EXCERPTS FROM HEARINGS. 289

Is being done through the American export houses in New York, or else he has
got to send his own salesmen down there, at almost prohibitive ¢xpenses, and experiment
 for a year or two, and perhaps lose all his money, or the only other
alternative, get out of the business altogether.
George F. Willett, of the American Felt Co., Boston. Mass., said:

I heartily subscribe to what I have understood was the line of recommendation
 that had been made, which chiefly was, as I supposed, that in order to
meet that competition abroad we should have the right for common service
on the part of merchants here-—a combination for common service which
would enable them jointly -to secure service In foreign countries which individually
 they could not have, and have not had, at least up to the present time.
(b) Noncompeting Lines.

Harrison C. Lewis, general manager of the National Paper &amp;
Type Co., 4 joint selling company for foreign business, New York
City, said:
The smaller American manufacturer has at present very little opportunity for
selling his goods abroad. He can not afford to undertake the selling expense
himself, and many of them can not meet the credit requirements of foreign
trade. Again, these small articles, and in fact all merchandise except that involving
 very large tonnage, can not be advantageously sold for shipment from
this country after orders are taken, To properly develop a permanent and
satisfactory business for these smaller manufacturers their products should be
carried in stock in the various countries in which they can be sold. In these
statements I am, of course, excepting novelties or patented articles, which are
in demand, and which can not be obtained elsewhere. I am referring to competitive
 articles of general use. :
To properly meet the present situation American selling houses carrying
stocks of merchandise in foreign countries are required. Experience has demonstrated
 that American goods are rarely sold, as tliey should be by foreign merchants.
 It requires an American with American ideas and knowledge to properly
 present American goods. Thus far American capital and merchandising
enterprises have not found it necessary to leave this country, so that few American
 selling organizations have been established abroad. Those which Lave
been established have been rather uniformly successful in a large degree, but
few, if any, have been organized to handle specialties in similar lines—I mean in
related lines—and such houses are greatly needed.
Here is met the difficulty of obtaining the capital and organization needed
[In considering the establishment of such houses the interests of the management,
 of the manufacturer, and of the investor must be regarded and protected.
The manufacturer willing to invest in the capital of a foreign-selling organization
 should be encouraged by permitting him to make exclusive contracts
with such organization.
¢ * * Exclusive selling contracts with manufacturers are a protection for
the selling organization, and therefore an encouragement for the management,
Our manufacturers as a class are not in position to supply all of the capital
needed for large and effective selling organizations abroad.
There, again, I am referring to the smaller manufacturer. It takes a larger
capital to do business abroad than at home, We have to carry larger stocks,
and it takes a long time to get them to destination and a long time to get our
money. Credits are larger. * * * TT am strongly opposed to any limit [as to
size of concerns allowed to cooperate] except that needed. The capital can be
moderate, possibly, along certain lines, but in our business, for instance, in one
country alone we ought to invest a million dollars to adequately handle the
business, and a limit of a million dollars would be entirely inadequate. We
are a small concern, and yet we have a good deal more than that invested and
we have not nearly enough.
The investment is necessarily heavy for the carrying of merchandise in forelgn
 countries and for the extension of credits. To supply the full capital
needed the investing public must be attracted to the capital stock of such foreign
 companies. It will be recognized that one of the greatest assets of such
an organization is in its contracts with representative manufacturing establishments.
 These contracts must be for a period of years and afford the utmost
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