284 REPORT ON COOPERATION IN AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE.

Here, i1gain, is an argument for permitting manufacturers to combine in
foreign trade. A great deal of the foreign business is secured on -account
of prompt delivery. A small manufacturer can not entertain all propositions
that are offered to him on account of being unable to supply the product
quickly. But if the small manufacturers were in position to cooperate, they,
as an association, could accept as large a contract as any corporation can do
now and divide it among themselves.

Take, as an illustration, in China to-day. We have, on the Hukuang Railways,
 which are to be financed by the four groups of bankers, American,
French, English, and German, I believe, succeeded in arriving at a satisfactory
nnderstanding with the foreign engineers that are to build the three sections
beside the, American, whereby we shall receive equal consideration in the purchase
 of equipment—rails, bridges, locomotives, cars—as the other three
countries. It was possible to do this by adopting a resolution that the standards
 of the country would be accepted by the railway engineers—or, in other
words, if there is any competition for any of the materials to be furnished for
these railways, then the standards of the country which furnished the_bid
would be accepted and considered on an equal basis with that of any of the
four countries represented, and this is the only basis on which to develop our
foreign business in railway materials; it was brought about solely through the
cooperation of American banks with foreign bankers to provide a $30,000,000
loan for building of these railways. It is a striking illustration of what American
 financial participation would mean in the development of our exports.
He quoted, with approval, the following from a letter from a representative
 in South America:

Personally I would welcome the day that the United States law permitted
nll the large American corporations to unite together in the foreign field, pooling
‘heir interests on a plan somewhat similar to that practiced by foreigners. It
would absolutely secure our profits in the markets which we have, eliminating
the competition between various American firms for the same business. It
would also have the advantage that our various foreign consuls and ministers
could work to help the manufacturers without fear of discriminating between
two manufacturers, which is the argument put up by them all at the present
time.
Charles E. Jennings, of C. E. Jennings &amp; Co., New York City,
hardware manufacturers. said *

The larger manufacturer can in a measure take care of himself, but our
smaller manufacturers, who have products that are particularly adapted for
foreign countries, have had heretofore very little interest taken in them, and,
in fact, they have had no.knowledge as to how they might proceed to get the
rade.

F. E. Kenaston, president-treasurer of the Minneapolis Threshing
Machine Co., Minneapolis, Minn., believed a combination of interests
to be vital for foreign trade in his line. He stated:

If we ever expect to get anywhere in exporting the lines of goods that 1
am familiar with—that is, heavy machinery—we have got to have a combination
 of interests. It has got to be done through combination. Perhaps that
word does not sound good. Make it a community of interests; it amounts to
the same, but it sounds better. We have got to have a community of interests
which will enable us not only to get more efficient work, but very much cheaper,
and at a great saving of expense. As it is now, we have to buy material in a
market that is more or less protected as against the cheaper materials that
they have in foreign countries, and we are up against the financing of the business;
 but I think that is a matter that would work itself out, perhaps. But
you take ten or a dozen concerns in any line of business, having a moderate
rapital, and each one of those concerns going to the expense of sending their
own representatives down there and finding a market which creates a competition
 which forces lower prices, and it puts the business in such a condition
that there is no profit or very little. Now, one manager of an organization
that would operate for all of these different concerns would sell practically
Just the same amount of goods with less price cutting and yleld a respectable
profit ta the people engaged in the business.