Chapter VIII:
Foreign Markets in America

There was a time, soon after independence had been achieved, when our forefathers feared that an American market of 3,000,000 people would attract the avarice of Europe. Now, in little more than a century, some of us have come to believe, even with a market of 15,000,000 foreign born people, that there is little danger from the avarice of their own countrymen across the sea. But others believe that we need economic assimilation of immigration as much to protect that market today as we needed the tariff to protect our general markets.

The American market of a century ago was a simple matter, compared to the foreign market in America to- day. For the market which the immigrant alone creates is now a many sided affair. It is nothing less than his acquirement and maintenance of the American standard of living. What is this American standard of living by which Americans so generally test the assimilation of immigration?

The immigrant's personal needs are first the primary ones, food, clothing and shelter; and later the comforts and even luxuries of American living. The market, at this point, needs little stimulation to meet these, because every immigrant desires, as soon as possible, to look and live like an American. The furnishing of his household then becomes a matter of prime importance and the education of immigrant women and children in the knowledge and use of American made goods is there- 178 fore a part of the function of the American market.

The establishment and maintenance of these prime essentials of the American standard of living are dependent, first, upon American wages; and, second, upon the availability of American products which the immigrant can buy with these wages. An investigation of the foreign market in America shows that wherever there is an indifference to this standard, the American producer has failed to reach the immigrant buyer, who has, therefore, beyond the bare necessities of existence, preferred to spend his wages in the native land, or to hoard them until the time arrived when he could have access to a market in which he could buy the things he desired. One result of this short- sighted policy is that to- day the American producer has little respect for this foreign market, and the immigrant purchaser prefers goods, if he can obtain them, manufactured in his home country.

But the American standard of living which the native born workingman regards so highly is something more than the consumption of American commodities, for these are but its material expression. While the immigrant readily adopts American clothing and lives in American houses with such comforts and luxuries as he can afford, he is not inclined to change his customs and habits, nor to alter his opinions and beliefs. But American ideas are just as much a marketable commodity as are houses, clothing, food and other merchandise. The acquisition of an American point of view is of just as great importance to the maintenance of an American standard of living, as are materials.

The American publisher and manufacturer can find as ready and profitable a market among the immigrants in the distribution of books, magazines, pictures, and of the products of science and art, which give immigrants a knowledge of American history, institutions, beliefs, traditions and opinions, as can the merchant who supplies the immigrant with necessities, comforts, or luxuries.

Until this is clearly understood by the American business man, it is doubtful if American ideas and the American point of view will be readily accessible to the immigrant. So long as their interpretation is a philanthropic or civic proposition, it will be easily abandoned for more material interests. So long as it is a government matter, it will be administered indifferently in the interests of party politics; but when American ideas are embodied in commodities, men will compete for the privilege of selling them.

The immigrant cannot reach the American market, whether of goods or of ideas, without assistance from the American manufacturer and merchant. One reason for this is that he does not speak the English language and, as the announcements of business are generally made in this language, he, therefore, remains in ignorance of their value. It becomes necessary to teach the immigrant the language of the country as soon after his arrival as possible and English language lessons, like other commodities, are also marketable. If for no other reason than to facilitate the sale of American goods to immigrants, some American business houses should sell such lessons as a commodity, which the immigrant will buy in order to further his own progress. In furthering a knowledge of the English language, the interests of business are advanced, because every immigrant who learns English increases the consumption of American goods; he extends the range and kind of his purchases, and he aspires to new acquisitions of property.

The acquirement of an American standard of living which includes not only the material necessities and comforts, but an American point of view and a common language is, then, a matter of salesmanship for American products. From this point of view, it is apparent that the native born American merchant is no more in control of this market among the great mass of foreign born people in America, or the American employer of labor exchanges; or the American banker of savings; than is the American insurance company of premiums; or the American English language press of opinion. But this foreign market in America is just as much a part of the racial economic system as is the immigrant bank or the foreign language newspaper. Beginning with the peddlers' pack, or humble push cart along through to the prosperous up- to- date dealer's store, this market constitutes a chain of many links which makes for a racial solidarity of supply and demand.

The American business man has, therefore, not one but thirty or more of these racial markets to control. They are governed by the habits, tastes, customs, and traditions which characterize the particular race to which they belong. They have their own organization and a personnel best suited to their own class of trade. If these markets were valuable before the war they are doubly so now, for wages have increased enormously and prohibition has released large sums of money among the immigrants to be used for household products.

What have the American manufacturer and merchant done to acquaint the immigrant with the essentials of this American standard of living—a knowledge of American products and their use, an American point of view, and a knowledge of the English language?

The first answer is to be found in the extent and character of the advertising in the foreign language press, which reaches this market. Of the 385 leading national advertisers who manufacture American goods less than ten per cent use this press, which reaches about 10,000,000 prospective purchasers. Of the $100,000,000 appropriated in 1919 for national American commodity advertising campaigns only about 1% was spent through a medium which reaches more than one- tenth of the total American market. The amount of national advertising carried by American firms in this foreign language press is spread over more than one thousand publications, and approximates $1,000,000 a year. Of the fifty leading American publishing houses, scarcely one has used this press to sell American books, magazines or other literature which would have brought the American point of view to the attention of the immigrant.

If American products are not advertised to any great extent in these foreign language publications, what are the products that are being offered to the foreign language buyer? A careful analysis of the advertising columns of this press shows that the chief users of this space are: the importer of foreign goods, the immigrant banker, the quack doctor and dispenser of medicines, the "blue- sky" investment broker, the publisher of books and literature in foreign languages, the racial shopkeeper, and the racial society which provides insurance. The immigrant, seeking to spend his wages for American products, will, therefore, but occasionally find an advertisement setting forth the products of American manufacturers. Furthermore he is constantly being stimulated through his racial instincts to buy certain things. Typical of this effort to sell goods by appealing to racial instinct and prejudices are the following excerpts from advertisements contained in the Irish press in America:

Solomon Lazarus heads his clothing advertisement, "Special Announcement to the Gaelic Clubs"; Carl Dahlen announces that he will sell steamship tickets to "The Friends of the Irish Republic"; Joseph Fischel says he will "discount $1 for every one dozen photographs bought of him if the purchasers carry The Gaelic American in their pockets at the time of purchase"; the "All American can Brokers, Inc.," opens an appeal for Irish- American business by an attack on the British Insurance Companies operating in America; Mulvey, "the up- to- date tailor," announces that he is a member of the Knights of Columbus; the General Electric Company announces that it has positions open for 100 Irish girls; certain book stores announce "Irish books only"; while talking machine stores announce "Irish records only"; the Slavin Picture Play Corporation announces a new motion picture "Why Ireland Must be Free"; the Trunk Store advises "When going to Ireland get your trunk here"; G. H. Breckwoldt, the tailor, prints at the foot of his announcement the words, "Sympathizer with the Irish Cause"; Joseph MacKnight calls his business the "Irish Grafonola Shop"; and J. J. Nolan of the Irish Bakery says at the foot of his advertisement, "I am a member of the Archbishop Plunkett Branch of the Friends of Irish Freedom." Lazarus says, "My clothes are known far and wide—especially amongst Irish clubs"; Samuel Doherty says, "My Christmas cards are printed and painted in Ireland"; James Eagan says, "If you will buy an Irish song at my store I will be glad to sing it for you myself."

A second answer to the question of what the American manufacturer and merchant are doing to introduce the American standard of living to the immigrant is to be found in the use of the racial shop, through which the newly arrived immigrant must be reached, and through which American products must be merchandized. The degree to which early immigrants have become dealers and now influence the purchases of their countrymen may be illustrated by the extent to which they are engaged in the retail business. According to the Sugar Equalization Board, there were 375,000 retail stores in the country selling groceries: and of these 112,5oo, were in the hands of the foreign born, who, however, represented every country in Europe. This prosperity indicates a vast selling machine for the distribution of American goods, which American business utilizes only to a small fraction of its capacity.

Willing as the racial shopkeeper may be to sell American goods, and eager as many of his customers are to buy them, American producers have not always made- it easy for him to interest his customers in such products, because they have made so little study of this market, and have not adapted their brands of goods or prices to its requirements. Therefore, the producer and manufacturer have shown very little consideration for the immigrant dealer in the following respects: Salesmen with strong prejudices, and even salesmen of antagonistic races, have been put to work among their old world adversaries; salesmen, instead of learning the tastes of their patrons, have sought to impose things upon the dealer for which he was not ready; substitutes have been sent for the things originally ordered—a practice which the immigrant dealer especially dislikes. Methods have been used which have been intolerant or mandatory—a procedure which has been deeply resented.

Neither has the American producer shown his usual business acumen in helping these racial dealers to succeed, by extending credits to them upon the same scale as he does to the native born dealers, or by encouraging American capital to invest in these enterprises. Neither has he made special efforts to include them in his trade organizations, or in his trade conferences. So racial dealers, while they handle many lines of American goods, and have many customers who wish to buy American goods, are much more a part of the racial economic system of America than they are of a unified American economic system with a complete identity of interest in sales and profits.

Why has the American business man, through a refusal to advertise or adequately to merchandise his goods through racial dealers, neglected this foreign market in America? Why has he not seen that it is good business to bring to the immigrant, immediately upon his arrival, a knowledge of American products?

In the first place, he has assumed that this was not an important market, because the immigrant's wages were low; and that as the immigrant received the lowest rate of wages, he was necessarily the poorest buyer and, therefore, his trade was hardly worth cultivating. Before the war the immigrant expended for his living about $3.00 per week per capita. While, of necessity, a considerable part of this amount found its way into the American market, a great part of it was diverted to the purchase of foreign goods, or was wasted upon quack remedies, or was expended upon worthless or inappropriate articles, largely because the immigrant had nothing more useful brought to his attention. There are many who think that 15,000,000 foreign born people and the million new arrivals a year represent a buying power worthy of cultivation both for business and patriotic reasons.

In the second place, the American business man has considered the immigrant, on account of his frugality, not a good spender. It is true that the immigrant is thrifty, and that he habitually saves a part of his wages; but this natural thrift is accentuated by the fact that the American business man offers to him so few inducements to spend his savings for American goods. This apparent lack of desire on the part of the immigrant to spend money in America is also explained by the fact that he is constantly urged to spend his savings for products in the home country for his family and friends. The extent to which the immigrant responds to this urging is shown by the fact that one country fixes some of its most important fiscal policies by the amount of money sent back by its emigrants. This affects the sale of goods in America, not only during the time the immigrant stays in this country but later when, instead of bringing his family over to become new consumers of American goods, he returns home, unaware of the attractions of the American standard of living.

In the third place, the American business man has assumed that the immigrant preferred to live as he did in the old country; that he did not care to adopt the American standard of living; and, therefore, his trade was not generally desired. It is true that upon arrival, and for some time thereafter, the immigrant prefers to live as he did at home. This is not surprising, if he knows no other way of living; and is often prevented, while here, from learning the American way. [For instance, the padrone, in order to obtain a contract to feed and house workmen, had first to convince the American employer that his countrymen wished to live in shacks and to cook their own imported food. Then, in order to get the immigrant to accept this arrangement he was told by the padrone that this was the way in which immigrants lived in America, and that any other way was too expensive. How else could the padrone collect an employment fee, and make a profit from the imported goods he carried in his own store? In this way, through the selfishness of his own countrymen, Americans who saw the rude shacks and wretched living conditions of immigrants, have come to believe that the trade of the immigrant was neither desirable nor important.

It is impossible to say how much the preconceived ideas of Americans have had to do with retarding the adoption by immigrants of the American standard of living, but that it has had some influence is illustrated by the following incident: The frequency of pneumonia at one of the aqueduct camps led to an inquiry which showed that the men caught cold from coming out of the tunnel into the cold air. It was suggested that a shower bath would remedy this. The superintendent objected on the ground that it would not be used but finally consented to the experiment. A month or so later the superintendent said, "See that new water tank; that is for the shower baths; the men used so much water that we had to build a new one, and they even stole all my meal bags for clean undershirts to put on afterwards—and not a cold in the camp for a month." Throughout the thousands of labor camps in America, there are many immigrants who are as eager as were these men to live like Americans, but no American producer has ever thought them to be worth reaching, even through a mail order system.

In the next place, the business man has assumed, because of racial differences in languages and habits, that this market is hard to reach and that the profits are small. When approached on the subject he has said: "Why should I bother with difficulties of language and with intricate merchandising problems among the foreigners? Why should I spend time studying a field that I do not need when I can make big money in another field at less cost and effort?" In instances where he has become sufficiently interested to lay the matter before his advertising manager or before an American advertising agency, he has been generally discouraged because they have realized that to handle advertisements in media so diverse in rates and languages meant more work for them.

This aversion on the part of American advertisers and agencies to doing business with the foreign born people in America is reflected also in the merchant's desire to secure the "right class of trade." Most American shops are not prepared to repeat the experiment of the New York department store, which advertised in the foreign language press that there would be a basement sale. The proprietor did not consider the standard of taste, which is so pronounced in many races and, when the immigrants, in answer to his advertisement, refused to accept his bargain offerings and showed greater interest in the better class of merchandise on the floors above, he became alarmed and cancelled his advertising. Another large store refuses to advertise in the foreign language press on the ground that the class of trade it would bring might offend and ultimately supplant its American trade.

The result is that American merchants who have entered this field have not greatly helped the immigrant to acquire the commodities necessary to promote the American standard of living. For instance, few of the higher grade American merchants have established in immigrant centers branches which have specialized in American goods nor have the great mail- order houses to any great extent made an effort to reach the immigrant in the mine, camp and colony. Cooperative buying is therefore extending rapidly in America, due largely to the failure of the American dealer to reach this somewhat isolated market through the mail- order house, or through the influence of racial groups.

When the business man has disposed of the assumptions that the wages of the immigrant are low; that he would rather save than spend; that he prefers to live as he did in the old country; that he will not adopt American standards of living; and that racial groups are hard to do business with, he finds, if he then decides to enter the foreign market in America, that the very eagerness of the immigrants to know about American products and to buy them makes these markets easy to develop. They possess many advantages, one of which is their capacity to absorb the cheaper lines of goods, which are more adapted to the work of the immigrant, thereby preventing a waste of material in manufactures. These markets are also highly concentrated as the bulk of their buyers is located in eleven states and chiefly in industrial centers; thereby reducing the costs of delivery. For the same reason, they are easily reached by advertising at a relatively low cost, as all foreign language publications have national circulations and comparatively low advertising rates. Furthermore, foreign markets in America are stable. The immigrant does not believe in "overall campaigns" to reduce the price of clothing; nor in "block meetings"; nor in spectacular uprising to reduce the cost of living. Wherever these have occurred, the leadership usually has been native American. The buyers tend each year steadily to increase their consumption and to reorder the things which they like, which makes it exceedingly profitable to merchants or manufacturers who establish a market for their goods.

While the failure of the American manufacturer to control this foreign market in America has resulted in loss to the country, not only in diminished sales of American commodities, but also in retarding the adoption by the immigrants of an American standard of living, and in the benefits which would have accrued to the country through their economic assimilation, an equally important question arises as to the effect this failure will have upon the American conquest of similar markets abroad.

Through the failure to incorporate immigrants wholly into American economic life, and through the neglect of the foreign markets at home, American business now finds itself in an amusing and incongruous position. It aspires to sell goods to 37,000,000 people in Italy while a market of 3,000,000 Italians remains undeveloped in America. It is trying to set up markets in Czecho-Slovakia for 13,000,000 people when it is ignorant of the demands of a similar market of 1,000,000 Czecho-Slovaks in America. It is negotiating with 35,000,000 Poles in Poland and ignoring 3,000,000 of them who work in American factories and who live in American towns. Through the entire list of races, this commercial anomaly appears: wherever we attempt to obtain markets abroad, we have neglected a similar market at home.

That the Buyers of these various races in America are an important part of the total number of buyers of their various races throughout the world is shown by their distribution in America. Czecho-Slovakia, which is about the size of Wisconsin, has fewer Czecho-Slovaks in any one of her leading cities except Prague, than are to be found in Cleveland or Chicago. One Czecho-Slovak out of every fifteen is in America, and one- fourth of the agricultural population of Texas is Bohemian. Albanians, one of the least important races in America from a standpoint of consumption, but quite important from the standpoint of future resources abroad, number about as many in America as there are in their largest city, Scutari. Or again, there are as many Danes in America as there are in Copenhagen; and Chicago contains the seventh largest Danish city population in the world. There are twice as many Greeks in America as there are in Athens, and only five of the twenty-six larger cities in Greece have more Greeks than are in New York or Chicago. But four Hungarian cities have a larger population of Hungarians than have New York and Chicago; the latter also contains the second largest Polish city population in the world, Warsaw being the first; Chicago is the second, and Minneapolis the fifth, largest Swedish city in the world.

To believe that these groups of people will not influence the sales of American products in their home countries is vastly to underrate the influence they have with their own countrymen. For instance, suppose that, with the transmission of money, the American immigrant urged his family abroad to buy certain brands of American goods which he had learned to use in America; suppose he wrote home about the many new and wonderful things he could buy in America; or suppose he sent American goods home—would not this stimulate the demand for American goods abroad? At this time, when the state of exchange rates and foreign credit is so unsatisfactory and exports are delayed the buying capacity of the immigrant may seem a trivial matter, but the time may come when his friendship, which can be acquired only slowly and with effort, may prove to be invaluable.

The commercial fair abroad is becoming an important means of selling foreign goods as it appeals to the foreign buyer. The one held in Prague in September, 1920, had 2100 exhibitors in which ten European countries participated. There were no exhibitors and few buyers from America. The committee in charge has intimated that it would be willing to erect a special building for American trade if we could be induced to enter next year as exhibitors. Should we agree to its proposition it would be well for American business to seek the cooperation of racial groups in this country in the matter of such exhibits, as they understand both the psychology of their compatriots and therefore the methods which appeal to the foreign born buyers.

It is expecting a good deal from the average business man, who has hardly, as yet, recognized the immigrant as a factor in the international trade situation, to suggest that he regard as a potential salesman the immigrant who is returning to his native country; and that he cultivate his trade before he leaves America in order to advance the interests of American business through his knowledge and use of American products. But the war has done many strange things and not the least of them has been to transfer the humble immigrant in America to a position of power on his return to his native country. In his new position, in the councils of his nation, where future commercial contracts are to be arranged, and where the terms of commercial treaties are to be negotiated, his may well be the deciding voice for or against American products. It may happen that the American merchant who thought that his store was too good for the foreign born buyer in America may find in him the man to be dealt with in obtaining concessions in the new states in Europe.

American business men have not, perhaps, taken into consideration the full significance of what the friendship of men, so humble in America but so powerful in their native country, will mean to their trade relations. To have a foe in every European hamlet is to meet a stone wall of resistance, against which our trade emissaries may beat in vain; but to have a friend in every European hamlet to say a good word for American products and for American methods will go a long ways toward helping American business to triumph over any obstacles which competitors may create.

Among the millions of immigrants who have already returned and who will go in the future, it is not possible in advance to know the leaders. As we did not see in Trotsky the future military leader of Russia; nor in Ullmanis, of Nebraska, the future premier of Latvia; nor in Zmrhal, of Chicago, the future High Commissioner of Rumania; nor, for that matter, in any one of the young lawyers, the future statesmen who were to help Lithuania form a new government; neither can we know the foreign born men, now in America, who will be most useful in the future to American trade. But we can, by an intelligent conquest of our foreign markets in America, make every immigrant familiar with, and friendly to, American goods; we can make him a "booster" and not a "knocker" of America; we can make him a willing assistant to struggling salesmen abroad.

There are other ways in which the foreign market in America can be made to serve the interests of American manufacturers who are seeking markets abroad. There exists among the thirty- two races living in America the best school for salesmanship in the world, in which to train the men who are later to engage in foreign business. It is assembled ready for use. Each race has its own customs, traditions, point of view and attitude of mind which are expressed through its own colony in other racial distributing centers. Each race furnishes a laboratory, in which to study interracial competition at home which is identical with that abroad. Each race offers the best field in which to practice and to test the salesmanship methods that will be best adapted to use in foreign countries. Here is the location for an ideal school of foreign affairs to train business agents for foreign fields.

This is not all. There are also to be found in these racial groups able merchants and salesmen who are equipped with a knowledge of the habits of their races, with a knowledge of their country, and who have valuable international business connections. They possess a high average of enterprise which, in the first instance, brought many of them to America, and which has led thousands of them out of the unskilled class into the professions, and into practically all lines of trade and commerce. They have language facility to an unusual degree, as a large proportion of them speak more than one tongue.

In addition to these merchants and salesmen who are now engaged in business among their countrymen, there are many potential salesmen who are now working with their hands and not with their minds and tongues. It is common for a manufacturer to say, "There is no chance to develop my foreigners," for he supposes that his particular "lot of foreign born workmen" is the slowest and dullest of all that come to the country. But the fact is that out of just such material in the factory have come welfare managers, foremen, bank-clerks, leaders of racial affairs, and professional men. It is quite common to find in a plant a foreign born foreman who can speak with ease four or five languages. The young ambitious member of many races would make excellent salesmen if the American business men would more fully recognize his opportunity, and train them for this work. While it is difficult for the native born American to become qualified for the foreign field, it requires only American leadership to equip many of the foreign born for this field.

Although this to some extent is already recognized by many of the leading commercial men, they do not appreciate the able competition which confronts them. Chambers of commerce have been established by foreign business corporations in America, and the activities of foreign consuls have been expanded to utilize more fully the services of their countrymen; these consuls are active in associating racial business men with their enterprises some of which are of special interest. Many consuls are rapidly extending their contacts among foreign born groups and are assuming extensive duties for the purpose of securing the cooperation of their nationals in foreign trade relations. As an illustration: In New York City the staff of the consulate of one of the new European states now consists of forty attachés. In addition to the usual departments operated before the war, there have been added one on press and propaganda, one on money forwarding, and one on taxes. Through the press and propaganda departments, some hundred foreign language publications in America are made the adjunct of this consulate. This propaganda has four objects in view: "To attract American capital to the home country, whether in the hands of immigrants or of Americans; to conserve racial ideals and allegiance in its racial groups; to facilitate the repatriation of immigrants who have acquired skill and competence in America; and to use the resources of their fellow countrymen to help establish imposing headquarters in America." By means of this latter object they hope to impress the immigrant with the prosperity of his native country. The money forwarding department interests immigrants to invest their savings abroad; and the tax department is intervening with American authorities, on behalf of the outgoing immigrants, to prevent the payment of excessive income taxes, so that more money may go to the home country.

Although it has the same need to secure markets, to find opportunities for the location of American capital, to contract for supplies and for deposits of oil and ore essential to its manufacturers, and to encourage the production of raw materials; it is doubtful if American business enterprises, in foreign countries, can count on any such loyal and effective support.

Because of the enterprise of these foreign agencies, Americans now have the fight for the foreign markets in America. These they could have had at very little cost before the war owing to indifferent competition by foreign agencies. Racial salesmen, who would gladly have joined American commercial houses, are now bound by the war's events to join enterprises to help rehabilitate their home countries. Racial leaders, many of whom would then have been attracted by American connections, now hesitate since they are urged to promote racial trade enterprises which did not exist before the war.

The mobilization of the racial groups and their leaders for American trade interests can be supplemented by the cooperation of the racial colony. The Spanish colony in America offers an illustration: Its market consists, first, of a group which went to Paris before the war, but which, through necessity, has found New York to be a good substitute. It consists, second, of business men and their families who represent South American interests in New York; and, third, of buyers and trade emissaries from South America who are constantly increasing in size and changing in personnel. These South American groups spend several months of the year here for the purpose of placing orders and of establishing business connections. While here, they read their own foreign language publications, associate with their own groups, and rely upon them for assistance in making many of their decisions. It will at once be apparent to the American exporter that the most effective means of reaching the foreign buyer is at the time and place where he comes to do business, and through the agencies upon which he relies. The kind of commercial contacts maintained by American firms with these publications and racial business men may often determine the fate of important business transactions.

The tendency of racial groups in America to organize trading corporations to engage in foreign business without being connected with responsible American commercial houses, may, in time, affect American business seeking a market abroad. Wherever the business practices followed are dishonest they furnish opportunities for attacks upon American goods as the following quotation from an Athens publication shows:

"Merchants in Greece have received two boxes of merchandise only instead of many which they have ordered. This is not the first evidence that even in the new world there is a gang of crooks who exploit the markets of the world. We have not yet forgotten the advertisement of shipyards in America which were not in existence and which attracted much money. We have not forgotten a big load of rice which, although the best quality was ordered and paid for, proved on receipt to be the worst quality. Be careful, therefore, whenever you order anything from America. Of course, honest American commerce has nothing to do with the crooks but the fact remains that there are crooks in the Greek market and proper steps must be taken. . . ."

It is evident to those who know the immigration field that in this foreign market in America business possesses an asset of no mean value, and that the opportunity is ripe for the American business man to secure control of the market at home: to turn the foreign language press into a medium for the sale of American products; to utilize the racial merchandising resources of America for greater sales of American products; to create a training school in America for American salesmen to be sent abroad; to take the cream of the foreign born leadership for American business enterprises; to make sure that returning immigrants are salesmen for American products abroad; to study economic methods used by consulates in America and to profit by this study; and to participate in the direction of the affairs of foreign chambers of commerce.

It is upon the manufacturer and the merchant that America must rely to bring to the immigrant a knowledge of the American standard of living, and to provide the means to attain it; it is upon the publisher that America must rely for the interpretation and diffusion of the American point of view among immigrants. It is upon the correspondence school and university extension commercial courses, which can follow the immigrant all over its great territory, that America must rely for the teaching of its language and for the opening of new opportunities to the immigrant. The education of the immigrant in the American standard of living and the creation in him of a desire to both achieve and maintain it, is therefore a wholly practical matter of American salesmanship and is the contribution to economic assimilation of immigration which American commercial interests are relied upon to make toward American prosperity and unity.