210 



PAPER IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



transit. The chamber of commerce also gives the name import to 

 goods coming from other districts of Italy as well as from abroad. 



It is not to be supposed that in 1898 the importations suddenly 

 quadrupled, as the above table would indicate. The report of the 

 Venice Chamber of Commerce, from which my information is, in 

 this as in other mentioned instances, drawn, gives comparative 

 tables from 1893 to 1897 for commerce by sea. The figures for 

 1898 cover sea and land importations. 



Germany is the country doing the largest proportion of import 

 business, as shown by the list of the chamber of commerce. I am 

 inclined to think, however, that more paper comes from England 

 than is acknowledged, passing first through other regions of Italy. 

 The finest paper is invariably English. 



The banking, mail, and telegraphic facilities with the European 

 countries of import are all that could be desired. Drafts are drawn 

 on London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Frankfort, and Amsterdam. 

 There are at least four mails daily between Venice and Paris or 

 Vienna. Paris is reached in thirty hours, Vienna in twelve to nine- 

 teen, and London in thirty-six to forty-eight. Of telegraphic com- 

 munications, it is hardly necessary to speak. Charges to France 

 and Germany are 14 centimes (2.5 cents) a word; to England, a 

 trifle more. 



OUTLOOK FOR AMERICAN TRADE. 



I regret to say that I do not see much of an opening for the 

 United States in this field, so far as paper itself is concerned. This 

 is not a great paper-consuming region. Its demand is largely for 

 cheap paper and is fully supplied by native manufactures and im- 

 portations from neighboring countries of Europe. 



Pulp and articles manufactured from paper have almost no trade 

 here. For that reason, the United States might create the demand 

 which it alone can supply. But to do this, it is absolutely essential 

 that manufacturers put their affairs into the hands of personal rep- 

 resentatives and Americans. It is a curious thing that Americans, 

 who certainly do not lack courage and enterprise in domestic opera- 

 tions, should hesitate to venture in the European market. Time 

 and again the Germans or the English risk chances which our own 



