O

BY

NE of the chief questions which seems to bother embryo exporters is that of retaining export trade after the war ceases. This is a fundamental point and one that every prospective exporter should look into.

Now export trade, like every other form of business, is conducted solely for profit, and unless the business that is secured leads to an acquisition of customers not merely one-time purchasers-the exporting endeavor may be considered a failure.

The real struggle to retain trade will come with those goods which are neither novelties nor yet staples which can be manufactured at low cost in any country. I make these two exceptions because, first, the American novelty has never been successfully imitated by any foreign competitor, and second, no American would endeavor to compete abroad with staple products which can be manufactured in the consumer's country more cheaply than in the United States. In the sale of all other goods than those just excepted, the American manufacturer must show himself a better source of supply than that which existed before his advent into the sphere of such a customer, or he must expect that the only customers which he will keep will be those whose inertia will sooner or later prove them to be undesirable from their lack of capability to conduct their own business successfully. Furthermore, very little trade will be retained by manufacturers who have made no provision for earning the retention of foreign patronage. And unless the manufacturer has a real and earnest desire to sell goods abroad which enables him to appreciate the fine points of the game and to feel chagrined over any mistakes which may occur, he has not even a fair chance of success in foreign trade.

One obvious way to analyze our ability to hold trade secured in foreign markets during the war is to compare it with a

domestic trade secured under similar conditions. Let us take "A,” a maker of soaps in the United States whose chief competitor, "B," is forced for a period of several years to retire from the domestic market. Under what conditions. worth while for "A" to endeavor to secure the trade formerly the property of "B"? The answer is simple: "A" should not attempt it unless he feels that he could hold the field against the return of “B." and unless he is confident that without "B's" absence he can overcome the lead and hold the business gained despite the very active and constant efforts of "B."

Now what is there in mere boundaries to modify this situation? Trade follows the lines of propinquity or preference whether it be the corner drug store in Oshkosh or the firm of many millions in Buenos Aires. Europe is no closer to the rest of the world than the United States is. Preference comes from appreciation; and surely, in offering us greater opportunities to bring our goods to the attention of those whose appreciation makes them purchasers we are merely capitalizing an opening made for us exactly similar to that which we are seeking to make and then capitalize here at home. In competition with Europe we had built up a nucleus for a real export trade before the war started. More than that, we had increased our sales and, in the great majority of cases, our products had won favor and purchasers.

With this as a matter of record, and realizing that human nature is the same the world over, why should we fear to gain control of foreign markets and add this very tangible asset to those of our products, prices, and policies? It is the invader who must produce credentials. By be coming the source of supply we place the burden of proof on Europe. They must produce more than the argument, "It was we who used to serve you."

MAN AND HIS MACHINES

AN AËRO-SLED

IE use of an aërial propeller to drive rowboats, canoes, and bicycles has i frequently resorted to, and lately it been used to drive a sled.

he aëro-sled, which will accommodate persons, runs over smooth, clear ice high speed and is easy to operate.

AN ELECTRIC TOY RANGE

MINIATURE electric range that is in reality more than a toy and on ich an actual meal can be cooked by ctricity is a device that cannot fail to peal to the housekeeper.

The little range is rated at 460 watts wer and has one oven and six hot plates. meal consisting of 5 pounds of roast ef, small baked and boiled potatoes, acaroni, apple sauce, stewed tomatoes, scuits, baked custard, two kinds of ke, and two 31-inch diameter apple pies as recently cooked on this little range t a total cost for electrical energy of

A PRACTICAL TOY RANGE

That will cook a meal for five persons at a cost of twelve cents for electrical energy

less than twelve cents. It can be readily understood that this little electric range can be extremely useful at times for heating small quantities of food or for warming meals in a hurry.

STANDARDIZING CONSTRUCTION

SELECTING factories and dwellings

from a catalogue and buying them by the yard would seem an absurd idea, and yet that is virtually what a firm of contractors in Cleveland is doing and saving time and labor thereby.

In all modern industry wherever the demand is for large production at low cost and in short time the inevitable trend is toward standardization. Each automobile, each piece of furniture, shoes, and even clothes is the result of a series of standard operations, but this idea has never until recently been applied to building. If a man wants a building he has to call in an architect and an engineer who set to work and draw up plans for the building. The greater part of this work has probably been done, with the exception of some details, many times before. Then the plans have to be figured on and estimated, and finally the building is put up. But there are many parts that are essential to every building: there must be a roof, walls, windows, and floors, so that if the specifications for these were worked out beforehand a great deal of unnecessary work would be eliminated.

It was with this idea of standardization in mind that the firm in Cleveland determined to carry out their building operations and to usher in a new era in construction work. Instead of an owner having to have a building designed especially for him and instead of having contractors bidding against one another and, possibly, substituting inferior materials so as to be able to quote lower prices, he will now get in touch with various building firms, each of which has developed a series of standard types. That is a simple matter. Here is a standard building, plans ready, steel roof trusses ready, steel sashes ready, and the roofing and flooring materials accessible if desired. The building can be put up, practically in any desired size, in thirty working days. The shop of such a factoryconstruction company is ready with the materials, building units, and the operators and trained construction crews, directed by experienced engineers.

It is not so long ago that many articles

structure, above which may be built a number of floors or stories for office or manufacturing purposes, thus utilizing valuable space that is now wasted. The

result would be a skyscraper or office building, with the trains running into the basement.

The illustrations are of a demonstration plant which shows the effect under actual working conditions. The locomotive used in this demonstration is driven by an electric motor, receiving its current through a third rail. Smoke is made of tar paper burned over a grate area of about ten square feet or more.

A strong blast, furnished by a high-pressure blower, forces the smoke up the stack at a velocity of approximately 3,000 feet a minute. The stack is equipped with an automatically operated shut-off gate so as to give intermittent puffs of smoke similar to that of a locomotive when in operation. Suction is maintained in the overhead duct by a suction blower. On the locomotive stack is a shoe which slides against an elongated roller, so as to avoid friction, and raises, one at a time, a series of shutters in the bottom of the duct to a sufficient height to permit the taking up of all smoke and steam ejected by the smokestack. The smoke, drawn through the overhead duct by suction, is discharged into a chimney which carries it to the open air above the top of the building, whence it is dispelled as from any ordinary chimney.

AN ELECTRIC MOUNTAIN

RAILROAD

ABOUT 440 miles of railroad, in th

mountains between Harlowtor Mont., and Avery, Ida., on one of the great Western railroad systems has beer electrified. Electric locomotives, resembling two large mail cars coupled togethe weighing 260 tons each, and capable of hauling 2,500-ton loads over one per cent grades at an average speed of sixteen mile an hour, receive their power from mountain waterfalls.

The electric locomotives used are constructed with direct-current motors and are designed to carry a potential of 3,000 volts. Similar locomotives geared for varying speeds will haul 800-ton passenger trains at a speed of sixty miles an hour These locomotives are more than one hundred feet long, and are built to save track wear and tear, minimizing the ver tical and horizontal blows of the drivers through the use of a separate motor, twingeared to each of eight pairs of driving wheels.

There are fourteen electric substations between Harlowton and Avery. These substations contain high tension electrical transformers which receive their power from the waterfalls in an alternating current of 100,000 volts, and turn it out to the feed lines of the system in a 3,000-volt direct current.