Most of the talk about Mexican trade for American manufacturers was born, moreover, of our own need to get rid of accumulated goods. Beginning late in 1919, there was considerable inflow of these cheap goods into Mexico on good terms. Those who were fortunate enough to unload talked of it, and the gossip went about that Mexico was a fine place to sell off extra stocks. But after a year, the unloading system began to glut the Mexican market, and to-day, when the same manufacturers want to sell again, they find that Mexico will take--only goods at sacrifice prices. They went half way and more, did our manufacturers, and Mexico did not “come back.” Instead she sat tight where we came to her, and insisted on our coming a little further with concessions to her needs and wants. The result is that to-day there is nothing like the demand for American goods that there was when we first did the unloading which we thought would whet the Mexican appetite. Mexico is like the customer of a “fire sale” store--she will buy only the most obvious bargains. It is cash trade for a section of a town where there used to be credit, and where there is no credit to-day. But the customer is again demanding credit--and cash-trade bargains at the same time. This question of credit is of necessity complicated. But perhaps the answer as far as the American business man is concerned is contained in the fact that while the Mexican merchant demands credit he himself does not give credit--no country was ever on so thorough a cash basis as Mexico is to-day. The merchant who is asking for credit is carrying on his business from hand to mouth; he has no accounts on his books to guarantee the goods for which he is promising to pay. He asks credit on his character standing and on the possibilities of his market--he offers literally nothing else. Personally, many Mexicans and many foreigners in Mexico are reliable and honest men, but no sane business man would take in the United States risks similar to those demanded by his prospective customers in Mexico. And the possibilities of the market--those are as yet thin air and enthusiastic hope, which gain strength only from our national need to get a foreign outlet to keep our plants going. Let the American manufacturer weigh these two considerations with the additional realization that there is no reserve credit in the background.