American Chambers of Commerce in Foreign Countries

Abstract

W ITH the ending of the European War came a marked revival of interest in American commercial organizations in foreign countries. Chambers of commerce already in the field launched membership campaigns and took measures to improve their service; publications were revived and enlarged; organizations that had depended on volunteer service employed paid executives and provided the necessary clerical staff; in short, efforts were made to put the American chambers of commerce on an efficient working basis. New organizations were formed in a number of cities, including Peking, Harbin, Hankow and Changsha, China; Sao Paulo, Santos, and Pernambuco, Brazil; Habana, Cuba; La Paz, Bolivia, and Johannesburg, South Africa. In addition to these, there are now American commercial organizations in Paris, London, Barcelona, Milan, Naples, Constantinople, Shanghai, Tientsin, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Valparaiso, Barranquilla, Mexico City, Tampico, Monterey and Manila. As independent, voluntary organizations deriving their support from initiation fees and annual dues and neither controlled nor supported by their government, American chambers of commerce in foreign countries have developed along individual lines. Their type of organization and service methods.have been determined largely by local conditions, just as is the case with commercial organizations in the United States. Some of the chambers are incorporated in the United States and others under the laws of the countries in which they are domiciled. The American chamber at Paris is the oldest organization in the field and its by-laws have served as a model for a number of chambers formed at later dates. The organizations in London, Barcelona, Milan and Rio de Janeiro and other Brazilian cities adopted most of the features of the Paris statutes. By-laws of the chambers at Shanghai, Tientsin and other cities in China differ in many respects from all others, owing to conditions peculiar to their field. The organizations at Mexico City, Tampico and Monterey have practically the same by-laws, determined in some features by the Mexican legal requirements. The chamber at Buenos Aires worked out by-laws differing in a number of particulars from those of other organizations, and the chambers formed later at Habana and Johannesburg are modeled after these statutes. Constantinople and Naples have similar by-laws, based upon those of the Paris chamber. The fundamental difference between the types of organization adopted by American chambers abroad lies in their membership qualifications, on which basis they fall, generally, into two classes: those in which active membership is limited to American individuals and firms, and those which admit to active membership citizens and firms of other nationalities. This difference