The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1915-09-02
GIVE CREDIT OR QUIT SELLING?

Put in plain and simple English
the nroblem of international finance
which now confronts us is just TINS:
In view of the fact that the cash OF
our overseas customers is running
lov, willie their needs continue, shall
we quit selling them goods or snail
we give them credit?
Normal international trade is a
| game of give and take. On a glsan,,,
| tic scale it is swapping. we swap
wheat and cotton and iron ana steer
and copper and agricultural lmple-
ments and shoes and cars ana auto
! mobiles and machinery Tor sugar
and coffee and tea and mahogany
and Paris hats and Canadian WOOD
pulp and Australian wool ana all the
| rest of it. This is the normal oroel
of things. Nothing could be worse
| for country than an internatlona
trade in which the ships went OUT
full, but came back empty, except fol
| money in the strong box; for tha'
would mean such an era OF hlsH
prices at home as would promptly
stop purchases abroad and force III
nortations. Trade-normal trade|
is lust what the word means: 1s
trading one thing for anoth<
Inst now our trade abnormal
for two reasons. Ge is that our oV-
erscas neighbrs are using the
strength irnghting that they usual
llv expnd in making and raising
lthjss for SALE So they have much
less than usual to sell. And at the
same time, by reason of this very
fighting, they need to buy much more
of us than ordinarily. The other rea-
son operates at this end. Because
of the general business uncertainty
produced by the war, we are econo-
MIXING and putting off expenditure
Women are wearing out their OLD
dresses. Motorists are running their
old cars Manufacturers and mer-
chants who had expected to build
this year are postponing it until the
close of the war. The man who has
saved up little money to go into
business for himself is letting it be
and hanging to his old position with
it's assured salary. Managers arc
anxiously searching for evidence OF
waste of materials and energy in
their organizations. The effect OF
this is to diminish the demand for
goods from overseas just when wars
operates to diminish
the supply of them in the market and
also to diminish the home demand
for home produced goods and thus
leave us a larger volume OF them
for export.
For the time being, all causes OPP
crate to load the ships leaving our
ports down to their Plimsoll marks,
and bring them back high out of the
water. Hence it is that supplies OF
gold abroad are beginning to grow
small by comparison with the great
volume of foreign credits they have
to hold up, and we are confronted
with the alternative OF giving our
overseas customers credit, or stop
ping our sales to them.
Which shall it be?
Between now and the first of the
coming year, we, with our domestic
consumption so far reduced by econ
omy and business uncertainty. Will
have surplus products for export ap-
preaching 81, 4OO,000,0OO in value.
OF this amount some hundreds of
millions will undoubtedly be in ex-
cess of the amount of all imports, in
terest and dividend payments to
ocean freight charges, etc.
Europe cannot part with much more
gold. We shall have either to keep
these products, which we are not
ready to consume, or sell them to
on credit-which means to
take European securities, the secur-
tiles of the allied nations, who are
our chief customers.
The question of our participation
in war loans, etc., is not one of SEN
timent or of financial profit, in the
ordinary sense of the term. 1t is one
of getting rid of our own surplus OF
wheat, cotton, copper, iron and man
ufactures of all kinds. If We refuse
credit, our wheat and cotton will
sink rapidly in price, mills will close
and severe and universal depression
will visit u.s. A year ago the ques-
tor of European credits in the Unit
ed States was one Of sentiment or
financial profit. Today it is ques-
ton of selling our goods in the world
market and so keeping the wheels OF
our own industrial and agricultural
turning.-St Louis Re-
pubic