FINANCE  AND  CREDITS  305
can  gold  is  in  demand.  By  taking  advantage ­
  of  these  conditions  much  money
can  be  saved  in  the  course  of  a  long  trip.
The  opening  of  American  banks  in  Latin
America  will  do  much  toward  making  the
dollar  popular  and  travelers  are  advised  to
take  out  letters  of  credit  through  United  States
banks  with  local  branches  in  these  lands.
It  has  been  the  understood  custom  for  the
correspondent  banking  house  on  whom  a  letter
of  credit  was  drawn  to  give  the  holder  all  information ­
  desired  as  to  the  rating  and  financial
standing  of  local  merchants  and  to  aid  him  in
every  way  possible.  This  was  done  in  theory
more  than  in  practice.  Assuming  that  your
letter  of  credit  was  on  an  English  bank  in
Buenos  Aires,  and  that  you  were  selling  cotton ­
  goods,  it  would  be  most  natural  for  the
bank  manager  in  Argentine  to  evade  all  direct
information  as  to  a  possible  customer’s  standing, ­
  especially  if  his  home  institution  had  been
discounting  bills  for  a  good  client  in  England
drawn  against  the  local  merchant.  This  is
generally  the  attitude  of  bank  managers  in