368 MALT AND BEER IN .SPANISH AMERICA. 



There are many large houses which could easily nifoixl to send ac- 

 credited representatives, equipped with a sufficient knowledge of Span- 

 ish and prepared to treat with the importing firms of this and other 

 Venezuelan centers. 



In my dispatch of January 21, last, referring to commercial matters 

 generally, I laid especial stress upon the necessity of active and aggress- 

 ive representation on the part of our merchants and manufacturers, 

 and I can think of no branch of business to which this advice is more 

 applicable than that of American beers, wines, and liquors. 



Moreover, the direct intervention of the brewers by means of travel- 

 ing agents would do away with the present necessity of employing com- 

 mission houses at New York and other exporting points, whose charges 

 are rarely less than 5 per cent, upon invoice value. 



This 5 per cent, added to the excessive import duties caused by the 

 peculiarities of the Venezuelan tariff form such a burden that competi- 

 tion with European exporters is almost an impossibility. 



The demand in this district for American beer, even when offered at 

 low prices, is but small, as it is light lager which has not the strength 

 suitable to the palates of the people, nor does it keep when stored. 



Bad corkage is perhaps responsible to a certain extent for this last 

 drawback. 



The experiment of making beer in Venezuela has been tried in Cara- 

 cas, but the results have not been encouraging. 



In Bogota, Colombia, which has an elevation above sea-level of some- 

 thing more than 8,000 feet, an excellent beer is brewed from Indian 

 corn, which has a ready and extensive sale at the rate of 80 cents per 

 dozen. 



In Venezuela the beer consumption is very great, and in the most 

 isolated and distant points of the interior it is always to be found. I 

 have no doubt that should our brewers send good beer in casks and 

 have always a constant and sufficient supply of ice for its preservation 

 large quantities could be sold on draught. There is no reason also why 

 a brewery may not be established even in the city of Maracaibo. It is 

 true that the heat is here intense, and, without the means of producing 

 artificial cold, such an enterprise could not for a moment be projected, 

 but as now there are many processes for reducing the temperature of 

 large rooms even to zero at a moderate cost this difficulty might be thus 

 overcome. Beer made from maize has always been well received in 

 these countries and this product is here as a rule exceedingly cheap. 



Should the disadvantages of climate be thus obviated Maracaibo 

 would be an exceptionally favorable locality for such an enterprise, as 

 it is the distributing point not only for an immense section of Vene- 

 zuela, but also for the entire northeast of Colombia. 



The preceding remarks contain the answer to this quest-on, and to 

 resume briefly, as far as American beer is concerned, 1 beg to state 



(a) The brewers should send representatives to study the market and 

 treat; diiectly with the importers. 



