Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, October 18, 1903, Page 32

How Europe is Warring Upon Our Foreign Trade OUR FUTURE COMPETITORS.—8WISS CHILDREN FROM A TECHNICAL SCHOOL, (Copyright, 1908, by Frank G. Carpenter.) OPENHAGEN, Oct, b.--(8pecial Correspondence of The Bee.)-—1 want to « ribe some of the 3 ways in which the Europeans are . fighting Amer can trade. Th» fight Is made both by nations and inii videal!s. The governments are doing 1. by tariffs and by the hypercritical in pe-tion of American gocds., The individuals are cairying on their war in all sirts of wayvs, horest and dishonest Toe worst m:thd is in the copying of Ame i an trade marks, and in the seliing of «(h ap and nasty Europcan stuff as Amer'can. [ finl imita tlons of our dollar nickel clocks =old h ro In Copenhagen, The sa ere ofercd in the . tores of Christiania and Stockho!m, as well as in France and Germany., Tho Sfw s copy American watches, They make im.ta- tions of our bettes cle t'mekeepors, such as zcll for ¥ or $10, usir old fil'ed cases with Swiss movements. Such watches poass as simon-pure American How m 'ny Am rican wa‘ch cases dy 101 think the Swise u e? In gome years they im o-t 260,00, and, placng their own movemcn's in them, te'l them elther as Swiss watches or as Am ri- can watches, We muke a belier case thin thcy do, and our wateh movements are -old side by side with the Swiss goods in - Zurich, Berne, Geneva and the other towns of Switzerlard, You would not think Amer« an toys could be :old in Germany, the coun :y whi'h has posed for years as the grca! toy shop of the world. They are, and th: Yankec nov eltica are now copled by th: Germans anl 60id as Amer.cin toys, In farm machinery half a dozen nations aro copying the American patterng and sell- Ing them under one name or another. Swe- den will copy anything, and the Germans likewise, Trade marks are no protection, and In some cases the American name re chipped off and Amerlcan tools gold as for- elgn tools. Where the name is valuable it Is left on, or possibly usged to sell a Furo- pean-made imitation, 1 have desceribed how a Swiss factory labeled one of Its reapers and mowers the Cormick, and sold It as such until, a suit being instituted by the American McCormick, they changed the name to ths IHelvetla. In many places in Europe our firearms are imitated and their patterns pirated Germany and Belgium Import certain paris of American firearms of well known makes and ingert them in their home-made guns, selling the whole as American. One Ger- man firm has been making a cheap imita- tion of an American revoly using a trade mark which is almost a copy of the Ameri- can. The case bears the words “Smith & Wesson cartridges may be used In this revolver,” the name of the firm being in such large letters that the ignorant cus- temer who cannot read believes that it is e American article and buys It is the wamo with other goods, Cheap imitations of American products are made for China, Africa and South America, and are shipped there to be sold as American in competi- tion with our higher-priced, but far better nroduct Such imitations are dishonest and are car- ried on only in an underhand way. The governments are fighiting their battles more above board, but not much. In Germany I waa told that secret instructions had been sent out to the local authorities to give no ir formation concerning German products to American consuls, implying that Ameri- can goods were to be discriminated against, This was cspecially so as to American meats Our importers tell me that inspection is sometimes held off until the meat spoils and that meats marked with the approved examination of our Agricultural depart- ment are often thrown out as bad. A few years #“go the importers offered 1,000 marks for a case of trichina caused by American meat in Germany. There has beea plenty of German trichina since then, but go far the prize for the Am-rican article he yet to be claimed The German of- lcial try to keep out American lard, but the Hamburg chamber of commerce had it assayed by a noted German chemist and then | 'solution that all charges s ssed a v against it were based on prejudice or gt Ignorance The agrarian party, composed chiefly of the land holders and the officials of the German government, is making a syste- matic war on American food stuffs It throws them out on the slightest irregu- larity and on every possible pretense. T s e M i ‘ ‘ “ ) tl This is 80 not only as to the ordinary food stuffs, but as to fresh and canned fruits. The canned fruits are criticised on account of the method of packing. The fresh fruits are discriminated against on the charge that they may bring tree dis- eases Cr no s Insects into the countries As to appl the Germans try to keep them out on the ground they may bring in the San Jose scale, and it is the same as to pears Otherwise this market might be worlh a great deal to our orchardists. As it is now American baldwins, russcts and greenings are bringing from §7 to $11 a barrel, and it is not uncommon for one to pay from 5 cents to 5 cents for a fine pear. Our apples also sell at high prices in England, and they might be s=old in France, Belgium and Holland The best wiay to pack apples for shipment to Europe is to pick them one by one and wrap them in fine tissue piper. They should be put in ventilated barrels or cases Recently keifer pears have been shipped successfully in this way. The American shoe has tho « its enemties In oemaking establishments of every European town, and numerous strikes have bcen caused by its importation. I know one man who tried to open American £hoe ¢tore in Vienna, but was to'd that he would be mobbed if he did so. Leicester, the chief shoemaking center of Great Brit- ain, Is up in arms against the American shoe, and it now trying to fight it by copying it, It has imported American shoe- making machinery and American leather, It has Amcrican experts to show its men hew to handle the machines, but so far its succ in making a competitor of the American shoe is small. There are 11,000 members in the boot and shoe trade in Leicester, and shoemaking has been car- ried on there for generations, A great deal of the:rew shoemaking machinery comes from Boston, something like $100,000 worth having been recently imported. I was told in Germany that American machines have been imported by the shoe- makers, and that factories near Berlin are fmitating the American lasts. 1 saw such Iimitations for sale in the cities, but it is easy to see that they are not the real article. One of the greatest openings for the AMERICAN MEAT IS RIGIDLY INSPECTED IN EUROPR American shoe s In Russia. Teather {s cheap in all parts of that country and there is a vast amount of raw material in the shape of skilled shoemakers, who will work at low prices in an American factory, if one should be established there. The French have now a tarifft on our shoes, which practically excludes them. They are much liked, and are generally considered better and more stylish than the French shoe. The French have been noted for generations for their fine leather, but they are now buying American glazed kid to use in shoemaking, and they consider our leather the best in Europe. One phase of the attempt to withstand American competition is seen in the com- missions and individuals which are being sent to the United States to look into our factories and business methods. It used to be that the Germans sent their young men to England to study commerce and trade. They are now sending them to the United States to go into our factories and counting houses. 'The English send over a commis- sion of capitalists or laborers every few months, and it is the same with other countries. The people consider us fools in that we tell them our business secrets, not realizing that the American gets up a new scheme every vear, and that the business of today is always behind the business of to- morrow. I found American experts in the different factories all over Europe, and also many forcigners who have been educated in the American factories. Indeed, our country is now a school for Europe as far as banking, manufacturing and advanced business methods are concerned. At the same time nearly every European country is preparing for its industrial bat- tles of the future by training its workmen, and the drill of the industrial army prom- ises to be as Important as that of the mili- tary forces. The Germans lead in this work. Nearly every town has its technical schools, and the manufacturing districts are peppered with them. In Chemnitz, which might be called the Manchester of Germany, a great weaving center, there are thirty schools where children are taught to make braids and trimmings. At Glauchau there {s a high school for weav- ing. In the Harz mountains there are schools for toymakers, and in the valley of the Ruhr there are many schools in which all branches of steel and iron mak- ing are taught. Germany has schools for foremen as well es for laborers. It has schools of com- merce, where the pupils are taught all \@bout importing and exporting, and it has & half dozen commercial high schools. Our big electrical companies are doing business all over Europe, and in many of the countries there is little attempt te fight them. The Westinghouse company and the General Electric company practi- cally control the electrical market of Great Britain. The Westinghouses are doing a big business in Russia and also in Austria, Italy, Belgium, France and in Norway and Sweden. The Bwiss have a good compete ‘lnx company and the Germans have four \great electrical companies, which do an -enormous business side by side with the ‘American companies. Nearly all the for- elgn companies, however, use more or less American machinery, and some are worked fn connection with the American compa- niles. The Unlon Electrische Geselischaft s an associate of the General Electric. It ‘hns American machinery and an American 'foreman. There are Americans employed n the works of the other companies, and #n some cases there are American salesmen on the road, Bweden has its own electrical company and there are several competing companies in Great Britain. Both the Westinghouse ’lnd the General Electric operating in Great Britain claim to be British companies, ale though they are In reality mere branches of the American institutions. By calling them- |selves British they remove the prejudice iugulnsl American-made goods, and by put- ting a lord or 8o on their board of directorg they have made themselves popular. Both ‘comp.’ullcs have large establishments ia (Continued on Page Fifteen.) N !