“That may be just as well. The supposition is, however, if you know in what country you expect to find your market the consular service there can give you the most help, because the local conditions are known. If you do not know where to find your market, you should at least familiarize yourself with the Consular Reports, the ‘advance sheets’ of which give the latest news from foreign markets. If you are exporters you will have no difficulty in obtaining these through your Congressmen”.
“Don’t you suppose, Professor, that a handbook of directions to shippers could be prepared by the Government—something to show how goods should be manufactured or packed, as well as cost of transportation, customs duties in foreign ports, etc.”?
“Yes, but you would find your handbook growing to enormous size, until finally it would be no less and no other than the Consular Reports. The trouble is, or has been, that people don’t read these enough. Now, let us get an idea of what such a handbook would contain. What do you manufacture”?
“Farming machinery”.
“Well, now let us suppose you have discovered that there is a market for your merchandise in Argentina. Suppose, too, that the horses in that country are of lighter draft than ours: then your machines must be lightened correspondingly, and this involves a good deal of detail. Again, their soil will differ from that for which you are manufacturing, consequently you may have to change the shape of your plows, or the construction of your harrows, or the size of your drills. Again, one must make sure that the natives can handle intricate machinery before sending any twine-binders, steam-engines, etc. Then, too, you must learn the strong and the weak points of the machinery with which you are to compete. So you see, when it is remembered that we have been considering a few contingencies in regard to only one line of industry, and that, too, in only one country, the sum of the contingencies is enormous. When it comes to cottons or woolens the case is much the same; the width, texture, color, pattern, price—everything which makes goods salable in any one country—must be known, and the advertisements put in a way that appeals to native sentiment and taste. In the Consular Reports you will get the information you need, and you will find it hard to be put in a handbook”.
“Well, as a matter of fact, I haven’t seen much of the Consular Reports”, said one.
“Nor I, either”, said several others, as they turned to go.
