Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, October 25, 1903, Page 32

(Copyright, 1903, by Frank @G. Carpenter.) AMBURG, Germany, Oct. 11.—(Spe- elal Correspondence of The Bee.) —Uncle Sam is the best manufac- turer and the poorest salesman on earth. He knows how to do busi- ness at home, but he tags along at the tail of the procession in his bhusiness methods abroad. le makes great sales because his goods are better than any others, but his trade Is conducted in a slovenly mannel and it might be Increased a hundredf 1d, Nevertheless, it astonishes the nations. We are now selling $1,000,000,000 worth of goods every year to Europe, and our total foreign gales amount to something like $3,000,000 a day Our profits are about $1,000,000 a day, and we might do twice as much and make double the money. What we need is live men on the road. We want Simon-pure Americans, who are educated for the trade. We should copy the Germans. They send their salesmen abroad to study the languages and coun- tries where they are to work. They study the people and make and pack their goods to suit them, I have just come from Russia. The Ger- mans arc doing more busincss there (han any other nation. I met their salesmen on every train and found their commercial agencies in every city. The most of my in- terpreting was done through Germans who spoke Russlan. I found that nearly every man had a large acquaintance and that he knew the standing of the different mer- chants. Several of them told me they had got aslde the Russian trade for thelr life work, and that they expected to stay with it until they had made their fortunes. Some of these men are also handling American goods, but they always put the German goods first. It Is one word for the United Btates and two words for Germany, and as a result the American product has to be by far the better to make a sale. Indecd there is not a better ficld In Xurope than Russia for the American drummer. The market there is beyond conception, enormous. Its imports are close to $1,000,000 a day, and they will double within a few years. IRussia 18 In the infancy of its de- velopment. The wants of the people are like ours, and our goods pleage them better than any other. They are our friends, and they would rather deal with Americans than Germans, English or French. Any bright young American with good commercial instincts can go to Russia and make a successful life business of handling Amerlcan goods, He will have to learn the language and study the market and try to supply it. He might get a chance at the government business, which alone would give him a respectable income, and he could build up a trade which will net him a fortune, There Is room for scores of our young men there, and especially in the Aslatic provinces, I met a number of American salesmen in Russla, The most of them were handling reapers and mowers, threshers and heavy farm tools The opening there for such machines is enormous. The Russian emplre 12 the greatest farm upon earth, and it is now century behind the times Steam plow steam threshers and steamn engines of all kinds can be sold There is a big opening for American pumps, wind mills and gasoline engines, Heavy plows are needed, for the country Is npnow only scratched, and where deep plowing 15 dene there is little danger of a drouth. Our goods are popular and the drummer who speaks Russian will have no trouble in mak- ing sales Another Important field 18 Siberia That ecountry is bigger than all Europe, and the pouthern part of it compares with our wheat lands of the northwest. It is rapidly settling and the openings for American gooda are very great. 1 have told of Enoch A BIBERIAN VILLAGE. HUNGARIAN FARM SCENR Emory, the Cape Cod boy, who made $1,000,- 00 In working the territory In the past. He tells me the opportunities for building up a business in Siberia are enormous. The Ger- mans are attempting it and succeeding They have big houses at Vladivostock, Ir- kutsk and other places, and there is one German firm which has eighteen branches selling everything from a needle to a thresh- ing machine, and from a seidlitz powder to a steam engine American machinery is al- ready well known in Siberia Many of the locomotives on the railroad came from the United States, some of the biggest bridges were bullt by Americans and the people favor American trade, The man who goes there must stuly Ger man and Russian. He must make his own acquaintances and learn the standing of the merchants. He should have cata- logues and price lists In the Russian lan- guay using Russian money, weights and measures, and, if possible, he should carry a stock of goods with him, having a ware- house or supply point here and there along the Trans-Siberian railroad. T am told 1hat goods will bring 25 per cent more if they can be delivered at the time they are sold The Siberian Russians like to s the gools before they buy them and to carry them away when purchased Much of the Siberian business is done upon credit, but the people are sound financlally, as a rule, and they pay their notes, not objecting to a good round inter est At present the demand there is fou our agricultural implements and farm too!s There is also an opening for all kinds of milling and mining machienry, The gov- ernment owns vast tracts, and its orders for foreign toocls are large. The commer- cial traveler will also have a chance to work among the villages, many of which own lands in common, buying their ma- chinery at wholesale. In such trades the sales are made to the head men of the vil- lage, and the drummer should be something of a diplomat and a good mixer. During the past year I have been travel- Ing chiefly in northern Europe along the tracks of our commercial invasion. 1 am told that ¢ ales are Increasing in south- ern ki 1¢ well, and that there 1s a big fleld the for the American drummer. We are already sending something like $30,000,- 000 worth of stuff every year to Austria- Hungary. The American reaper and mower is now cutting the wheat along the Danube; our flour milling machinery is used in Buda Pest, the Minneapolis of Europe; and Vienna 1s importing so much American foods that the home manufacturers are try- ing to prevent them coming in. It is the same with American leather and the Amer- ican shoe, the mechanics having risen up in arms against our footwear Indeed, no country in Europe is so opposed to Amer- fean products as Austria. Nevertheless, the government has recently placed contracts for American machinery to be used in its public improvements to the amount of $100,- 000, 000 rope I met the other day a man who had just come from Barcelona, Spain. He says that city has American sgtreet caras, but they have painted out the names of the Ameri- can makers and put Spanish names in their places. He says that Spain is using American goods ander foreign labels, and that the market 18 now open to American importations, Spain has a foreign trade of about $225,« 000,000 a year, and a large share of this should come to us. This is especlally so, as by the acquirement of the Philippines and Porto Rico we have become to a cer- tain extent Spanish, and are fast acquir- ing Spanish speaking commercial travelers, QOur drummers who go to Spain shoutd be able to speak the language, They should carry a full line of samp!es and should exe pect to do their business by talking rather than by letters and catalogues, The span- fard reads little, but he likes to talk, and is always ready to look at goods. Theoretics ally the commercial traveler is expecied Lo pay a tax in Spain, but he seldom does =o. There is also a good opening 1 Poruu- gal, but the drummer who goes therc must call on the governor of the first port at which he stops and get a residence permit, This will cost him $2, and if he establisnes kimself for gencral business he will have to pay a tax of from $150 to $280 per annum. The American drummer will have littie trouble in I1taly if he speaks French or Italian, or even Spanish, IHe will find a wideawake country and one that is doing an enormous amount of farming, m:ning and manufacturing. Italy is three times as big as Indiana and its population is more than one-third that of the United States, It is a country of wealth, notwithstanding the many statements that it is poor. Its foreign trade amounts to more than $500,« 000,000 a year, and it buys almost $00,0),000 worth of goods annually, one-tenth of its purchases being from the United States, We send Italy farm machinery, farm tools, food products and raw materials in the ghape of cotton and other things. The country has 2,000,000 spindles in its cotton mills, and they turn out a product of $60,- 000,000 a year, There are 80,000 hands em= ployed in these cotton mills. A large busie ness is done in iron and steel and also in silk and flour. At present the branches of our trade which are selling most are those dealing in heavy farm machinery. Italy has some- thing like 50,000,000 acres of farms, and al-"' though parts of the country, like the plains of Lombardy, are well cut up by mulberry plantations and irrigating ditches, our hay rakes and reapers and mowers can be used. The McCormicks, the Deerings and a num- ber of other harvester companies have their agents on the ground and they tell me their trade is increasing. There {s considerable business done in electrical machinery by the General KElectric company and the Westinghouse company. Many of the towns already have eclectric railroads and electrie lights, and telephones are being put in al- most everywhere There Is an American in Florence who Is making carbide for aceiylene gas and there are American importers in Milan and Genoa I am told that it would pay well to open American warehouses in both Genoa and Milan. Genoa has direct connection with the United States and it is to a large ex- tent the commercial center of Italy. It has one of the best harbors of the Mediter- ranean sea, having spent something like $20,000,000 during the present generation on harbor improvements. This is to be still farther increased by a breakwater which will cost about $6,000,000. I understand that American contractors have offered to un- dertake the job and to accept bonds in pay- ment therefor, Milan has something like 500,000 people. It is the center of trade for the Lombardy plains and is a splendid place for the sale of farming tools and farm machinery. It has many factories and its wholesale houses have connections with every part of Italy, (Continued on Page Fifteen.)