152  SELLING  LATIN  AMERICA

ments,  soaps,  perfumes,  pharmaceuticals,  surgical ­
  instruments,  boots  and  shoes,  hats,
hardware,  oil,  candles,  electric  supplies,  glassware, ­
  coffee  sacks,  socks,  stockings,  rubber
goods,  musical  instruments  and  paints.  In
fact  they  are  dependent  upon  the  outside  world
for  all  the  manufactured  necessities  of  life.
American  money  is  accepted  in  preference
to  any  other  throughout  this  part  of  the  world,
although  each  country  has  its  individual  monetary ­
  system.
In  the  Canal  Zone  American  and  Panamanian ­
  money  is  interchangeable,  that  is  either
United  States  or  Panama  currency  is  equally
well  received.  The  Republic  of  Costa  Rica
as  well  as  the  English  Colony  of  British  Honduras, ­
  are  on  a  gold  basis,  while  Spanish  Honduras ­
  and  Salvador  are  on  a  silver  basis,  the
national  money  in  common  circulation  in
Guatemala  being  inconvertible  paper,  subject
to  daily  fluctuations,  dependent  upon  market
conditions  and  the  law  of  supply  and  demand.
Nicaragua  and  Panama  are  on  a  gold  exchange ­
  standard  basis.