Selling Latin America: A Problem in International Salesmanship. / What to Sell and How to Sell It

by William Edmund Aughinbaugh

CHAPTER		PAGE
I	General Remarks on Foreign Trade	[1]
II	Brazil	[13]
III	Argentine	[31]
IV	Uruguay	[49]
V	Paraguay	[57]
VI	Chile	[67]
VII	Bolivia	[79]
VIII	Peru	[91]
IX	Ecuador	[106]
X	Colombia	[114]
XI	Venezuela	[126]
XII	Central America	[138]
XIII	Mexico	[156]
XIV	Cuba	[168]
XV	Santo Domingo	[176]
XVI	Haiti	[182]
XVII	Porto Rico	[186]
XVIII	The Guianas: British, Dutch and French	[191]
XIX	European Possessions in the West Indies	[199]
XX	Foreign Trade with Latin America and How It Developed	[212]
XXI	Methods of Doing Business	[224]
XXII	The Salesman and the Customer	[242]
XXIII	Custom-Houses and Tariffs	[266]
XXIV	Trade Marks	[276]
XXV	Finance and Credits	[288]
XXVI	Packing and Shipping	[311]
XXVII	Advertising	[331]
XXVIII	Reciprocity	[345]
XXIX	Health Precautions	[368]
	Appendix	[377]
	Index	[401]

ILLUSTRATIONS

	PAGE
The harbor of Rio de Janeiro	[14]
Avenida Rio Branco and Opera House, Rio de Janeiro	[28]
Taking produce to the station, Argentine	[36]
Grain elevators, Buenos Aires	[44]
Interior of a gentlemen’s hat store, Asuncion, Paraguay	[60]
A country store in Colombia	[60]
Valparaiso	[68]
Lake Titicaca at Puno, Peru	[86]
Oroya Line, Peru	[98]
A comparison of climates	[224]
Drying hides and skins in Argentine	[240]
Avenida Central, Rio de Janeiro	[262]
Calle Rivàdavia, Buenos Aires	[288]
A Pack-train on the Andes Trail in Colombia	[312]
Llamas in Cerro de Pasco, Peru	[316]
Chilean infantry. See page [220]	[340]
Advertisement of Cognac Bisquit	[340]
South American appreciation of advertisements “made in U. S. A.”	[342]
The Plaza Hotel in Buenos Aires	[368]
MAPS
South America	[Frontispiece]
Central America	[138]
Mexico	[156]
The West Indies	[168]

SELLING LATIN AMERICA

I
GENERAL REMARKS ON FOREIGN TRADE

War completely changes commercial currents. The victor takes the established and profitable trade, leaving to the vanquished the harder lines of business and the development of new fields. This is as true of the first war recorded by history as it will be of the last.

As an illustration of the veracity of this statement it is only necessary to recall our war with Spain. Prior to her defeat, Spain controlled the bulk of the banking and commerce of the Philippines, Cuba and Porto Rico. To her possessions she exported wines, foods, manufactured articles, textiles, drugs, perfumes, canned goods, shoes and hats, receiving in exchange their sugar, tobacco and coffee.

To-day the United States consumes all of these exports, while the requirements of the three countries are supplied by America, which also does their financing through banks organized in these possessions, and capitalized with American money. To be more specific and by way of a concrete example let me mention Cuba, which in 1913 exported $165,000,000 worth of products, all but 15 per cent. of which was taken by the United States, the amount shipped to Spain being about four-tenths of one per cent. During the same period of time she imported goods to the value of $132,000,000 of which we supplied 65 per cent. against Spain’s 8 per cent. Since 1902, Cuba’s foreign commerce has increased 250 per cent. due absolutely to the part played by the United States in the Spanish-American war. The same condition of affairs in exports, imports and other lines is equally true, although not on such a large scale, of course, of the Philippines and Porto Rico.

The Napoleonic wars gave to England the strong position she now occupies in the financial and commercial world. Her bankers and shippers, merchants and manufacturers, with one accord grasped the opportunity that presented itself then and have held the supremacy thus gained for more than a century.

Perhaps it was the recollection of what gave Great Britain her start in this field which led the London Spectator to remark, at the outbreak of war in 1914: