REPLIES TO CARD AND SCHEDULE INQUIRIES, 391
From a large manufacturer of rugs and carpets:
We can not sell our fabrics abroad, we are so greatly handicapped by the cost.
Our wages average double English cost and three times German, Austrian, Belgian,
 and French costs. This refers to five or six years ago. The abnormal
conditions abroad bave no doubt greatly changed this for the present.
A manufacturer of slippers states:
Do not have any opportunity to sell articles of our own country, as England
and Germany can produce similar goods at 35 per cent, more or less, below
my cost.
Part of this is cheaper labor abroad, less labor laws in restricting female
help, and much cheaper materials.
Our product is largely felt slippers, and the English and German felts before
the war just about equaled the sale price in this country after paying 85 per
cent import duty on same.

Creprts.—The replies bearing on “ terms and credits ” indicate that
great difficulty is being encountered by exporters in this regard and
that this is one of the main factors keeping many Americans from
engaging in foreign trade.
A manufacturer of stoves says:

We, being a small concern, can not afford to give credit to foreign customers,
It takes too long a time to collect for the merchandise. We had no means of
knowing the credit of foreign customers and at what price we might sell our
goods abroad.

That a manufacturer of sewer appliances is experiencing the same
difficulty is shown by the following extract:

We do have a small and scattering foreign business, which we earnestly desire
 to enlarge, but the expense of introduction, the question of payment of
accounts, the lack of credit facilities and the lack of information as to technical
requirements of foreign buyers, combined, render foreign business in our line
nnattractive.

A manufacturer of scales gives among other reasons the following:
It is almost impossible to get correct and up-to-the-minute information as to
the importer’s financial standing.
A manufacturer of gaskets and portable houses writes:
Credit and banking conditions hinder us much.

That the same trouble is experienced by members of the textile
industries is shown by a number of replies. A manufacturer of knit
proods savs:

South Americans were used to doing business on long terms, and our capital
would not permit of that, and banking facilities were lacking to take the
burden off us.
A manufacturer of bathing suits writes:

The difficulty of starting a trade in totally new territory with firms of whose
credit standing we know little or nothing has hitherto deterred us.
A manufacturer of tents and waterproof ducks says briefly and
tothe point:
Credits demanded In Argentina have kept us out.
A manufacturer of bags and burlap bagging says:
Foreign buyers generally buy their goods on very long terms. Together with
time it requires to manufacture and export the merchandise, it would probably
 take a year before payments are received for same. The European merchants
 have the advantage of the American dealers, as their banks are more
liberal in extending credits at low rates of interest to their customers. This