COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE. 63
ing enterprises except to secure the sale of goods produced by the
manufacturers they represented.!

Furthermore—

In Italy the main agency for German economic penetration has
heen the Banca Commerciale Italiana, which was established by German
 banks. Next to the Banca Commerciale Italiana, the Credito
Italiano, which until quite recently has also been under German conirol,
 has been the most important organ for German economic penetration.?


The great international banks and bankers have concerned themselves
 more and more with governmental loans and concessions.
They have often been able to control in great part the expenditure of
their loans, guiding it to industrial channels in which they have been
interested. Concessions for railroads and other public works place
the purchases of materials directly in the hands of the grantees.
Loans and concessions are the basis of an enormous amount of foreign
trade, especially in the products of the larger industries, such as construction
 materials for railroads, street railroads, and water-power
and electric plants.
The French banking house of Perrier &amp; Co. recently, made a loan
of $10,000,000 to the State of Minas Geraes (Brazil), the fund to be
loaned out in turn by the State to various municipalities for the perfection
 of municipal improvements, such as tramways and electric
lighting plants. The contracts executed between the State as lender
and the municipality as borrower stipulated that when other considerations
 were equal preference should be accorded by the municipality
 to French materials, and that in such purchases the municipalities
 should avail themselves of the mediation of the house of Perrier
 &amp; Co.?
The German banks in South America have gone extensively into
the hydroelectric field, and have introduced a vast amount of German
slectric equipment. (See also pp. 273 ff.)
The railroad enterprises of Germany in western Asia have furnished
 an outlet for great quantities of rails and machinery. The
powers have contended for concessions and loans in China, and the
incentive is in great part the anticipated export of construction materials.
 The struggle of European nations for colonies and spheres
of influence belongs to the same category; the desire for concessions
is probably more important than any other motive, and a concession
may often be as valuable for the profits on materials as for the profits
»f operation. °
American conditions.—Incorporated foreign banks with branches
or agencies at New York, and sometimes at other places in the United

1 Daily Consular and Trade Reports, Dec. 4, 1914, p. 1015,
The Near East (London), Aug. 18, 1915, p. 420.
3s mdward N. Hurley, Banking and Credit in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru, Burean
ff Torelen and Domestic Commerce, Special Agents Series. No. 90. 1914, p. 47.