COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS IN SOUTH AMERICAN TRADE. 179

manufactured by one of the firms in the combination. This brand
was so well established that it practically had a ‘monopoly in the
market. The soap makers had based their formulas on its use, and
their workmen were accustomed to the use of certain measures in
determining the quantity used.
The American caustic soda which they have been able to obtain
has generally been 76° to 78° test. Their attempts to use it in the
same manner as they were accustomed to use the lower-test British
brand resulted unsatisfactorily and created a prejudice against the
American product. When all supplies of the British brand had
been exhausted and it became absolutely necessary for the manufacturers
 to use the American caustic soda, if they were to continue
to make soap, the formulas and measures were altered, and after
some experimentation perfectly satisfactory results were obtained.
At first there was much trouble with the American methods of packing
caustic soda for export, but this difficulty seems largely to have been
overcome. Certain soap makers in the River Plate region state that
now that they have changed their manufacturing methods to use the
higher test caustic soda they think it was a step toward a marked
economy in their business, since it takes a less bulk of the American
caustic than of the British brand formerly used to accomplish the
same results in soap making. With the high shipping rates now
prevailing, this permits a considerable saving in freight. They also
state that they would prefer to continue the use of the higher-test
caustic soda after the war if they can get it at a suitable price. Itis
apparent, therefore, that the value of the British brand of 70° to 72°
caustic soda, which formerly practically monopolized the market, has
greatly diminished, and one obstacle in the development of trade in
the American product has been largely overcome.
Agents of the British alkali combination for some time have been
trying to make arrangements to shut out the American companies as
soon as the British prohibition of the exportation of caustic soda is removed.
 For this purpose they are endeavoring to get the prominent
importers to enter into contracts to handle the British product exclusively,
 and in consideration of this exclusive contract are guaranteeing
 that the British prices will be lower than any that might be offered
by the Americans. Thus the combination is preparing to use the
united resources of its members in a vigorous price-cutting war
against the individual American manufacturers who now have this
trade.

In spite of the war-curtailment of the supply of European Portland
cement, the American manufacturers, because of high freights and the
lack of shipping, have been materially handicapped in their efforts to
extend their trade. At the present time in Chile and Argentina severe
competition is met from Swedish and Danish cement. During 1913,