GUMA LLI.
BWA
L
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methods, but when there is no agent appointed in a certain territory it often happens that the producers' interests are sadly neglected, and the writer has often seen the Chinese take advantage of this by openly and fraududently imitating trade- marks, secure in the knowledge that no one is likely to take the trouble to report the matter to the maker at home. The business in Dyes was an exception to this rule. For these they appointed sole agents and worked the trade on this basis with considerable success.
Perhaps enough has been said to make the case clear No good would be done by giving more specific figures or by men- tioning actual names. There is the danger that such a course would provide altogether too useful information for the Germans themselves after the war.
Abuse and "strafing" ourselves while
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BRITONS V. GERMANS IN CHINA 73
puffing up German methods can have little practical value, and may do a good deal of harm if allowed to sink permanently into the public mind. Manufacturers and merchants at home might by these means easily be inclined to base their whole selling policy on such statements. They would rather deal with their fellow country- men, but if the impression is fostered that we are not so well equipped as foreigners, they will certainly deal with foreigners. Their main object is to sell their goods under what they consider the best and most favourable circumstances. Under these conditions it would probably become an accomplished fact that "The English are absolutely compelled to rely on the aid of foreigners."
It takes very little to influence people one way or another, and the writer knows of an actual incident which seems to