Semi-weekly Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1897-1901, 1901-07-12


July has symposium on the cond
ton of our foreign commerce. Ma
urallv it ceuters about that old que
ton OF economists, the significaLce
balance of trade This country
II now exporting very nearly 80 wort
l of goods for each 81 worth it import:
q and Chas Il Flint sees in the fact
demonstration that We are CROWN
rich at a marvellous rate and "sll tn
other great nations of the earth ar
suffering enormous "losses. v
hut sgsinst this theory is the stub
horn fact as pointed OCT by Harold
Cox, an Englis man, that 10 the pas
AZ years Great Brtian's imports hav'
exceeded her exports by the almos
inconceivabls amount of sixteen sno
half billion of dollars.
This is more than Great Britain
total wealth 1T the beginning of this
period and il the balance of trade
theory" wers entirely true as it ap.
pears on the face. it would have meant
absolute humiliation, commercially
and industrially Instead in these AZ
wears Great Britain's assessed wealth
has much more than doubled, her ma
tional debt has been reduced one
fourth and the contents OF her work
ing peoples savings banks have been
multiplied nearly five times. Prof
Chgs J Bullock of Williams college
saws There can be no greater eIror'
than "to suppose that ar unfavcrable
balance is certain proof that Tor
eisn trade has become Improbable.
In general it is the younger and
poorer cations that show an excess OF
exports over imports, while the OPP
posita condition prevails IN older
countries that possess greater accum'
ulatons of wealth.
He explains the seeming enigma by
he earnings of Britain's merchant
marine and the interest on her for
ign investments. But she had to
the capital before she
ould invest it abroad and she hadn It
ccumulated enough when this appar-
Mt drain of an adverse balance began
O enable her to endure it Ard still
ils up wealth as she has done; nor
ar the earnings of her merchant ma
ire, vast as they are, be enough to
ccount for it. Another large fictor
! the puzzle must be that which
rof Bullock's hints at, that trade
atistics ars not correct and never
ave been. Bulky and staple prod :
cts, like those OF agriculture, get U
,uuted at their real value, while -
ner ones, fabrics, manufactured
,eclalties and articles of luxury, into =.
hch art and skilled labor enter, are -
,tensively undervalued 10 spite of .
| the precautions to secure correct
voices. Beyond that, the adjustments :"
ID effects of international trade are
puzzle that no man has ever been ~
lie to solve. Its tendency is to an ~
en- balance aud in long periods of W
ne it will approach that.
In a rough way the balance Of
Lde theory, provided all the fac
s are counted and the true balance
must be correct. So far u.
it relates to consumption, il must so,
absolutely so. The nation like the co,
Iividual that buys to consume more foe
IN it sells must grow poorer by the de,
cess. Where purchasers represent We
lition to capital, like machinery tbt
goods for productive use, or per nrq
rent retention, this is not imme n
tely So, of course: but in the final tue
eral balance, where these capital siv
itiors are not paid for out of pro- Of
ton, the cost comes out of pre-. SON
lsly acquired capital, or in other me,
Dis is only change of the form ric
tal. and
till, next to the mystery of Eng HeI
growing so rich with such ire Graf
dous adverse balance apparently old
nst her, is the mystery that We ty a
not grow rich faster. with the wbc
t balance in our favor. In the mart
III years 1t has aggregated over 3d. evic
700, 900 or one.fifth of the total on
nee against England 10 Al years. silv,
t has become of the money? last
hts, which are only in part cues
D, expenditures ny travellers in goot
,pa and by Americans who live n,
ad and draw their income from exte
interest on American securities not
abroad. huyinp tack Of tbnse ca. babi
les, equivalent to the payment of 80
UGH debt, unGervaluation, every go,
Unable factor computed at the 800
st onsble amount. still leave - 80
reds of millions unaccouuted for.
IS Eurore owe it to Us? II so or |" y, :,
far as it is true, the fact will IL
lie strongly to reduce future hal 10" ~
in our favor, because the pres. ~ w
will be, by counter action in BY
Inges and prices, to day in goods a 10y /,
T than money. GU
wa!
MOI
vi inc "hhs forgo
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