FILES IN SPANISH AMERICA. 



263 



COLON. 

 REPORT RY CONSUL VIFQUAIN. 



(1) There is no demand now for files or anything else; the few deal- 

 ers have enough of a supply to do them for a long time, all industries 

 being virtually dead since the work on the canal has stopped. 



A file is not a luxury, it is not an ornament, it is in fact a tool, and 

 there is only a demand for tools where there is industry. At the pres- 

 ent time there is no such a thing as industry here. But I dare say that 

 if the Panama Canal resumes work the demand for files will be greatly 

 enhanced. 



(2} Files are not imported into this district now. In the good days 

 of the canal there were probably 5 tons of files per annum imported at 

 this place for distribution along the line of the canal, and for the use of 

 the industries necessary to supply the works with the necessary material, 

 such as timber for bridges, fences, ties for railroads, etc. 



The kind imported was nearly all American. There are some English 

 files, also some Belgian; but nearly 99 per cent, are American. 



The English ranks first for temper, the American for cut and shape, 

 the Belgian for cheapness ; but withal the American rules the market. 



(3) Files are not manufactured in this district. 



(4) The price-list of the Troy manufacturers is far in excess of the 

 prices at which files are bought from other American manufacturers, 

 and, as I have been able to secure the exact prices of such files as are 

 here, I deem it wiser to give those prices. The several files cited are 

 bought in the States at wholesale per dozen, as follows : 



To these prices must be added the freight, and they are sold here, as 

 a general rule, at 10 cents Colombian per inch. The profits on these 

 files therefore average 100 per cent, at the present rate of exchange. 



The prices in the States of the four different manufactures cited are 

 virtually the same. 



(5) I have found no other files in this market for sale than those 

 cited, and there is no tariff on files in this consular district. There are 

 no charges between the manufacturer in the States and the merchants' 

 stores here except the freight on the goods. 



VICTOR VIFQUAIN, 



Consul. 

 UNITED STATES CONSULATE, 



Colon. October 1, 1889. 



