264  SELLING  LATIN  AMERICA
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  shortposted
  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