
there is a small, interrelated COM
of permanent British resi-
dents with a thorough working
knowledge of local conditions. the
American colony consists for the
most part of commercial bird OF
passage" goodwill junketeers and
employees who, regard
less of how we'll they do their job,
acquire but superficial knowledge
of local problems, and live only for
that happy moment of return to the
good old u. s. A.
Actually, 1t is in Britain's network
of relations with small local firms