The sun., 1906-12-26
Trade Balances, and what They
signify.

Our correspondent &c. I. T." submits
what is evidently intended as a criticism
disguised as request for enliChten-
ment. He tells us that his intellect is
~shrouded in gloom" and that Cimmeran
darkness encompasses his soul, chiefly
because in a recent comment on the
commerce of France we said that "prior
to the adoption of the present fiscal
policy her annual trade balances ran
heavily against her. Since its adoption
the adverse balance shows persistent
reduction until 1905. when for the first
time in many years the balance stands
in her favor"
We can only assume that &C. |. B."
read the article in question in darkened
ro' md with closed eyes From that
co m to his confessed present intel
lectual obscurity is only a short step.
We stated a fact which, in his gloom,
looked to him like an argument assertve,
aggressive and bowling for combat. To
&c. |. B. the terms favorable trade
balance" and adverse balance appear
TO come as a challenge. If he will throw
open the shutters of his darkened soul
and admit the light Of logic and reason he
will see that as We used the terms in that
article they are merely harmless tech
nical expressions referring TO conditions
and not to controversy. The large ques-
ton of international trade balances is
emphatically controversial, and we have
no present intention whatever of getting
into fight about il. We stand by our
statement of fact, and leave our readers
to their own conclusions.
Incidentally it may be said that there
is probably a fundamental principle
hidden away somewhere in this much
discussed problem. Cuba is a distinctly
agricultural country. II she had abso-
lutely no commerce, either export or
import her people would still live, have
food to eat, and houses Of some kind
in which to live. Their garments would
probably be limited generally to the loin
cloth made by hand or by crude mechan-
ical devices from native fbres. Her
people would certainly be deprived of
such superfiuous contraptions as railways,
telephones, electric lights and automo-
biles n the island exported nothing
and imported heavily there can be no
doubt that she would soon be set down
as hopei>Ss bankrupt. Yet her people
might be, after their own fashion, pros
porous. All might have a home, several
changes Of loin cloths, an abundance
of vans and bananas, and two or three
ponies apiece.
Our cOrresDondent cites England as
a debtor nation whose people actually
insist they are getting richer" This
distorted view Of England's position is
almost as common as the belief that hap
piness and riches are synonyms. Eng
lands balance Of trade stanCs heavily
against her 20 far as the items of import
and export trade are concerned. But in
addition to running a small farm and a
large factory JOHN BULL picks up
good bit of money by Transporting
merchandise for al creation and ekes
out his income by modest banking
business. His various enterprises enable
him 10 live and add a little something
to his capital
Commercial trade balances as rep
resented by figures of imDort and ex-
port are not in themselves an infallble
sign OF national prosperity or national
adversely. Il is, however. rather more
than probable that the fact that our
favorable balance Of trade in its aggre-
gate something like 90, 900 900, 900 for the
last twenty-five years, has been, il not q