HARDWOOD RECORD 



41 



consequently interchangeable. In addition, 

 they are provided with heavy tongue and 

 grooving and where it is necessary to end- 

 joint two pieces, they are put together with 

 a spline, which insures a solid joint. Cy- 

 press, naturally, is largely used in silo con- 

 struction, a perfectly clear grade being neces- 

 sary. 



Except on special orders, and in the case 

 of rectangular tanks, shipments are usually 



made in knocked-down state, special mechan- 

 ics being sent for erection. The purchasers of 

 silos are required to do their own erecting, 

 all parts being usually guaranteed to fit 

 perfectly. In building the supports for tanks, 

 proper head-joists must be provided, as no 

 pressure should be allowed to come on the 

 ends of the staves. The final preparation and 

 only protection or waterproofing is, in most 

 cases, a thorough painting of exposed parts. 



Our Export Trade With Argentina 



The Argentine Eepublic is a country 

 toward which ipany manufacturers of the 

 United States are now looking with longing 

 eyes. They are hearing much of its valuable 

 but undeveloped resources, its vast and in- 

 creasing requirements of foreign supplies 

 with which to develop them, its great finan- 

 cial wealth — and are beginning to think that 

 they want to ' ' get in on the ground floor ' ' 

 where commercial relations are concerned. 



However, the manufacturer in any line, 

 who has an ambition to break into the ex- 

 port trade and work up for himself a steady 

 and lucrative foreign business, must make up 

 his mind to a number of propositions which 

 to him will prove startling innovations at 

 first, and which in many instances discourage 

 the new exporter out of trying, but which 

 the man who is successful is obliged to come 

 to in due course. 



One of the things he is sure to find neces- 

 sary is to spend money — ' ' lose money ' ' is the 

 expression most often applied; and so in- 

 deed it proves to be where the exporter is not 

 over-serious in his desire to build up a 

 trade; where he goes into it temporarily dur- 

 ing passing dullness in the domestic market; 

 where he has insufficient knowledge of re- 

 quirements and does not trouble to study 

 them out; or where he has inadequate re- 

 sources for handling such a business. 



Manufacturers of the United States, in all 

 Unes, are too prone to imagine that they 

 are making the only goods on earth worth 

 having, and that consequently merchants in 

 an "out-of-the-way place" like Argentina 

 need only have the products explained to 

 them and be shown a catalogue or two, or at 

 most some samples — to realize at once that 

 they have heretofore been living in darkness, 

 and bow down in admiration before these 

 revelations of Yankee ingenuity I 



These notions "Usten well," but, alas I 

 they are not true. For once the would-be 

 exporter makes a personal visit or sends a 

 competent representative to this field — as he 

 certainly should do in order that he may not 

 receive second-hand the essential information 

 without which he cannot hope to succeed — 

 what an awakening! Perhaps he has thought 

 that he was working in new and undeveloped 

 country where it is too soon for formidable 

 competition to exist, where trade is an un- 

 settled condition, and the people have as yet 

 no very strongly established customs and 

 prejudices. If so he will be very much aston- 



ished to see that while home manufacturers 

 have been busy with domestic afEairs, or 

 have been concentrating their attention on 

 already overworked foreign markets, the 

 French, Italians, Germans and English — par- 

 ticularly the two latter, have secured a strong 

 and widespread foothold in the Argentine. 



Too much stress cannot be laid upon the 

 necessity of a manufacturer visiting this field 

 before attempting to do much business here. 

 Such a trip may convince him that it will 

 not pay him to undertake such trade at all. 

 On the other hand, if he finds he can easily 

 enter into it, he will gather a fund of in- 

 formation as to requirements, prejudices, etc., 

 which will be invaluable to him in catering 

 to Argentine buyers, on his return. 



In either case it will be money well in- 

 vested, as it is sure to prevent loss; in the 

 first instance by keeping the manufacturer 

 out of something which can only result un- 

 satisfactorily to all concerned; in the second, 

 by enabling him to equip and instruct his 

 factory in such a manner that his very first 

 shipments will turn out as they should, rather 

 than arrive at this desideratum by a long 

 series of blundering and costly experiences! 

 For unless a manufacturer makes up his 

 mind to go into this export business seriously, 

 and stick to it — he had far better keep out 

 entirely; and whether or not he will care to 

 do this can only be determined by personal 

 inspection of the market. 



If this visiting manufacturer has imagined 

 that the chief duty of an agent in Buenos 

 Aires, for instance, is to stroll leisurely into 

 his oflSce about 10 a. m., open the mail and 

 dispose of numerous inquiries, step out for a 

 few calls and gather up orders which are 

 awaiting his appearance, return home for 

 breakfast and take two hours for a little 

 ' ' siesta, ' ' then repeat the morning program 

 until time for the afternoon promenade-drive, 

 he will do well to accompany constantly for 

 a few days, some salesman who really repre- 

 sents his house. 



On calling at many ofSces it is common 

 to be told that "about seven in the morning 

 or evening is the best time to catch the man- 

 ager" — so that it is not at all unusual to 

 have appointments at 7 a. m. or p. m. ! On 

 the other hand, most houses close up for a 

 couple hours while aU the employees go home 

 for lunch, so that it is quite impossible to 

 do outside work in the middle of the day. 

 Again, this is a great "maiiana" (tomorrow) 



country; every newcomer in the foreign busi- 

 ness colony is exasperated beyond measure 

 by being told repeatedly to call again tomor- 

 row, or that perhaps tomorrow a certain mat- 

 ter will be decided. But although he repeats 

 las visit as suggested, he is told the same 

 thing again and again, with the same un- 

 embarrassed politeness! The motto "Do It 

 Now ' ' — be the matter ever so small — never 

 finds place in an Argentine oflice. 



Each order of importance thus means many 

 calls of the salesman before and after secur- 

 ing; it means figuring against strong compe- 

 tition; shaving bottom prices to the very 

 limit ; endless figuring and comparisons with 

 other quotations ; discussion and hair-splitting 

 on every detail of marking, packing, etc. 

 Moreover, it means that after all this, should 

 goods on arrival deviate somewhat from the 

 exact type ordered — though just as good in 

 every respect — a disagreeable claim and per- 

 haps a heavy loss will follow. 



American manufacturers claim that the 

 French, German and English have ' ' spoiled ' ' 

 the trade in this market by catering to unim- 

 portant details, but whether or not this is so, 

 the fact remains that they have secured the 

 bulk of it through their careful study of, 

 and attention to, all the needs and requests 

 of buyers here. Generally speaking, they fur- 

 nish exactly what is stipulated on orders, or 

 state frankly that they cannot do so. They 

 do no substituting of unused and hence un- 

 wanted patterns. They pay the most careful 

 attention to packing, marking, etc., putting up 

 their products in the securest, neatest and 

 most attractive form. They give measure- 

 ments, sizes, etc., based on the metric system, 

 which is used exclusively here, and is there- 

 fore the only really acceptable one. They 

 furnish printed matter in Spanish. They fill 

 the majority of orders within the time agreed. 

 They extend much longer credit, and figure 

 less interest. And, above all, they make few 

 errors in shipments! 



Taking up these points in order, just the 

 opposite holds true of the majority of Amer- 

 ican ex-porters. If they cannot furnish what 

 is stipulated, they will attempt to come some- 

 where near the mark, and let it go at that — 

 rather than first communicate with the cus- 

 tomer. They will, unauthorized, substitute 

 goods which are never used in this market, on 

 the supposition that they would sell readily 

 at home and hence will do so here — a hypo- 

 thesis which is entirely incorrect. 



Apropos of this was a recent shipment of 

 bathtubs from the United States to a prom- 

 inent dealer here, ordered with "outside fix- 

 tures," but which came in the ordinary style, 

 with combination nickel faucets inside. Now 

 the custom here is to set these in the wall 

 above the tub; and so clients absolutely re- 

 fused these goods — which finally had to be 

 sold at auction — on the grounds that ' ' Per- 

 sons bathing are liable to be seriously in- 

 jured by having faucets inside the tub!" 



Idiotic as this reasoning may be, it is not 

 the business of exporters to question it; it 

 is not for them to deny the Argentine house- 



