The Washington herald., 1915-03-04
TELLS BUSINESS
TO ACT At Once
DIR. E. E. Pratt Says Now Is
Time to Develop Americas
Foreign Commerce.
WORLD NEEDS U.S.. GOODS
Russia and Austria Want Our Ma
chinery. Asserts Bureau
Chief
WORLD NEEDS U.S.. GOODS

! 'PromotIun and FinanCIn OF foleISn
Trade WAS the subject OF lecture by
pr Edward r. Pratt. chief OF the Bureau
% Foreign and domestic Commerce, at
the y NJ. {. A. last night. The lecture
was the first Of a series of eight on
'Forcign Trade arranged under direc-
ton uf Thomas W. Walton, director of
education of tn" Y. NJ. c. y.
pr Pratt rcfuted the statements of
some business men that this is nor the
time for the United States to develop
foreign trade. with nearly all the world
at war. credits upset and world finances
generally in an unsettled condition" DR..
Pratt declared that now l. the time to
lay the foundations fer future develop
ment Of foreign trade" intimating that
Americans should study foreign fields
while other nations are busy fighting and
be ready TO bid for foreign commerce
when the war ends.
Russia Needs Machines.
Russia, with lI5OoH.1o population and
nearly 9."HHr0 Square miles, is the larg-
est single PROSPECTIVE" market for Amer
lean goods" declared DIR. Pratt. Rus
sIa has onc-s'-vcnth of the land area of
the globe. and that land is ill the early
stage of development Developing coun-
tries are tn" ones in which We can hope
for the largest amount Of trade. We
nave zeal i''l lT'Ul our cN ~ ttpsli'''!Ce
in deyelopinC American resources Nnat
manufactured devices and equipment
are needed.
Russia will especially need our ma
chiucry. and she will need all kinds.
In 1919 Russia bought probably sl0"o,oc'
worth Of machinery. and this trade We
now have with her should increase many
times over. We recently made a single
sale of l5@" cars for Russian railways.
all order of Sl00O'.G0
Australia claims that she has the
land to grow 1000. 10000 bushels OF
wheat yearly against one-tenth the
present amount. The world has need
for it, too. and if she does we will
sell her several times much ma
chinery as we now sell her. Australia
already is our best oversee customer
for American manufactures She is
buying $50. 900 worth of goods from
us annually, or $40 per capita for her
population.
We have drawn heavily OH the vast
mineral resources of the United States.
but in SO doing we have learned the
best methods and hence, out in the
gold mines of the Rand in South
Africa. in the petroleum fields of Per-
STA, and in many other lines our i'm
proved machinery ia9ound to be the
best.
Profits in Small Things.
Especially is there opportunity for
the American in the sale and big
profits in articles made for the masses
and put in their hands at a small mar
gin. Figure, if you will, only l cent
profit in supplying. say, one-ffth of
the people in Asia with n 25-cent ar
ticLe. That means a profit Of over
81 500, 900
The little things of popular consump- |
ton such as oil, soap, combs, mirrors !
knives. etc, find enormous sale IL turn !
ed out in that standardized automatic |
way which is typically American.
1T is necessary that Americans enter !
the worlds market on a large scale. !
but We must solve two problems that Of |
financing foreign trade and that of train |
ing men to carry on foreign trade. / re- |,
Gently have been told by our large manu- |
facturers and exporters that the problem |
of finding properly trained men is the |
greatest of the two problems. Find us the |
men who are properly trained, they say, /,
and We will have no difficulty getting |
the finances
The second lecture in the series will be !
delivered by Secretary of Commerce Red |
fld next Monday night at o'clock at |
the Y. NJ. c. A.