THE ^YAR AND FOREIGN TRADE 355 



THE WAR AND FOREIGN TRADE 



By H. E. miles, Racine, Wis. 

 vice-president of the association of manufactdreks 



WE of the United States are nothing if not trade-getters and trade- 

 makers. Within our boundaries are forty-eight separate states 

 and commonwealths, with great diversity in tastes, habits and require- 

 ments. Within these boundaries has been developed the greatest vol- 

 ume of trade and of production, both agricultural and manufacturing, 

 of any nation in the world, by far the greatest accomplishment being 

 in the single generation just passing. 



The small manufacturer is constantly adding another state or terri- 

 tory as his factory grows and trade expands. He " takes on " Texas, 

 New England or Wisconsin. He is thoroughly accustomed to meeting 

 the special requirements of a district new to him as respects goods, 

 credits and trade customs. He is indifferent whether the distance is a 

 hundred miles or two thousand. 



I can not accept the often-repeated statement that the American 

 manufacturer lacks adaptability; that his attitude toward any market 

 he cultivates is that of "take it or leave it.'' Fashion is fickle in the 

 United States; invention is inconsistent and startling. Wherever 

 either have extensive play, or territories vary in their demands, Amer- 

 ican manufacturers are chameleon-like in their easy and quick adapta- 

 bility. It is so much a cardinal principle with them always to have 

 "something new" that the trade has almost come to demand "some- 

 thing new" even if not so good as the old. I know many factories 

 into which samples are frequently brought and perfectly duplicated. 

 When the American manufacturer refuses to change his patterns it is 

 because it will not pay to do so from the evidence in hand. 



Nor need we talk longer about packing, as if all South America, for 

 instance, would be at our feet if only we would pack our goods accept- 

 ably. Only yesterday I heard of an American shipment that slid down 

 a mountain side without damage to package or contents. Packing must 

 be paid for, like any other service, and the American who makes good 

 goods is very thoughtful of his packing. He has only to know what is 

 needed in any foreign market, as some now do, and as all do in the 

 home market. 



In short, the American has only to put his mind upon the foreign 

 market with that intensity with which he has developed the home 

 market near and far and in all its aspects, when he will be in the way 

 of making himself at home and his customers happy wherever it will 

 pay so to do. The question is rather where will it pay now and what 

 can be done to make profitable such other trade as Ave are not now 

 entitled to in those products in which for any reason Europe excels ns, 

 and in what manner shall we go about the problem. 



