Venezuela, an economic report / Presented by students of the School of Foreign Service, as an aid to the foreign trade of the United States

by Georgetown University. School of Foreign Service

GEORGETOWN STUDENTS WELCOMED IN VENEZUELA

[From Sunday Star, Washington, July, 1920.]

Prof. Guillermo A. Sherwell, professor of Spanish at Georgetown University, and the eighteen students of the university's School of Foreign Service, who left Washington a little more than a month ago to gain first-hand and practical knowledge in Latin-American trade, have been most cordially welcomed in Venezuela, both by officials of the government and by the people there, according to a letter which has just been received by a friend here. In addition to representing Georgetown and acting as preceptor to the students, Dr. Sherwell also went as representative of the inter-American high commission, of which he is judicial expert.

"There is a tendency—very successful so far—to make Venezuela independent in industrial matters," writes Dr. Sherwell, this in connection with a visit he and his party have just paid to an exposition of natural resources and industrial products.

"The highroads are excellent," he continues. "The appropriation for public education has been doubled this year. The monetary system is simple. Gold circulates freely."

Referring to the government departments, of which he has made a special study, he says they "seem to have the right man in the right place."

Dr. Sherwell reports that just before he arrived in Caracas, the capital, the commercial travelers' convention had been ratified. The purpose of this treaty, which has now been agreed to between the United States and six of the other American republics, is to facilitate trade relations by simplifying the customs rules and regulations for the admission into the various countries of commercial travelers with their samples.

The convention now being signed with the different countries will do away with many of the inconveniences to which commercial travelers have been subjected, such as the payment in some countries of numerous local taxes and fees. Under the new system a single license fee in each country will be all that is required.

Another important feature is that there will be liberal customs treatment of samples carried by the "drummer." Samples without commercial value will be admitted duty free, while other samples will be granted temporary free admission under bond for their re-exportation within six months. Delay in the clearance of samples also will be avoided. In addition to Venezuela, the other countries which have signed the travelers' convention are Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Salvador and Uruguay.

A convention for the arbitration of commercial disputes between the Chamber of Commerce of Venezuela and the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, also has just been signed, writes Dr. Sherwell. All of this, he said, was "good news." Similar conventions between the national trade bodies of this country and some of the other American republics already are in operation and the results so far achieved are said to be excellent. This leads interested trade officials to believe that such machinery for the prompt and efficient treatment of disputes which may arise between business men and concerns of various countries will be set up one after another in the countries with which the United States deals.