SALESMAN  AND  CUSTOMER  245
guage  of  the  Dons  he  will  ask  you  to  do  so  in
that  of  the  Gauls.  Only  in  the  largest  establishments ­
  of  the  big  seaport  towns  will  one  find
merchants  with  an  employe  or  two  familiar
with  English.  It  is  therefore  obvious  without
a  knowledge  of  Spanish  a  salesman  in  this  territory ­
  is  hopelessly  and  seriously  handicapped.
In  fact  he  is  inefficient.  Europeans  recognizing ­
  the  importance  of  this  employ  only  representatives ­
  speaking  the  languages  of  the  countries ­
  wherein  they  travel.  I  recall  meeting  a
German  in  Assam  talking  fluently  the  native
tongue  and  later  ran  across  him  in  Arabia  conversing ­
  in  Arabic  in  the  market  place.  Americans ­
  have  never  been  linguists,  but  in  our
business  lexicon  there  should  be  no  such  word
as  “impossible.”
I  remember  an  American  traveller  for  an
oil  machinery  house  startling  those  in  the  dining ­
  room  of  the  leading  hotel  in  Lima,  Peru,
by  pointing  to  the  menu  and  alternately  grunting ­
  and  squealing  aloud.  He  could  not  talk
Spanish.  In  a  few  moments  the  place  was  in
an  uproar.  Some  thought  he  had  gone  crazy;