Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1903-12-11
DEC. II
SOME FOOLISH IDEAS ABOUT
IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.

SOME FOOLISH IDEAS ABOUT
IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.
Chicago American: Sir Thomas
Upton says that one sign Of Great
Britain 8 decline is the fact that her
imports far exceed her exports.
That idea is very widespread.
There are many who imagine that the
prosperity of this country, for exam
pie, depends upon the excess of what
we sell over what we buy.
There is no more foolish idea in the
political economy than this.
If you take poor farmer. who has
hard work to keep body and soul to-
gether, you find that his 'exports
greatly exceed his Imports
He is Obliged to sell his butter, his
chickens, his eggs, his milk and
cream, and his daughters have little
to spend for dresses, etc.
If, on the other hand. you find a
prosperous farmer, you find one who
can afford to kill and eat his own
chickens and keep the eggs and butter
for himself
So it ia with nation.
If in the United States every man
had all the wheat he wanted, we
might congratulate ourselves on ex-
porting wheat-that would prove that
we had wheat enough and to spare.
If every man had all the wooden
clothes that hs wanted, if every child
was Thoroughly protected in winter,
"" might congratulate ourselves on
our exports of woolens, as that would
mean surplus.
But as things stand, it is good
sign that We are prosperous enough
and rich enough to keep for ourselves
q great deal of wheat we produce.
It would be still better if we would
keep more Of what we produce.
Those who believe that such great
Importance, 80 much of the national
prosperity, depends upon the excess Of
exports over imports. ought to con-
slider the condition of France just be.
fore the Revolution.
The foolish louis XVI. and his ad-
visers were congratulating them
selves upon the fact that France was
exportinga great de al more and i'm
porting less than she had done for q
long time-and just about that time
the French peasants got ready to cut
the Kings head of.
It would seem fine for the King and
his counse!ors to have the French
sending their wines, their silks, their
cheese, etc., out Of France. The or
binary Frenchman would have liked
it better had these things been kept
for home consumption.
The English are an energetic crowd.
cooked up in small island, miracu-
lousy saved from freezing by the
G uf Stream. It is not q bad sign
that their imports exceed their ex-
ports. On the contrary, it is very
lucky, for them, thanks to their free
trade with all the world, to their
highly developed manufacturers,
that their little island can hang on
and remain great power in the face
of the worlds competition.
1t is greatly to their credit that they
are able to buy q great deal more
than they sell, and still nay the bills.
They can do that for various rea-
sons-one is that the English men and
women have sons working all over
the worldwide send money home or
bring it home with them.
Another reason is that England
owns bales of securities of all foreign
countries bonds, securi-
ties of all sorts-which bring In to
the English hundreds of millions
in yearly dividends.
Sir Thomas Upton thinks the Eng
lish arein a bad way because they
buy from US more wheat and beef
than would equal in value what we
buy from them.
But if they can pay for the beef
and wheat with coupons clipped from
American Government bonds-or
FROM American railroad bonds-mak-
ing us FEED them, and at the same
time pay Tor feed with the dividends
that owe them, they are doing pretty
good business.
The man who really wants to help
the people Of the United States cen do
that best by enabling the greatest
number of Americans to buy and
consume the American products. in
stead of planning to have them shipped
abroad
It is very we'll to read about the
steel that we send to India, but it
would be better if our surplus steel
energies were devoted to laying per-
feet steel roads across, the continent,
building perfect model steel tene
ments in our great cities, or other
wise improving America and Amer
leans. j
It 10 time to give up the idea that
the farmer who has to sell his eggs is
the most successful farmer.