priate advertising matter with each purchase. In this category should be mentioned, for example, tin tongs accompanying each box of fancy crackers; tin, wooden, or paper-pulp utensils accompanying similar commodities as an aid to service; prizes or similar advertising matter inclosed in sealed packages, etc. Depending upon the commodity handled, however, the exporter should determine the most effective method of advertising.

FOREIGN COMPETITION IN CENTRAL AMERICA

The United States stands in a commanding position in Central America's import trade in practically all commodities and supplies approximately 70 per cent of all merchandise imported into those countries. Nevertheless, foreign competition is active and growing since the close of the European war, and it should not be discounted by the American exporter. It should be remembered that European nationals have for years been established in those countries, that prominent plantation owners and merchants are either European born or direct descendants of Europeans, and that contacts with Europe were of long and satisfactory standing prior to the war. Furthermore, there are certain commodities which have a longstanding reputation in those markets. Thus, for example, English textile fabrics have a reputation for low price consistent with quality, and British competition to American trade is keenest in the textile line; French perfumes, toilet waters, and toilet soaps are known in every town and hamlet; Japanese and Chinese silks are not only cheaper but widely known; German hardware, tools, and drugs have long been known throughout Central America. The following tables show imports into the various countries of Central America by principal countries of origin. All values are in United States dollars.

Taking Salvador as a typical Central American market and analyzing three years of commodity imports into that country, we find that the United States leads as a supplier of foodstuffs and practically all manufactured goods except perfumery and cosmetics,

wines, laces and embroideries, paper manufactures, china and pottery, and woolen and silk manufactures.

Great Britain leads in laces and embroideries, jute bags, and affords the United States the greatest and most active competition in all textiles, particularly cotton and woolen goods, and in iron and steel machinery.

France leads in perfumes and cosmetics and competes actively in drugs and chemicals, wines, glassware, silk manufactures, paper goods, and machinery.

Spain holds a commanding position as a supplier of wines but does not offer any serious competition to American goods as a whole. Germany competes in all lines of hardware and machinery, electrical goods, but particularly in paper and paper products.

Italy competes in wines and to some extent in textiles and textile manufactures.

Japan holds first place as a supplier of silk manufactures. Chinaware and pottery in considerable quantities are also shipped from Japan to Central America.

Similarly, in Nicaragua, the United States leads all other nations in everything but liquors, wines, jute bags, crude and refined petroleum, newsprint paper, and a few small items such as refined sugar and cotton thread.

British competition is again apparent and most prominently in plain woven, twilled, and other cotton manufactures, leading in cotton yarns and thread. British competition is also active in the importation into Nicaragua of earthenware, porcelain and pottery, jute bags and cloths (Great Britain leads in this), firearms, confectionery, preserves and canned fruits, hats, caps, and such manufactures as domestic ware and utensils, iron and steel manufactures, agricultural machinery, etc.

Germany is a prominent competitor in Nicaragua in all iron and steel manufactures, particularly tools, hardware, scientific instruments, cutlery, domestic wares and utensils, cement plates and other jewelry, electrical machinery and appliances, paints, pigments, colors and varnishes, toys, paper manufactures, and particularly in aluminum manufactures (in which Germany holds first place), malt beverages, chemicals and drugs, etc.

French competition, although apparent in many lines, is not serious except in the conventional and accepted lines of perfumes and toilet soaps, wines and distilled liquors (French wines lead all others), scientific instruments, silk, and silk manufactures.

Italian wines are prominent imports into Nicaragua, but otherwise Italian goods in only small quantities enter the country.

Japanese activities in Nicaragua are more limited than in some of the other countries, like Guatemala, Salvador, and Panama. Japan sends some metals, some cotton manufactures, small quantities of glassware, and manufactures of leather, offering, as elsewhere in Central America, the greatest competition in manufactures of silk, both cloths and clothing.

Thus we find foreign competition in Central America active and general, but, except in a few lines, not seriously menacing the supremacy of the United States.

AMERICAN EXPORTS TO CENTRAL AMERICA

Generally speaking, American exports to Central America have shown a tendency to increase in the last 10 years. However, Central America's dependence on a limited number of crops, and the fact that acreage is not being increased materially, restricts to a very marked degree Central America's purchasing power. Even in extremely prosperous years the per capita imports of the various countries is comparatively low. Nevertheless Central America offers an increasingly important field for investment, and with increased investments and production there will follow increased purchases abroad. The United States, because of its geographic proximity and the prominence attained by American goods, stands in a commanding position with respect to Central America and should share materially in any increase of trade of that region with the outside. world.

The following table shows American exports to the Central American countries, with the exception of Panama, for the period 19101924, inclusive. Panama is not listed because a great proportion of our exports is destined for the Canal Zone proper, whereas Panama's imports from the United States have already been listed above.

VALUE OF UNITED STATES EXPORTS TO CENTRAL AMERICA, 1910-1924

It will be observed that our total exports to Central America for 1924 were more than double those for 1910. Proportionate and even greater increases are shown for all the countries except Costa Rica and Panama. Honduras shows an increase of approximately 400 per cent in the period 1910-1924; Guatemala, of some 350 per cent; Nicaragua, about 270 per cent; Salvador, 390 per cent; Costa Rica, 95 per cent; and Panama, including the Canal Zone, about 28 per cent.

REGIONAL ADVANTAGES OF THE UNITED STATES

A survey of several years of exporting from the United States to Central America shows our export trade to those countries to be dominated by two principal shipping points-New York and New Orleans, particularly New York. This is true even in the case of Salvador, which country has no Atlantic seaboard and must receive its New York shipments either via the north (Atlantic) coast of

Guatemala or through the Panama Canal. Taking the last four years of exporting for which full figures are available, the following table shows the percentage of the total exports to each one of the countries shipped through the various customs districts:

PERCENTAGE OF SHIPMENTS BY CUSTOMS DISTRICTS FROM THE UNITED STATES TO CENTRAL AMERICA, 1920-1923

The preponderance of shipments from New York and New Orleans is obviously due to extensive transportation facilities as well as to the fact that a very large proportion of the goods imported into Central America are, in a large measure, manufactured in eastern United States.

GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SHIPMENTS TO CENTRAL

AMERICA

Advertising matter.-When sending advertising matter to Central America it is worth while to investigate first and ascertain the amount of duties the various classes of material pay in the different countries.

Shipment of goods. It is important to remember that Central America has a general revenue tariff, based to some extent on the value of the article, but to a far greater extent on the gross weight of the shipment. It therefore is important to pack goods in the lightest manner possible consistent with safety.

Mixed goods consignments.-In the case of consignments of mixed goods great care must be taken to indicate clearly the quantity and quality of the separate articles of such mixed consignments, because otherwise the entire consignment will be assessed at the rate chargeable to the most valuable portion of its contents. If willful omission is made of the mention of the various goods the shipper is liable to a fine in certain cases. Whenever the Central American merchant makes specific recommendations on the point it is important to follow them and there should be a thorough understanding in the matter between shipper and customer.

Routing of goods.-It is most important to route the merchandise properly. Goods intended for Tegucigalpa, Honduras, particularly heavy goods, should be routed via Amapala, and not via the north coast ports. Similarly, goods intended for Managua, Nicaragua, should be shipped via Corinto on the Pacific and not the Atlantic ports, as in both cases communication is very difficult and costly and in certain instances impossible.