The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 1916. TRADE WITH RUSSIA.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 30, 10 May 1916, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 1916. TRADE WITH RUSSIA.

fhe Department of Trade and Goinl.merce at Ottawa recently published a I report by the Canadian Trade Commisj sioner, Mr C. T. Just, on methods of ! business in Russia, in which he showed j that in the past Germany, Britain and the United States of America, in the order named have been the principal countries from which Russia lias derived her imports, and it is of interest to note the methods used by each to capture the trade of the Russian market. German manufacturers after due trial, abandoned the practice of establishing branch houses in Russia, as it proved unprofitable. They took up and developed the intensive working of the market with travellers, going far and wide in search of business. The success, Mr Just says j of German firms in Russia, was much aided by their ability to supply cheap articles for a market consisting so largely of peasants, who are anything but fastidious. Moreover, they were also able by the circumstances of their competition and by ; clever adaptation of business methods (gradually to secure a large Russian market for better-class articles. Twenty years ago the United Kingdom possessed what was practically a monopoly of the Russian markets in manufactured goods, but a few years ago she was overtaken by the Germans owing t 0 a variety of causes, chief of which are stated to have been a disinclination to graiit the long credits German firms offered, conservative methods of business and unwillingness to quote in Russian (currency and weights and measures, 'or to follow the German example of j quoting, delivery at frontier with duty 'paid. It is also said that the use of travellers in order to keep in touch with customers was neglected, and that British manufacturers declined to entrust their interests to export merchant houses. Thus (he direct busi- ' uess became limited to the largest dealers in the Russian centres, and it might be said thai the business the , United Kingdom was doing in Russia 'was due largely to the fac, that British goods were actually demanded b;v customers, and not to their being actively pushed. Evidences of » salutary change in this regard was al hand even ?

before the war, and the-fact that British trade with Russia remained as large as it did should, Mr 3"u|t asserts, be taken as a tribute to the iutrinsir oxeellence of the goods supplied by British firms. Referring to America, we find that the methods employed by United States manufacturers have been either (1) to appoint a sale selling' agent for .Russia and Siberia, or (2) to entrust their export trade to exporting! merchant houses in the United States' and Hamburg; the second method appears to have been most in favor. United States manufacturers obtained better results with the Hamburg • firms' than with those in the United States, as the former worked Russia somewhat intensively with travellers along' the German lines, indicated above. For: the American firm thus relieved of Russian credit risks the business was easy. and convenient, but it was necessarily of restricted proportions, the growth of which the manufacturer could not; influence. Like his British colleague, the United States manufacturer was opposed to the granting of long ere- 1 dits, and as .he market: was left open fo the German, who con stantly improved his position. At very considerable length Mr Just next pro-] ceeds to deal with the various methods

open to manufacturers proposing to'j share in the Russian trade. The most satisfactory plan, in Mr Just's opinion, is to appoint Russian firms or available local British linns as agents. Merchants doing a wholesale business acting as agents take the financial risk and quote such prices as they think necessary. Before the war, the majority of the more desirable agents already represented manufacturers and were not free, but it is believed that now the .difficulty of securing suitable representatives may be overcome. A further method of business suggested is that of appointing a resident representative of' grouped industries, co-re-lated, but not inter-competitive of industries making similar articles, but agreeing to pool orders for the Russian market. The employment of a trusted representative equipped with technical knowledge of and business experience in the articles he ;s to introduce offers, perhaps, the most satisfactory solution of the problem. Mr Just concludes his interesting report h stating that the building up of an export trade is at best a slow process, and new-comers in .a market like that, of Russia, will have to' proceed' warily and restrain their optimism. But there is no question that with ordinary camion and judgment it/should be possible, for the British Empire ,to make solid connections and' develop gradually a staple and.' profitable business' in the Russian market in some of the very many .lines of supplies which are indispensable to the Russian people, -his is certainly one of the great trade prob-. lems that ought to engage very earnest attention before .the conclusion-nf the war.