W-T y f
The Commoner
JUNE, 3935
31
" ,?wil'!$vf?'mi'i'lmW
immediate cash for his labor and often for his
materials. If he under these conditions is to sell
on very long credits he must be paid for so doing
in the prices that he must charge. Long credits,
therefore, do not permit cheap goods for the
buyer, but the reverse. The manufacturer who
can close an account quickly and proceed to an
other transaction can afford through the rapid
turn-over of his funds to sell at a margin impos
sible for him who by reason of long credits must
do business on a more extended and more costly
basis.
On the otlier hand, it is of course true that the
solvent merchant who may not be able to afford
cash with documents for goods which may be
weeks in reaching him may still Have credit am
ply good to warrant advances on the part of a
banker to pay for actual merchandise from which
when sold the seller will receive more than suffi
cient to repay the loan. The more normal process
of trade, therefore, would seem to be not for the
buyer to call upon the seller to grant long terms,
with the corresponding disadvantage in prices,
but for the banker to intervene, and seeking
only normal interest on sound loans to carry the
transaction over from the seller to the buyer in
such wise as to be a burden to. neither, while
profiting himself for his useful service.
ABSOLUTE STANDARDS OF PRACTICE
There is, however, another side to this whole mat
ter. Just as it is true that some houses prefer to
buy cash against documents so it is true that there
are large houses among our industries that are
willing to sell on long terms. At this point, how
ever, comes in another principle, which is quite as
important as that either of prompt cash or long
time, and this is the principle that however pay
ment is to be arranged it should be the absolute
standard of practice that it should be made just as
it is arranged. If we must plead guilty in part
to such ignorance of credits abroad on the part
of some of our sellers as induces them at times
unwisely to demand cash against documents, it
is also true that sometimes our sellers who have
extended the longer credits demanded have not
received payment at their maturities. What is
essential seems to me to be the carrying out of
the transaction with equal accuracy in all its
forms. If the buyer desires goods shipped by a
certain steamer on a certain day he should him
self be prepared to make his payment with sim
ilar certainty. If this one thing were done, a
serious difficulty would immediately disappear
from our mutual transactions.- It is so evidently
sound that I venture to hope the influence of
those here assembled may be exerted strongly
and continuously in its favor.
Having spoken thus frankly on one phase, let
us now proceed with equal plainness to another.
It is perfectly welrtcnown to our friends in Latin
America that we of the north lack the more gra
cious and formal manners' so pleasantly visible
throughout our sister nations to the south. Wo
have not the same courteous style in correspond-"
ence. We lack the recognition of the politeness
es which so pleasantly illuminate the path of our
Latin-American brethren. We are thought abrupt
if not rude in manner and in speech especially
in written speech and if this be taken relatively
it has in it a certain measure of truth. Our busi
ness proverbs do not tend to cultivate the charm
of business intercourse. We speak of "getting
to the point," or we say the "gist of it is so-and-so,"
as if the commercial result were the sole
thing involved in business intercourse. In this
we may grant you we are losers, for in believing
there is no sentiment in business we lose sight of
the fact that there is after all a great deal of
sentiment in commerce, which is indeed more in
fluenced by sentiment than many of us like to
think. We lose the charm of the personal and
friendly touch and become too nearly automatic
in our commercial affairs, tu:ning our salesmen
too nearly into selling machines and depriving
them in their business work of the finer sides of
life. $A11 this is true. It has arisen in part out of
the circumstances of our history and out of the
differences of background. It does not mean,
-however, all that it seems to mean, for behind
the abrupt word and the curt speech lie often the
hand and heart of a willing friend. A man who
signs himself "yours truly" may be as genuinely
a friend as he of the more formal address; and
if we upon our part have to learn something of
the more stately courtesy of speech, possibly
there may be need to be learned something also
on the other hand of how much genuine charac
ter and good will may be crowded into brief
words.
There is, I venture to think, sometimes a tend
ency in other lands to regard us as ill-bred be
cause of this assumed brevity of speech or be
cause of certain characteristics of language or of
manner that seem, to say tho least, peculiar to
people accustomed to statelier ways of inter
course. I have no doubt that this conception has
wrought a double harm. It has upon the one
hand led to a misunderstanding of tho genulno
spirit behind tho brusque words and actions and
upon the other hand to a misapprehension on our
part of the value of courtesies which make life
both tolerable and comfortable. For my part I
am willing to ngreo that we have much to learn
in the amenities of commerce. I onlv plead for
my countrymen concerning this, that they are
kindlier, more genuine, more sincere, and alto
gether more worthy than they may seem to be
when projected against a background to which
they have had no opportunity to be accustomed.
May we think together now of certain matters
that should be (to use our current phrase)
"ironed out" before we shall reach that readi
ness of intercourse so greatly to be desired be
tween us. Busiuess to move freely should be as
nearly automatic as possible. Its processes
should be simple, direct, inexpensive. Anything
which puts an obstacle in the way of the easy
interchange of commerce affects that commerce
only hurtfully. The currents of trade should
flow for mutual good along the lines of least re
sistence. Practically, the question of licenses for
commercial travelers is sometimes a soriQiis one.
We used to have them here in various forms be
tween our several states, and in one or another
way efforts have from time to time been made to
tax in one state travelers coming from another.
This has all passed away under the overshad
owing protection of our federal constitution, un
der which commerce is absolutely free and un
restricted between the sovereign states which
form this republic. I feel that between nations
a tax in the form of licenses for commercial trav
elers is simply another way of restraining com
merce from proceeding; that it is simpler, cheap
er, and in the final result far wiser to avoid
such forms of expense imposed on trade in order
that from tho larger trade which grows normally
when it moves freely greater revenues may in
more normal ways be secured.
We do not suggest, nor have we in the back
of our thought, that any privilege should be ex
tended us not granted on equal terms to others.
We want no special favors in the peaceful con
tests of commerce. We think it would be better
for all concerned if there were as little as pos
sible in the way of obstacles put in tho way of
the trade of all peoples. The least necessary
friction on the flow of commerce seems to us tho
wisest course.
We think it should be made a matter of care
that your great commercial centers should be
connected with those of all the world on an equal
basis. It should be as cheap and convenient for
you to communicate from your cities with ours as
with those of Europe. At present it is possible
for you to cable from some of your cities to Eu
ropean points at a considerably less cost than to
our own, and in some cases the difference is strik
ing. Without knowing how far this matter may
be within the direct control of your several gov
ernments, it seems to me that a sound policy can
be laid down on this subject in this way: It
should be as easy and as cheap for all America
to communicate with itself as it is for it to com
municate with lands across the sea. There ought
to be no handicap or telegraphic rates between
American countries in favor of European ones.
We of America are in a sense of one international
family and we should see to it that the family
is not at a disadvantage in this important re
spect. TRANSPORTATION LINES NEEDED
The same thing is true in matters of trans
portation. I suppose no nation has ever paid so
great a premium on behalf of its commerce as
we have paid in the cost of the Panama canal. If
we are to get the results of that investment there
must be ships under our own control to navi
gate that canal wherever and as often and of
such a character as the needs of our commerce
require. This one might think is purely a mat
ter for ourselves, but It is not wholly so. It ought
to be the case that all of the peoples here repre
sented shall be bound together by ocean transit
lines as frequent and as good as those which
ply from any land to our common ports.
Upon these general statements most men will
agree, save, perhaps, those whose direct interest
in this subject may lead them to look with nor
mal hesitancy upon a larger competition in their
own field of activity. The nations require bet
ter means of transportation. More and better
ships are necessary to bring your goods to us and
ours to you; aye, to bring you here and take ui
yonder. It is a vital necessity that if America
is to be more closely knit togcthor it should b .
made as easy and as rapid as possible for tin to
go and for you to como and for our letters and
our goods to move frequently and with speed.
We aro In this country in tho humiliating posi
tion of doing our foreign trade by tho consent of
those other peoples who have tho ships to carry
it. This consout is of course given bo long as It
is profitable for them to give It. The danger of
the situation lies In tho fact that our interest
may not always be common, and when they di
verge they may if they will divert the means
whereby our commerce lives. 80 long as they
need the things that we produce and can profit
by moving them for us they will of course do It;
but if some sterner necessity arose with them
that might neither bo ablo nor willing so to do,
nnd then we would surfer. I do not think tho
people of the United Itatep, when once they real
ize that it has been by the protection of foreign
navies only that wo have been abla to carry on
our foreign commerco In recent months, will bo
willing long to have it remain so. The question
Is one for which we arc earnestly seeking a solu
tion, and contributions that can be made to sober
and to progressive thought upon the subject will
be welcome to us from whencever they may
come.
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION NECESSARY
Wo have suffered no little hero from men who
rose to speak on this theme with negatives In
their minds, whose first expression was "Thou
shalt not," and unhappily theso negatives have
been far too powerful thus far, so that tho mer
chant fleet of the United States is all too near
itself being a pure negation. Wo hope that a
more affirmative spirit may arise in which tho
getting of n marine Into active service may ha
understood to be so vital a matter that tho men
with the negatives will cease to bo so powerful
as hitherto they have beon, and this people of
ours, which prides itself upon being nn affirm
ative people, may in some manner get that which
they arc beginning to see as essential at once to
their prosperity and their self-respect. We earn
estly desire tho development of a marine which.
shall facilitate intercourse between us, which
shall make the names of your ports and of your
mercantile houses both welcome and common
among us.
It is frankly recognized that there aro read
justments necessary in somo of our commercial
ideas and methods if we of the United States aro
to develop our commerce with South and Central
America in the most helpful and permanent way.
We must learn not so much to offer the things
we want to sell as to make and offer those which
the customer wants to buy. It is not to be ex
pected that markets in other lands will wish to
use the goods which please us here. The mere
fact that we happen to like an article of a cer
tain design or color is no reason why anyone
else should like it. It floes not follow at all that
because something sells well here therefore it
will sell well elsewhere. Some of us must learn
to do our business more Intelligently In this re
spect, and I am happy to say that thero is a
growing, and I think now a fairly general under
standing of this primary fact.
Again, we must learn not to put our business
In other lands in the hands of those citizens of
other countries whose Interests may be at least
as grejit In tho products of their own land as
they are in those of this country, If indeed thciy
are not much greater. The producers of in
United States must not only offer their wares Tn
other countries of such a kind as please tho peo
ple In those countries but they must do It through
media which takes a primary interest In the
products of the United States and not a second
ary or possibly an adverse one.
May a word be said in strong assertion of ths
fact (sometimes in some places questioned) that
the merchants and manufacturers of the United
States are honorable men, seeking to do business
by methods that are open, sincere, and morally
sound. We know that such a thing as substitu
tion of goods for others which were ordered has
happened. We know that there are those who
have insisted that they know better what the
buyer wants than he does himself. We know
that instructions have been ignored and that
matters which were not understood by us did not
receive the attention that should have been
given. These things are true, though not to tho
extent, I hope, that has at certain times beem
alleged. They are not evidences of indifference
or of purpose to do wrong. They are, rather,
normal indications of beginning to do a kind of
commerce the nature of which was not fully ua-
"
wy mmmi