534 
Commercial  Ethics. 
I  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
August,  19 19. 
try  may  make  the  opening  of  trade  depend  on  financial  aid  to  the 
buyer,  either  in  the  form  of  loans  or  merchandise  consignments,  for 
a  year  or  more,  and  this  concession  takes  at  least  6  per  cent,  bodily 
out  of  the  profits.  And  our  far-sighted  merchant  consents  when 
able,  because  he  is  building  up  successful  trade  relations,  and  is  not 
scheming  for  one  or  two  profitable  orders ;  he  is  not  making  a  raid 
on  the  market ;  he  is  disposing  of  his  output  in  the  years  to  come. 
Overstocking  of  Customers  Objectionable — Reputable 
Houses  Should  Have  Preference. 
In  the  organization  of 'their  sales  forces  the  largest  and  best  con- 
cerns of  the  United  States — and  this  is  equally  true  of  like  concerns 
in  South  America — do  not  demand  of  new  commercial  travelers  a 
great  sheaf  of  orders  on  their  first  trips,  regardless  of  consequences; 
what  they  do  require  is  a  showing  on  subsequent  trips,  a  constantly 
growing  clientele  on  the  firm  ground  of  satisfaction  and  confidence. 
Indeed,  I  have  known  salesmen  to  be  summarily  dismissed  by  such 
concerns  for  persistently  overstocking  customers  on  big  orders  regu- 
lar in  every  way  but  too  forcefully  stimulated. 
In  brief,  the  responsible  concerns  of  North  and  South  America 
on  whom  we  depend  for  Pan-American  solidarity,  practice  a  far- 
sighted  system  of  foreign  trading  designed  for  a  term  of  years  and 
predicated  on  the  smiling  satisfaction  of  their  customers ;  specu- 
lative order  taking  has  no  place  in  their  program. 
It  must  also  be  said  that  our  South  American  brothers  should 
prefer  their  trade  relations  with  North  American  houses  of  estab- 
lished high  repute,  if  they  want  the  certainty  of  fair  treatment.  For 
those  concerns  only  are  the  ones  which  know  they  must  protect 
their  investment  and  their  good  will  by  judicious  settlement  of  such 
errors  of  practice  and  misunderstanding  as  may  inadvertently  occur. 
It  is  the  experience  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Com- 
merce, in  its  role  as  volunteer  mediator  of  Pan-American  trade 
disputes,  that  representative  North  American  houses  are  zealously 
eager  to  make  the  amende  honorable  every  time.  On  the  other 
hand,  irresponsible  commercial  pirates  regard  any  deal  as  closed 
after  they  have  secured  their  money  and  they  avoid  adjudication  as 
a  burglar  does  a  police  court. 
There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  superabundance  of  information  about 
any  man  or  his  concern  when  we  are  dealing  with  him  for  the  first 
