396 REPORT ON COOPERATION IN AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE.

A large manufacturer of automobiles writes: .

Our foreign trade is limited, due to the fact that specifications of our product
do not altogether meet foreign requirements, and the domestic demand has practically
 used up our capacity. Also extreme difficulty is experienced in establishing
 satisfactory foreign relations, due to limited business. This condition would,
of course, be overcome by forming cooperative selling agencies.
Low COSTS AND PRICES OF FOREIGN COMPETITORS AN IMPORTANT DIFFIcuLTY.—
 That the low costs and prices of foreign competitors are two
of the chief difficulties met by American manufacturers and that
many have not been able to overcome this, is indicated by a large
number of the replies.
A producer of pig iron and coke writes:

We have not engaged in the foreign pig-iron trade because our labor, material,
and freights have been too high to compete with the foreign pig-iron manufacturers.


A manufacturer of open-side metal planes says:

Previous to the war German machines of similar design were offered in competition
 with us at prices which were but slightly in advance of our bare material
 cost, which absolutely shut us out of the market.

A manufacturer of wire goods writes:
We do very little export business on account of not being able to meet prices
made by foreign manufacturers. .

From a manufacturer of auto springs and heaters:

We did not engage in foreign trade until after the European war broke out,
for the reason that we could not compete in price because our men live up to a
higher standard than foreign workmen engaged in the same line of business.
The decreased production due to labor shortage in Europe since the war has
permitted us to secure some business up to the time that England and France
raised their tariff. We have no hope of securing further business in the near
future. due to the high protective-tariff wall set up by these countries.
From a manufacturer of mica and gas goods:
We sold some of our product abroad up to several years ago, when German
competition arrived and we did not care to meet it.
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A manufacturer of soap says:
Our products can be made as cheaply or more cheaply in many foreign
countries than in the United States of ‘America.
One manufacturer of writing paper expresses himself briefly as
follows:
We have found that we could not compete in price with foreign-made goods.
An expression from a manufacturer of textile materials:
We have no Interest in seeking foreign trade for the reason that it is absolutely
 impossible for us to compete with any foreign country manufacturing
fine cotton fabrics, for the following reasons, viz: Wages—we pay from 50 to
BOO per cent higher wages * #* *; cost of plant—50 to 100 per cent higher in
the United States; supplies, much higher here, with the exception of cotton.
When the times are normal, cotton can be landed in Liverpool or Manchester
at about the same cost as at our northern mills,

A manufacturer of woolen goods says:
Never saw any woolen goods that we could make to compete with foreign
producers under normal conditions.