language is Portuguese, and he will tell you that 100,000,000 people all
over the world speak in this tongue; that European salesmen converse
with him in this tongue. Obviously, if you can discuss affairs with him
in his own idiom you are on the road to success. He often speaks French
too, and if you cannot talk in the language of the Dons he will ask you
to do so in that of the Gauls. Only in the largest establishments of the
big seaport towns will one find merchants with an employe or two
familiar with English. It is therefore obvious without a knowledge of
Spanish a salesman in this territory is hopelessly and seriously
handicapped. In fact he is inefficient. Europeans recognizing the
importance of this employ only representatives speaking the languages of
the countries wherein they travel. I recall meeting a German in Assam
talking fluently the native tongue and later ran across him in Arabia
conversing in Arabic in the market place. Americans have never been
linguists, but in our business lexicon there should be no such word as
“impossible.”
I remember an American traveller for an oil machinery house startling
those in the dining room of the leading hotel in Lima, Peru, by pointing
to the menu and alternately grunting and squealing aloud. He could not
talk Spanish. In a few moments the place was in an uproar. Some thought
he had gone crazy; others that he was insulting the Peruvians or the
proprietor of the hotel. The head waiter rushed to me and asked that I
ascertain what the trouble was. Imagine my surprise when my countryman
in explanation of his barnyard impersonation said: “I was trying to tell
these durned fools that I wanted ham.” Incidents like these are never
forgotten; always magnified when told and invariably hurt us seriously,
socially and otherwise. This little affair happening in a foreign
country where news is scarce was talked of in the hotels, clubs and
cafés, printed in the journals and illustrated in the comic papers.
Americans were always referred to by each narrator as uncouth and the
story gone into with great detail and precision. Grandparents in Peru
one hundred years from now will be telling this yarn to their
grandchildren.
I have long ago ceased to wonder at the lack of common sense exhibited
by some large American houses in selecting the type of man they employ
for Latin America. I recall one well known concern in this country
sending a man to sell carbon paper and typewriter ribbons who spoke only
English. Of the man personally I will only state that by nature he was
the very antithesis of everything he should have been. Calling upon the
leading jobber in his line in Bolivia who spoke only Spanish he found it
impossible to do business, and undertook to tell his prices by yelling
them, a method in vogue among those who have command of one language and
who seem to feel that if you can repeat loudly in a crescendo voice, and
with great precision, what you have to say your hearer will ultimately
by some occult means understand. In the midst of this vocal exercise by
the American, a German happened to drop in, also desirous of selling the
dealer goods, and kindly offered to interpret for the Yankee, which
suggestion was eagerly accepted. The gentleman from the Fatherland was
also selling typewriter supplies and I heard him afterwards telling his
friends in the hotel with much gusto how he handled the matter. I shall
not try to repeat the conversation. It was humiliating for me to think
what a fool my fellow citizen had allowed himself to be made. When the
American said “These ribbons are $4.00 a dozen,” the German translated:
“These ribbons are $8.00 a dozen.” The American salesman told me
afterwards that he had written his house that they could not compete
with European prices in this market and I am certain that this concern
will never again be tempted even to consider Latin American
possibilities. These two cases strikingly serve to illustrate the
importance of being familiar with Spanish, or the language of the
country wherein you are expected to sell goods.
Extremely sensitive and quick to appreciate a kindness, it pays to study
the social usages among Latin Americans and to live in conformity
therewith when among them. It is, for example, considered good taste to
walk always on the side of the street next the curb, to take off your
hat and stand uncovered as the funeral of peon or plutocrat passes, to
bow generally to those present as you enter a streetcar or café and to
salute them similarly as you depart, while gentlemen always raise their
hats when they meet. The observance of these frivolous niceties marks
the gentleman, the failure to do so the man, and the yawning abyss
between these two degrees of masculinity to the Latin American mind
cannot be bridged.
Generally speaking every Latin American is named after some saint and
observes the festival of this canonized individual both socially and
religiously. Ascertain what day this is and always send some little
remembrance. It creates an intimacy hard for us cold-blooded northerners
to understand. Never forget church and national festivals. Both of these
are dearer to the impulsive natives than are our own and are celebrated
more elaborately. It pays to keep a memorandum book for this purpose,
noting data of this nature, so as to be always in close personal touch
with customers and prospective clients. Little cards and other
appropriate souvenirs from the north commemorating these events are
highly cherished as well as deeply appreciated and erect invisible and
effective barricades about the sympathetic Latin, sufficient to repulse
the attacks of other salesmen.
Religion and political conditions should never be discussed. The Latin
American is almost always superstitiously religious and intensely
political. To take the wrong side of a theological argument may land you
in the hospital while an error in judgment on a political problem may
mean jail. Both are places to be avoided in these lands. Besides such
arguments always serve to make one decidedly unpopular and materially
hurt business prospects.
Religious processions are frequent in the streets. They excite curiosity
and are often amusing viewed from our standpoint. Do what the populace
does as they pass: kneel or raise your hat, otherwise get away from the
scene as quickly as you can. Many clerical parades have been turned to
riots by some foolish foreigner failing to observe these suggestions.
With but few exceptions, hotels in Latin America are terrible. Toilet
and bathing accommodations are poor, the cooking vile and the dishes
unpalatable, while the beds are intolerable. Vaults in American
cemeteries are far preferable as residential quarters in comparison with
some rooms I have slept in in this part of the world, especially in the
small towns and villages of the interior. Conditions become rapidly
worse the farther away one gets from the larger cities, and as one
penetrates out of the way places hammocks and your own food supplies are
to be recommended. It would be almost impossible to describe the
primitiveness which exists in this part of the Western Continent away
from the beaten path. Travel facilities are execrable. Trains are slow
and late and accommodations decidedly bad. Steamers are small and stuffy
and not safe. River boats are provided with few if any conveniences.
Going up the Magdalena River in Colombia from Barranquilla to Bogota, a
journey of about ten days, the traveller formerly had to provide his own
sleeping accommodations and this _was wise_, and it always showed good
judgment to carry tinned food and bottled water.
Appointments are more often honored in the breach than in the
observance, more often forgotten or delayed than kept. Business for no
apparent reason is deferred to “mañaña” (to-morrow). Time is not
considered by our friends residing in the vicinity of the equator.
These and many more heart-breaking conditions will confront you every
day of your trip through Mañaña land. Be a philosopher. Don’t grumble.
You came for business. These delays and deprivations are only incidents
in the game; they make the reaching of the goal all the more of a
victory. Grit your teeth and forge ahead. If fleas and mosquitoes and
bedbugs bite, don’t revenge yourself on your possible customer, by
telling him what you think of his country and countrymen. Learn to
smile. It helps more here than elsewhere.
Be a student from the day that you sail from America to the day that you
hand in your last expense account. It will improve you mentally and help
your firm financially. Study the needs of the various countries through
which you pass. Observe what the people require. Listen to suggestions
from all sources. European successes in these markets were greatly
advanced by giving the people just what they wanted. Yours will come in
the same manner. Remember that a vast majority of the population whom
you will meet are either Indians or of Indian origin. Their tastes are
sure to be primitive, to incline to gaudy colorings and lack
practicability. Remember, too, that they are paying the bills. If they
want the things that offend your educated, æsthetic eye, forget it and
explain to the house why they should make them as desired. It is always
easier to follow styles in vogue for centuries than to create new ones
and foist them on the public.
Latin America has always been a hotbed for disease. Be abstemious in
eating and drinking. Alcoholic beverages should be taboo, inasmuch as
they unnecessarily heat the system. Water supplies are inefficient and
often polluted. Your drinking water should be boiled; if good water is
not obtainable otherwise drink some reliable mineral water. Remember
that plague comes from the bite of the flea, and yellow fever and
malaria from the bite of the mosquito, so avoid as much as possible the
places where these pests are to be found. Daily baths are apt to remove
danger from flea bites and sleeping under a net minimizes the
possibilities of contracting yellow and malarial fevers. Personal
hygiene should always be observed. In twenty years of the roughest and
toughest travelling up creeks and down tropical rivers, through forests
heavy with dew, across barren, wind-swept plains, over mountains, in
high and low altitudes, by exercising these suggested precautions I have
had only one serious illness, yellow fever. Conditions have vastly
improved since I first began my trips and are getting better every year.
With judgment one could now take a journey all over Latin America
without any physical dangers or serious illness intervening, and with
less risk than he would be liable to encounter on a trip between New
York and Chicago.
From a perusal of the requirements necessary for a salesman in this
territory, and I may add that I have not overcolored, or underestimated
them, it is apparent that the right man will be difficult to find. If a
house cannot see its way clear to enter this field with the right kind
of a representative, it had better remain out of it altogether or
combine with several concerns in allied lines and send one high grade
man to represent them jointly. It is extremely doubtful if any one could
do justice to more than five firms in such a venture. The plan adopted
by European houses is to send a capable young man to one of the
countries and let him live there until he has acquired the language, the
customs of the people and their ways of doing business. Then they put
him on the road. This serves to demonstrate the thoroughness which
marked every step of the European conquest of these markets. Our
American public schools are now instructing pupils in Spanish and Latin
Americans are coming to this country to acquire English in increasing
numbers right along, so that the possibilities are that within a few
years these conditions will change for the better. To-day, however, the
efficient, competent and reliable salesman for Latin America is so rare
and so much in demand that he can practically name his own salary.
Nearly every country in Latin America requires that a license to sell
goods must be taken out by the salesman before he can do business within
its territory, and as a result there has arisen much cause for
complaint. As a rule these taxes or fees are entirely too high and out
of proportion to those charged anywhere else in the world, thereby
creating a natural tendency to evade the law by every possible means. In
some localities runners about the hotels stand in with the authorities
and for a small sum provide guests with the necessary paper entitling
them to sell goods, while in other places the law is practically
ignored.
The right to collect this tax in many countries is sold yearly by the
municipal authorities for a lump sum to some individual, who always
endeavors to collect as much as he can from the concession. Beware of
the person who holds this right. He has at his beck and call a score of
petty employes about the city and around the hotels who report your
movements to him, and the result is generally disastrous to you,
especially if you try to do business without his permission.
In the Argentine republic for example each province has a fixed fee for
this purpose and the total sum, if paid, would eliminate the profits
from the average amount of your sales. Failure to pay generally means a
term in jail.
The merchant’s yearly taxes in many countries includes the right to sell
goods by travelling salesmen and if he is approached properly by a
non-resident representative will allow him to take advantage of his
business foresight and use this permit, thereby giving a legitimate and
legal opportunity to omit paying these obnoxious charges. By observing
these suggestions and the exercise of diplomacy and good judgment,
little need be feared from the authorities in this connection.
Before entering a foreign country for the first time, it is well to
obtain letters of introduction to leading merchants and especially to
government officials. They prove wonderfully beneficial and are highly
successful in smoothing out the rough places which are sure to be met
with in the paths of business. It generally pays to act implicitly on
the advice given by responsible people living in the land wherein you
are a pilgrim, for they are well acquainted with local idiosyncrasies,
and can suggest the exact spot where a small tip will facilitate matters
materially.
Be sure to cultivate the acquaintance of the high grade old time
traveller whom you will be certain to meet sooner or later on your trip.
You will find him pregnant with pertinent and useful suggestions, which
will do much toward making your initial trip a success. Years of
experience in the Latin American school of business have given him a
marvellous amount of wisdom, which you will always find him willing to
dispense if you are the right kind and not trying to impress the world
with your superior knowledge.
Both as a matter of courtesy and as a good business proposition be sure
to call on the American consular officer whom you will always find at
the port. He is in touch with the local merchants, is generally well
informed as to market conditions and can give you many practical
suggestions. He also has a line on the financial standing of most
dealers throughout his territory.
Be sure that your order blanks are printed in triplicate and in Spanish
for all countries except Brazil where the language is Portuguese. Ample
space should be provided under the captions “Terms”; “How Packed”; “How
Invoiced”; “How Shipped.” When possible, I have always insisted on the
buyer signing the order and filling in with his own handwriting the
spaces referred to. There can be no cause for refusal to accept the
goods, if you have complied with the written conditions of the merchant.
Very naturally when the order has been signed the merchant should have a
copy, another sent to the house, while you retain the third one for your
personal files and for future reference.
If possible always carry your samples in one or more cases. Clothes
should never be packed with them, but in separate trunks. Now and then
you will find officious and over energetic customs officials. Treat them
with courtesy, even if they irritate you. Remember that they can make
you endless trouble and that they may understand any caustic remarks you
may venture to make in English. As a rule, however, these officials are
very considerate. If you are selling shoes, it is wise to bring only one
sample of each pair. If you carry a line of silverware, have each sample
sawed in half. This will at once remove suspicion from you as far as the
customs are concerned.
If you are to travel the West Indies, Central America and the northern
countries of South America, including Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and
Ecuador, light clothes should be relied upon. Remember too that in the
highlands and mountainous districts of these countries it is often cool,
especially at night, and a light overcoat is therefore advisable. In the
highlands of Peru, Bolivia and Chile, heavy clothes are always worn. The
climate of Southern Chile, Argentine, Uruguay and Paraguay is much like
our middle States, excepting that the seasons are reversed, their winter
corresponding to our summer and vice versa. A trunk packed for a
complete trip for all of Latin America should therefore include both
summer and winter clothing.
It is wise to pay much attention to the style and nature of your
correspondence. American business men for years have been concentrating
and condensing their thoughts—saying in a few words the same thing that
formerly were expressed in pages. The Latin American has not yet
practiced this conservative method of expressing himself and as a result
his correspondence is voluminous and he indulges in word paintings that
are picturesque and unique but not practical. If you are not as
excessive in this respect as he is, the chances are, unless he knows you
exceedingly well, that he will construe your letters as brusque and far
from courteous. His letters will be filled with the sentimental phrases
of past ages. This is his idea of politeness and should be your guide in
addressing him. You cannot be too verbose in your communications. He
comes from a race noted for its grandiloquent declamations and this
typical characteristic, this desire to figuratively gild refined gold,
add a perfume to the violet and a whiteness to the lily, means much to
him. It is one of his ways of estimating your educational worth and of
calibrating your standing as a gentleman. I know of no better
exemplification of this than a comparison between the flowery way Latin
American letters are terminated and our own. It is more personal, more
deferential and more impressive to sign yourself, “Your attentive and
secure servant who kisses your hand,” than briefly and harshly, “Yours
very truly,” yet the former method is the one in which practically all
letters close coming from these sunny lands.
[Illustration:
Avenida Central, Rio de Janeiro
]
Bills, catalogues, price-lists, in a word all “literature” should be in
the language of the country for obvious reasons and in having these
translated be sure to employ only experienced and able translators.
Nothing paves the way for so much ridicule as poorly expressed and badly
produced business documents, for the keen eye of the Latin notes errors
with great precision. Efficiently produced and artistically printed
materials of this nature impress one in these lands and help materially
in giving you and your firm a high standing in the minds of the native
merchants, while poorly got up pamphlets and the like open his flood
gates of criticism and prejudice both against you and your goods. All
weights and measurements should be in the metric system.
Be sure always to bear in mind that first-class mail to Latin America,
excepting Panama, Mexico, Cuba and Porto Rico, cost five cents an ounce
or fraction thereof and three cents for each additional ounce or
fraction thereof; all printed matter, one cent for each two ounces or
fraction thereof. Be careful therefore to put full postage on all
correspondence, otherwise your mail will be delayed and its recipient
subjected to a series of fines for your sin in short postage which will
have the effect of hurting your cause. Mistakes of this kind are
unwarranted and you should caution the house and the one in charge of
the mail to put proper postage on letters. Latin American merchants
always look upon letters short-posted as a shrewd Yankee plan to make
them pay part of the expenses of your establishment. From their point of
view this is not far from right either, for they are never guilty of
this fault so very prevalent among Americans.
If you have no fixed address instruct your correspondents to send all
mail in care of the consul of the United States of America, at each port
where you intend stopping. Remember that consuls are to be found only at
seaports. To address a letter Care of the Consul for the United States
of America, Bogota, Colombia, would practically mean that you would
never get the letter, for the reasons that these officials are found for
example in Colombia, at Barranquilla, Savanilla, Santa Marta, and along
the seaboard. It is unwise to send mail in care of the General Delivery.
Later on after you have been over the territory and established friendly
relations with some dealer or merchant, mail may be sent in his care.
Passports are unnecessary in Latin America.
Funds should be carried in the form of Letters of Credit. It is wise to
take one of these in Dollars and Cents and the other in Pounds Sterling,
as there will be many opportunities to use one of these advantageously
in selling exchange when the other cannot be so employed. This all
depends of course on the local demands for foreign exchange, and before
buying money, it is wise to ascertain which letter of credit can be used
more profitably. The saving which can be made in the course of a long
trip in closely watching the price of money and buying when conditions
favor you, is worthy of your best attention.
XXIII
CUSTOM-HOUSES AND TARIFFS
No one can fully appreciate what difficulties custom-houses and tariffs
can cause until he has had experience with those in Latin America. The
custom-house officials deem it their duty to harass, embarrass, annoy
and add to the troubles, worries and expenses of the merchant in these
lands. They are veritable boulders in the path of business progress. The
charges, fees, tariffs, taxes, and the hundred and one incidental and
unwarranted expenses which exist in no other custom-houses in the world
save in those of Latin America, change from day to day and are
susceptible to as many interpretations as there are government employees
having any work to do with the goods under consideration. It would be
the height of folly to attempt to give tariffs and other custom-house
charges in any Latin American country to-day, for by to-morrow fully
half of them would be changed, and let me add that the alteration is
always in the form of an additional charge and never a reduction.
Tariffs are extreme and exorbitant, subject to the whims and financial
needs of those in power and liable to complete variation without
warning. Customs officials are recruited always from the class of
“politicos” hereinbefore discussed. The positions which they fill are
the political plums of the land. These men have not the interest of
their country, their countrymen or the merchants within their borders at
heart. Their desire is to acquire wealth by exploiting those with whom
their official duties bring them in contact, and they have reduced this
to a perfect science. The doings of Tammany are in the kindergarten
class as compared with these exponents of the theory that to the victor
belongs the spoils. The schemes designed and resorted to by these modern
inquisitors are almost beyond belief, and could only emanate from the
brains of those whose ancestors received their schooling in the days
when the “_auto da fe_” was common and Torquemada reigned supreme. Let
me illustrate by a few custom-house rulings taken at random from
different Latin American ports.