The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-25
LITTLE Is SAID ON TRADE CONDITIONS BY MANUF LECTURERS Many of Them Prefer to Await Developments Be
 fore Commenting :, ALL ARE HOPEFUL
 OF IMPROVEMENT Most Careful Observers Think Tariff and Currency Laws Need at
 Least Years Trial to De-
 termine Results
nx HOLLAND.

Ny HOLLAND.
 New York May 24.-tSpecial.) )-Probably the most important information which is obtained by the delegates to the annual , convention of the national association or . msnufac cturers of the tinted States will , not be made public, authoritatively at 1 least. The convention was in session on | Tuesday and Wednesday Of iast Week. Practi ally all of the leadils manntaciu.- ing interests of the Uniicd States were repfe cnted The discussion covered d v.id.. field. Hut there was oas subject cons corning vfleh the delegates spoke Tn a low tone elmost confidentially -n o,s- an ether. Tie subject was trade ccnditle ns throughout the United States as they are fousd tn exist at the present tiiac.
 The del, gates to the con ,earicn toiieveG tha. the truth should be spoken if any thing were said. but that it is sometimes the better Iart to withhold the trl.-i ly saying l ctning. The fact was that the sum,ary of trade conditions based upon rehorts obtained from a large number of 4 manufalu CTS was of sucn nature that II it was deemed expedent that there De no l psblic reference to it. This disposition l.nd,.ubte eoly was based upon the hope that N the e reitions disclosed by these reports are only temporary, and that after the new nsr.cna, bank system is in operation and the,e has been adjustment t9 the nc W tariff conditions they will iasprosa.
 That legis .ation can seriously impair or | praeti .aisy destroy some portion of conl- me.,c anl industry not merely f.,r trief | t.me, hut permanently, has been eatab- | lshed by the depressing statistics which tell of the loss of our commerce with the | far east which was carried by way of the | Pacific.
 Soon after James J. Hill completed the | co, ktruction of the two largest freight car | riers which had up to that time. about l the beginning of the present century, been built and had been put into commission the government statistics reported rapid ly Increasing commerce with the Orient, especially with Japan and that part of China which borders upon the Pacific. In order to obtain this trade it was vital tha, the railroads in combination with the steamships make an especial and very low rate Otherwise. American commodities w,lld not have been able to compete in the foreign market with the merchants and pro iucers of Great Britain and Ger mdny.
 A World Commerce Lost
 Suddenly legislation at Washington and tho authority of the interstate commerce commission made it unlawru1 for the rail- l,sds to establish special rates for com modites designed for shipment at Pa cifc ports, thence to be carried to the far east. This legislative and commission ac- tion i,startly checked and has practically stopped commerce of this kind. The sta tistics which have come from Washing ton show how greatly our exportation and Importation fell off, ana have remained at a low figure since the railroad was pro- hibited from establishing special rate.
 The Tariff Influence
 It is. however, regarded by many of the delegates to the manufacturers associa- ton convention as too soon to state posi- lively that the permanent effect of the Dnew tariff law will be such as to con- tinue the unsatisfactory trade conditions which now prevail.
 It so happened that on the first day of the meeting of the convsntion an authori- tativa statement came from Washington (which served to prove the truth of the un- |eatiof;tctory reports which were made by Ia large number of American manufactur- CTS. The statistics furnished by the statistical bureau showed that in the month of April exports from the United States were. in round figures. $S7,500 900 tees than the money value of exports in April of last year; that, tod. at a time when the drafting of the new tariff bill at Wa shington had begun, On the other hand. never before have importations been hs great in money value as were those bf April of this year. They were in money kalua nearly S27,000,O00 larger than the im- portations of April of last year.
 -tzlxt tr 9f rro1 4v& tl1Am hgures as some what disturbing is the fact That the yNof April is similar to that bf March of this year. Now the question To which the delegates to the convention bf American manufacturers gave much Consideration, but departed from the city without definitely answering, was this: Do these figures justify the belief that the bermnnents effect of the new tariff law yill be such that our corporations are constantly to decrease and our importa- ions constantly to increase? There should be at least a years test of the operation # the now tariff law before reliable an- Ewer can be given to this question. IT Inc promise of the harvests is fulfilled by he event in the late summer and early |utumn of this year then there should De
 great increase in exportations. over 1atching possibly the excess of importa- Ions. At all events, no good estimate or he effect of the new tariff law upon the lxrortation of American manufacturing lommodities and the importation of com podities of all kinds can be made until he early part of next year.
 The Tariff Influence
 Yet 1t must be reported that these statis- les from Washington telling of our inter htionai trade in March and April are re- hrded as not very encouraging. If the elation between our exportation and im- prtation which has been established by UT international trade of March and April As been changed then 1t is inevitable that here be some decidedly radieal changes
 American business life. These may
 tiinately be of benent to the American aople.
 Another Note of Warning
 '; was by tho nlerest coincidence in point
 time that on the eve of the meeting of
 g convention of the American Manufac-
 rers' association there should have come
 statement in which John Ciaflin is 'oted as having said that business con
 tions are not very good, and that 1t Is
 eless to pretend that they are. Mir.
 aflin Ppeaks with authority. and if he
 been correctly quoted he has rarely
 oken as he did In this his most recent
 atement. He is in position to know
 nat trade conditions all over the coun-
 are, not only for considerable period
 time. but day by day. There Is no
 nker in the United States vim fa In