Both as a matter of courtesy and as a good business proposition be sure to call on the American consular officer whom you will always find at the port. He is in touch with the local merchants, is generally well informed as to market conditions and can give you many practical suggestions. He also has a line on the financial standing of most dealers throughout his territory.
Be sure that your order blanks are printed in triplicate and in Spanish for all countries except Brazil where the language is Portuguese. Ample space should be provided under the captions “Terms”; “How Packed”; “How Invoiced”; “How Shipped.” When possible, I have always insisted on the buyer signing the order and filling in with his own handwriting the spaces referred to. There can be no cause for refusal to accept the goods, if you have complied with the written conditions of the merchant. Very naturally when the order has been signed the merchant should have a copy, another sent to the house, while you retain the third one for your personal files and for future reference.
If possible always carry your samples in one or more cases. Clothes should never be packed with them, but in separate trunks. Now and then you will find officious and over energetic customs officials. Treat them with courtesy, even if they irritate you. Remember that they can make you endless trouble and that they may understand any caustic remarks you may venture to make in English. As a rule, however, these officials are very considerate. If you are selling shoes, it is wise to bring only one sample of each pair. If you carry a line of silverware, have each sample sawed in half. This will at once remove suspicion from you as far as the customs are concerned.
If you are to travel the West Indies, Central America and the northern countries of South America, including Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, light clothes should be relied upon. Remember too that in the highlands and mountainous districts of these countries it is often cool, especially at night, and a light overcoat is therefore advisable. In the highlands of Peru, Bolivia and Chile, heavy clothes are always worn. The climate of Southern Chile, Argentine, Uruguay and Paraguay is much like our middle States, excepting that the seasons are reversed, their winter corresponding to our summer and vice versa. A trunk packed for a complete trip for all of Latin America should therefore include both summer and winter clothing.
It is wise to pay much attention to the style and nature of your correspondence. American business men for years have been concentrating and condensing their thoughts—saying in a few words the same thing that formerly were expressed in pages. The Latin American has not yet practiced this conservative method of expressing himself and as a result his correspondence is voluminous and he indulges in word paintings that are picturesque and unique but not practical. If you are not as excessive in this respect as he is, the chances are, unless he knows you exceedingly well, that he will construe your letters as brusque and far from courteous. His letters will be filled with the sentimental phrases of past ages. This is his idea of politeness and should be your guide in addressing him. You cannot be too verbose in your communications. He comes from a race noted for its grandiloquent declamations and this typical characteristic, this desire to figuratively gild refined gold, add a perfume to the violet and a whiteness to the lily, means much to him. It is one of his ways of estimating your educational worth and of calibrating your standing as a gentleman. I know of no better exemplification of this than a comparison between the flowery way Latin American letters are terminated and our own. It is more personal, more deferential and more impressive to sign yourself, “Your attentive and secure servant who kisses your hand,” than briefly and harshly, “Yours very truly,” yet the former method is the one in which practically all letters close coming from these sunny lands.
Avenida Central, Rio de Janeiro
Bills, catalogues, price-lists, in a word all “literature” should be in the language of the country for obvious reasons and in having these translated be sure to employ only experienced and able translators. Nothing paves the way for so much ridicule as poorly expressed and badly produced business documents, for the keen eye of the Latin notes errors with great precision. Efficiently produced and artistically printed materials of this nature impress one in these lands and help materially in giving you and your firm a high standing in the minds of the native merchants, while poorly got up pamphlets and the like open his flood gates of criticism and prejudice both against you and your goods. All weights and measurements should be in the metric system.
Be sure always to bear in mind that first-class mail to Latin America, excepting Panama, Mexico, Cuba and Porto Rico, cost five cents an ounce or fraction thereof and three cents for each additional ounce or fraction thereof; all printed matter, one cent for each two ounces or fraction thereof. Be careful therefore to put full postage on all correspondence, otherwise your mail will be delayed and its recipient subjected to a series of fines for your sin in short postage which will have the effect of hurting your cause. Mistakes of this kind are unwarranted and you should caution the house and the one in charge of the mail to put proper postage on letters. Latin American merchants always look upon letters short-posted as a shrewd Yankee plan to make them pay part of the expenses of your establishment. From their point of view this is not far from right either, for they are never guilty of this fault so very prevalent among Americans.
If you have no fixed address instruct your correspondents to send all mail in care of the consul of the United States of America, at each port where you intend stopping. Remember that consuls are to be found only at seaports. To address a letter Care of the Consul for the United States of America, Bogota, Colombia, would practically mean that you would never get the letter, for the reasons that these officials are found for example in Colombia, at Barranquilla, Savanilla, Santa Marta, and along the seaboard. It is unwise to send mail in care of the General Delivery. Later on after you have been over the territory and established friendly relations with some dealer or merchant, mail may be sent in his care.