322  SELLING  LATIN  AMERICA

voice,  his  idea  being  to  save  money,  in  the
many  incidental  charges  made  by  consuls  and
those  handling  his  freight.  The  beer  came
from  Milwaukee  and  the  mineral  water  from
the  warehouse  in  New  York  City.  The  shipping ­
  instructions  read  as  follows:
“Ship  via  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec,  to  Salina
  Cruz  then  via  first  opportunity  to  Leon,
Nicaragua.”
The  intellectual  shipping  clerk  could  see  no
valid  reason  for  sending  goods  intended  for
Nicaragua  through  Mexico,  so  he  took  upon
himself  their  routing,  and  as  a  result  the  goods
were  sent  direct  from  New  York  to  Bluefields,
Nicaragua,  on  the  east  coast  of  that  country,
with  instructions  to  a  forwarding  agent  there
to  dispatch  them  to  their  destination  on  the
west  coast.  That  was  three  years  ago  and  the
last  I  heard  of  them  was  that  they  had  been
sold  by  the  customs  authorities  to  pay  storage
and  other  accumulated  charges.  Of  course
the  forwarding  agent  in  Bluefields  realized