There used to be apparently very little hope of our shaking the tree and gathering the golden fruit of foreign enterprise unless forced to it by the collapse, through dire hard times, of the wonderful home market which has made spoiled children of our manufacturers. Now comes this war. It forces upon us a wonderful, a unique opportunity to gain and hold our proper place in the finance, trade, and enterprise of Latin America. The richness of the field is often exaggerated, but its cultivation is certainly worth the effort of men of foresight.
What are we going to do about it? This is the question; for if American business men do not do their part the ultimate effect of the war upon our economic interests in this part of the world will be unimportant. We must not be like the young gold miners who were looking exclusively for large nuggets with handles. We must go at it seriously and scientifically and solidly, not superficially, casually, and opportunistically. We must begin with the earnest intention of continuing our efforts for all time.
An enthusiastic commercial spasm will be worth nothing. There have got to be real efforts, real hard work, the expenditure of money for future and not merely immediate profits, a cheerful readiness to discard old and cherished methods, a new adaptability, a new painstaking attention to details. There has got to be serious study of foreign countries and keen interest in our relations to them. Without all this, mailing catalogues, (usually in English,) banquets and speeches and organizations will take us nowhere.
American business men are bestirring themselves. They know that we need ships to carry our goods advantageously, and banks for the favorable financing of our trade. They should be able to compel our Government's support where needful, as in a ship subsidy or a limited guarantee of reasonable profit to American investment in ships. In connection with our efforts at Caribbean commerce, as another instance, they should be able to get a flexible sliding scale tariff provision passed by Congress, so that, in dealing with the countries whose coffee or other special products we buy, we could induce them to give us for our exports reciprocal advantages over our competitors. Indeed, a kind of Caribbean tariff union might well be feasible and desirable.
So long ago as last August the British Government sent all over the world for samples and specifications of German goods which their manufacturers might contrive to displace. We should take corresponding action in regard to the goods of our competitors. Our manufacturers should be reconciled to sending to find out what each market wants instead of asking a population to take or leave what we make. Our commercial campaign should include the effort to replace goods from one belligerent country formerly handled by local merchants from another belligerent country, such as British goods previously sold through the German houses which so abound in these countries.
Good men from small countries without political significance in world-politics already make their influence felt as employes of foreign Governments and as merchants in foreign countries. The war may set free many more men and send them about the world to work for their own interests, for the country they most believe in, and perhaps ultimately for an adopted country. International commerce must have its courtiers, and the good will of all such men should also be reckoned with. They spread friendship or prejudice against us. Many of them are importers and will push our goods or some one else's according to the manner in which we deal with them.
American manufacturers are doubtless weary of being told that they pack badly, that they are niggardly about credits, that they do not send enough or sufficiently qualified representatives, that they are careless of details, and so on. Still, before mentioning some further particular steps that should be taken, it is necessary to emphasize the fact that these same old faults are, and until corrected must remain, the chief detriments to our foreign trade.
In some of the republics there is a real disposition to deal with us; in others there is a preference for Europe. Now, as to many goods, they must deal with us or go without, although I am informed that a German firm, for example, has got word to its clients in these countries that it is prepared to fill orders via Copenhagen. If we think that our competitors have gone entirely or permanently out of business we shall be ridiculously and sadly disappointed. We shall be on trial, and if our exporters make good they will find a conservative disposition to continue to buy from us.
In the effort it is important to remember that there is much to live down in criticism of methods of the past. One Latin-American gentleman, an enthusiast for American commerce, exclaimed to me in despair: "Son hombres capazes de poner una hacha Collins con vidrios para ventanas," which means: "they (the American exporters) are capable of packing a Collins hatchet with window glass." Others told me how leading firms always stamped their letters for domestic and not foreign postage. The office boy simply would not learn geography. Nobody minded paying the deficit, but through local red tape this seeming trifle sometimes caused two or even three weeks' delay in the delivery of important letters.
Certain of our strongest firms have been calmly ignoring shipping directions. What did they care if the packages had to cross the Andes on mule back, and if mules could only carry packages of a certain size and weight? What did they care if the duty remission for materials on some Government contract, or the customs classification of a shipment, depended on adherence to specific directions? I could multiply examples of the most amazing casualness and careless disregard, of bad packing, of ungenerous credit, which have enraged the importer.