German), the season for business will undoubtedly arrive.
There are many other reasons for the failure of British business in Mexico, besides the presentation of catalogues in English and the lack of patience on the part of the British representatives; and one of the most common is the refusal to comply with native specifications or to fall in with native ideas concerning the manner in which goods should be delivered. Mexican taste by no means resembles British, and frequently the Mexican buyer desires that certain alterations shall be made in the exterior of a motor-car or other article to suit his taste. Strange as it may seem, there are numerous examples of refusal to comply with the prospective buyer's wishes and of consequent loss of business. The "take-it-or-leave-it" attitude is of all the most foolish to adopt with the Latin-American peoples, and the firms which practise it will discover that they will lose not only a single commission, but that the knowledge of their deficiencies in the way of complying with a reasonable request will gain wide currency.
There is a widespread idea to the effect that, in the Mexican and Latin-American markets generally, cheap and gaudy goods are more likely to meet with acceptance than a solid and utilitarian class of article, and that German success in these quarters is to be judged because of the Teutonic ability to supply this want. However this may be the case with the cheaper markets of Mexico—and there are cheap markets in all countries—one has but to glance at the shop-windows in the principal thoroughfares of Mexico city to see at once that the class of goods displayed therein is not inferior to that on view in the shops of any European capital. Indeed, the first question put by the Mexican purchaser is usually directed towards the quality of the article he is examining, and Mexicans of good class are as particular in the choice of their purchases as Europeans in the same station of life—indeed, if anything, they are more exacting,
