Intricate Design

Italy desperately needs U.S. dollars. One way she can get them is by exporting goods. One reason she fails to get more of them is illustrated by the case of Cesare Covre.

Cesare Covre is a Roman glass-cutter. He got an order to make two glass tables of intricate design for a customer in the U.S. A fast worker, Covre finished the tables in 52 hours, packed them for shipment.

Then his troubles began. The forwarding agent told him that to secure payment, he must submit six copies of his bill to a bank. Three times he went to the bank, waited in long queues, while orders piled up at his one-man workshop.

A month later, Genoa customs authorities notified him that the two tables of intricate design were stalled there. Unless Covre forwarded a "certificate of origin" they could not be shipped. To get the certificate, he had to make several trips to his local chamber of commerce. The chamber needed two more copies of the original bill, which also had to be registered at the registration office and visaed by the price control office.

Dutifully Covre made the rounds again, endured the usual waits and misunderstandings with minor officialdom. Returning one day from a five-hour wait at the price control office, he found angry customers waiting at his shop. He had never kept anyone waiting before. The customers canceled several orders.

Two days later, Covre was called up by the price control board. His original applications had been mislaid. Would he make out two more? When he came back the next day with two copies, officials told him that a new regulation insisted on four. He must also bring price lists of some of his competitors to prove that his prices were not exorbitant (he was asking only $70 for both tables).

Covre finally lost his patience. When he stormed back to his shop, he found more canceled orders. Said Covre last week: "I'll just have to kick anyone who wants a table for export in the future. They say the country is short of dollars. Well, I could contribute by selling to America if they left me moderately alone, but I can't contribute to dollar sales any more. I'd end up in the madhouse if I tried."

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