FOREWORD 
v 
who compensated him accordingly. His ex 
perience in that line alone took him all over 
the world and the ramifications of the business 
brought him into close contact with the mar 
keting of nearly every other commodity. But 
even had this not been so, he is the sort of 
man who would have sensed a business oppor 
tunity because he is naturally a keen observer 
and everything interests him. He is the type 
of man who absorbs information; he does not 
have to be shown—he sees. 
Here, then, is a man possessed of a fund of 
particularly desirable information—especially 
valuable to-day when Europe is war-mad and, 
in her sanguinary frenzy, has left open the 
door of opportunity to peaceful Uncle Sam. 
Why not put this information in concrete 
form for the benefit of American commerce? 
These considerations were put up to the 
author by some of his friends who knew him 
to be a keen, accurate, analytical observer, a 
writer and a raconteur of more than ordinary 
ability, and this book was the result. 
Probably never—let us fervently hope never