REPLIES TO CARD AND SCHEDULE INQUIRIES, 433

engaged for that purpose. It is absolutely necessary and essential that the
American exporter visit his agent from time to time, the oftener the better,
see the trade with him, talk matters over, form his own conclusion as to conditions,
 and he will find that every time, he has made a call there, that he will
come back with new ideas how to improve and how to increase his trade. This
Is the exporter who will be successful.
Necessary to cater to the desires of foreign customers—A lawyer
who was recently sent to Mexico to study political, social, economic,
and industrial conditions, replies:
All of the conditions suggested by this question have operated against us in
Mexico. Nevertheless, American wares, particularly in the lines of machinery,
implements, sewing machines, and drugs, virtually control the Mexican market,
This, of course, is, in a measure, due to the nearness of the market and the
facilities for transportation. In the drug business it is largely due to the fact
that our big drug houses are putting up their products as the Mexicans want
them put up. They are labeled and advertised in Spanish. All doses and
bottles are put up and graduated according to the metric system, which makes
It practicable for the Mexican physician to use them intelligently.
Packing of goods.—An exporter who has engaged in foreign trade
for 50 years gives this information in regard to packing of goods:
When an order is given for goods to be packed in the proper condition to be
carried on mule back, possibly hundreds of miles, over mountains and other
difficulties, the average manufacturer accustomed to pack otherwise considers
this a nuisance; he can not understand it, and some of them will simply refuse
to do it. I can mention two or three firms, and very well known ones, in proof
of this, and yet if the goods are not packed and sent away in the manner in
which they are called for, it becomes impossible to handle them at their destination.

Miscellaneous.—One of the members of a firm exporting to South
America states broadly that—

There is no mystery about foreign trade. The same broad, practical rules of
efficiency that spell success in domestic trade will yield results in foreign trade.
Nf course, a knowledge of the language of the customer is essential, some insight
into the habits of his mind which only contact and experience can give, and a
vast stock of patience and an occasional willingness to subordinate immediate
results to ultimate and permanent advantage.
The European shipper is prepared to extend considerable credit facilities to
the foreign buyer, and here, the American exporter is reluctant to follow. The
foreign buyer, especially in South America, is very prone to buy where he can
get ample credit facilities. An indiscriminate extension of credit is, of course,
inadvisable anywhere, and the matter must be handled with care and prudence.
[ find, however, that the American is inclined to err on the side of too great
caution where foreign trade is concerned.
And the publisher of a business magazine, speaking along the
same line, savs that—

Our manufacturers must discard the proverbial Yankee stubbornness and
meet the foreign buyer at least half, if not all, of the way in the matter of his
wishes respecting the style of manufacture, brands, crating, shipping, billing,
and the minor details that seem to us to be of little moment and yet which are
of prime importance to the house receiving the goods. It is high time that the
American manufacturer realizes that he can not instantly find a fully developed
wishbone in the egg of foreign trade, but must give the chicken a chance to
hatch and content himself with undertaking to build his business in foreign
lands by the same assiduous, intelligent application that he bestows on local
trade.

A large manufacturer of locks and other hardware suggests:
Commercial treaties with Russia and other countries where they are not now
in effect.
27941° pr 2—16—