A ugust 3, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
15 
Germany's Favourite Trade Weapon 
By Lewis R. Freeman 
GERMANY was a late entrant in the commercial 
as well as into the Colonial arena, and the 
devious and doubtful methods by which she 
won her Colonies find many parallels in those 
by which she sought to establish her foreign trade. 
Perhaps the most striking and significant parallel of all 
is the one yet to develop, when the end of the war which 
Germany forced upon the world will leave her almost if 
not quite stripped of foreign possessions and seriously 
crippled in her powers to push her foreign trade, at 
least in the manner in which she was doing up to August, 
1914. Luckil}', the only portion of the world that will 
not be better instead of worse as a consequence of this 
consummation is Germany herself, and her plight is so 
entirely her own fault, the bed she must henceforth lie 
on is so much her own making, that there will be found 
few among the Allied or neutral nations to waste their 
sympathy upon her. 
In a previous article in Lasd & Water* I have told 
something of the manner in which Germany employed 
long credits in blazing short-cuts to trade-footings which 
otherwise could hardly ha\'e been attained in decades 
where they were actually won in years. In the present 
article I purpose devoting myself to showing how cheap 
goods (usually but not always of inferior quality) and 
a general underselling were employed to similar ends. 
Cheap Goods 
Everything considered, " cheap goods " were un- 
questionably Germany's most formidable weapon in her 
great campaign for the commercial domination of the 
world, which was launched in the late nineties, and which 
was progressing strongly and successfully when it was 
interrupted by the present war. Low prices always 
have been, and doubtless always will be, the most telling 
argument to put before from 90 to 99 per cent, of the 
buyers of the whole world. The truth is as old as the 
occasion on which men first trafficked with each other 
in stone axes and bone needles, and the discovery of it 
by the Germans is no evidence of notable psychologic 
discrimination on their part. But while an appreciation 
of the lure of low prices is not confined to Germanic 
traders, the development of a system by which that lure 
could be dangled with fullest effect must certainly be 
credited to them. 
Until the Germans came down to the banks of the 
world's trade-pool, the " low price " — in the hands of 
the American, the Briton, the Frenchman — was a worm 
on a bent pin, a minnow on a throw-line, to the con- 
summately played trout-fly it became when the wily 
Teuton began to cast. But just as the trout-fly is more 
likely to get caught in the shrubbery, on a snag, or even 
in the back of the fisherman's own coat than is the hook 
of the throw-line, so did the low price, as manipulated 
by the German, keep him constantly in deep water in 
frantic endeavours to extricate himself from the troubles 
it had led him into. A single instance of the manner in 
which one of these German " trade fishermen " was 
snagged with his own hook is all that I have space to 
set down here, though similar occurrences have come to 
my attention in many parts of the world. 
I was in Buenos Aires eight or nine years ago, just at a 
time when, as a consequence of the increasing attention 
British manufacturers were giving to the special require- 
ments of the Argentine market, goods from the United 
Kingdom were beginning to carry all before them in this 
valuable field. (Last Junet I told how, even in the face of 
war demands and shipping shortages, Britain still supplies 
nearly one-third of all Argentina's imports). British 
threshing machine outfits were already well established, 
and British ploughs, for the simple reason that they 
were doing the work and standing up remarkably well 
under very rough service, had been in increasing demand. 
A stiffening competition from American- agricultural 
• " How Germany has Pushed her Trade." Land & Water, July 6. 
t " South America and the War." Land & Watbr, June i. 
implements was being successfully met partly because 
these were handicapped by high freights and irregular 
steamship service, and partly because the Argentine 
estanciero was accustomed to and pleased with the 
British products. 
An Argentina Episode 
But about the time of my visit to Argentina, Germany, 
following a characteristic practice, had entered the 
market with a number of low-priced implements that 
were, to the casual or inexperienced buyer, apparently 
equal to the best that America and Great 13ritain were 
offering. The more complicated of these German imple- 
ments were hardly well enough constructed even to, 
demonstrate favourably, but' the simpler ones, such as 
ploughs, discs, harrows and the like, were having a tre- 
mendous sale. One plough in particular, because of 
its good finish and extremely low price, was in great 
demand among a certain class of Argentine dealers, 
notably those catering for the trade of tenants and others 
who were usually in debt and had to cut down their 
expenses at every turn. 
The representative of a well-known agricultural house, 
arriving at about this time, found his business in ploughs 
almost at a standstill as a consequence of this German 
competition. The (ierman plough was apparently a 
duplicate of his own in every particular except finish, 
and in this respect it had all the best of the comparison. 
And it was being turned over to the wholesalers at a 
price 25 per cent, lower than the lowest his company per- 
mitted him to quote. Indeed, the price of the German 
implement was lower than that at which the British 
concern could manufacture and lay its plough upon the 
Rio Plate docks for. 
In vain the Englishman explained that his implement 
was of forged steel, whereas the oUier was only cast and 
likely, therefore, to succumb to the first rock or root it 
encountered. The Argentina dealers merely spread 
out their hands, shrugged their shoulders indifferently, 
and muttered " Quien sabe?" \vith their eyes fixed 
dreamily on the ceiling. At length a dealer, more prac- 
tical and considerate than the others, told the English 
salesman that it was a simple business proposition, that 
his customers were buying the cheaper German ploughs 
in preference to the others, and that he had only the 
salesman's word that his implement would more than 
make up in length of service for the difference in price. 
In short, he intimated that he would like ocular evidence 
of the superiority of the British implement. This the 
Englishman readily agreed to give, and it was at a 
" demonstration " that was subsequently arranged 
that, through the courtesy of the British Consul-General, 
I was so fortunate as to be present. 
I found the English salesman already on hand when I 
arrived at the big bodega or warehouse of the Argentine 
implement company. The emergency was one with 
which his natural talents — he was keen, ready, alert, 
and full of his " line " — admirably fitted him to cope. 
" I have explained to Don Carlos," he said, after 
introducing me to the Argentine manager, " the reason 
for the difference in the price of our plough and the 
German imitation, and also why this better quality more 
than makes up for that difference. Just how much 
better the English article is I am going to show him as 
soon as a couple of the German ploughs arrive. Don 
Carlos was all sold out ot them, and I've had him tele- 
phone to the German travelling representative here to 
send over two or three to show to prospective customers. 
He has started the ploughs already and sent word that 
he will come himself shortly to help along the sale. I 
want to make my test before he arrives, because, unless 
I'm very much mistaken, he won't consent to the use of 
his ploughs should he learn what the test is to be." 
The German ploughs arrived presently and proved 
to be, as the Consul-General had assured me, almost 
exact replicas of the British implement in design, and 
rather better than the latter in finish. Wasting no time 
