AMERICAN LUMBER IN FOREIGN MARKETS. 175 



4,000 pounds per 1,000 feet. The duty would be 20 cents per 100 kilos, 

 or about $3.63 per 1,000 feet. Eussian oak is imported and sold by the 

 Handelsgeschaft at Berlin, and in order to meet this double competi- 

 tion American oak lumber would have to be lauded at Eotterdam or 

 Antwerp for about $45 per 1,000, freight to destination and German 

 import duty being additional and subsequently paid by the commission 

 merchant or importing consumer. Ash lumber will have to be similarly 

 landed for from $35 to $40 per 1,000 feet. Veneerings of bird's-eye 

 maple or fine walnut and red birch have also been imported to some 

 extent and are much liked, but the high duty, $11.90 per ton, renders 

 them rather expensive. 



There is also a steady and growing demand for American oak staves 

 of the sizes from 4 to 10 feet in length, which are used by coopers in 

 the wine districts along the Ehine and the Moselle, as well as in Baden 

 and Wiirtemberg. It is worthy of note that such staves for the Ger- 

 man market should be somewhat thicker than those of similar lengths 

 used at home. This is for the reason that European oak is less tough 

 and strong than American, and the coopers here have become accus- 

 tomed to thicknesses which Americans have found to be dispropor- 

 tionate and unnecessary. The German coopers are, however, confirmed 

 in their notions, and it will be well to concede half an inch of extra 

 thickness to this prejudice. Dressed staves of smaller sizes, in which 

 the item of labor forms a large part of the cost of production, can 

 apparently be made as cheaply in Germany as in the United States. 



Carriage lumber, hubs, spokes, felloes, etc., are importedfrom our coun- 

 try to some extent, but mainly by parties in Berlin, who keep a large 

 stock and send traveling salesmen to sell supplies to carriage-builders, 

 who in case of large purchases frequently go or send a competent fore- 

 man to Berlin, where the wood is selected, piece by piece. It is quite 

 probable that a capable agent or local commission merchant in southern 

 Germany could establish direct relations between American exporters 

 and the principal carriage-makers in this section, but it would be 

 necessary to send only selected wood, every piece of which is up to 

 standard, for any defect in quality would be detected and soon break 

 up a direct trade with consumers. 



For the development and maintenance of direct exports of American 

 lumber of any kind to western Germany, no agency would be so effec- 

 tive as an energetic, clever salesman, familiar with the German lan- 

 guage and local methods of business, equipped with samples and 

 authorized to receive trial orders from dealers and consumers under 

 specified guaranties and conditions. If prices and qualities were found 

 satisfactory, a trade could soon be established that would in the end 

 take care of itself. If the sending of such agents is not found feasi- 

 ble, the next best method would be to enlist the services of local com- 

 mission merchants, who should be authorized to make sales on the 

 terms of payment that are offered by dealers who sell native or imported 

 European woods. Exporters who may wish to open correspondence 



