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SALESMAN AND CUSTOMER 247 
man to sell carbon paper and typewriter rib 
bons who spoke only English. Of the man 
personally I will only state that by nature he 
was the very antithesis of everything he should 
have been. Calling upon the leading jobber 
in his line in Bolivia who spoke only Spanish 
he found it impossible to do business, and un 
dertook to tell his prices by yelling them, a 
method in vogue among those who have com 
mand of one language and who seem to feel 
that if you can repeat loudly in a crescendo 
voice, and with great precision, what you have 
to say your hearer will ultimately by some oc 
cult means understand. In the midst of this 
vocal exercise by the American, a German 
happened to drop in, also desirous of selling 
the dealer goods, and kindly offered to inter 
pret for the Yankee, which suggestion was 
eagerly accepted. The gentleman from the 
Fatherland was also selling typewriter sup 
plies and I heard him afterwards telling his 
friends in the hotel with much gusto how he 
handled the matter. I shall not try to repeat 
the conversation. It was humiliating for me