Bisbee daily review., 1916-01-29
ANTITRUST LAWS NO BAR TO EXTENDING
 OUR FOREIGN TRADE
Chairman of Federal Commis- sion Tells National Council that Fear of Legal Restraint IS Without Foundation.

NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 25.-The fol
 lowing address was delivered today
 before the National Foreign Trade
 Council by Joseph E. Davies, chair man of the Federal Trade Commis-
 sion:
 Epochal opportunity confronts Anne,
 rican business today in foreign trade
 Conditions have never been so favor
 able to trade expansion on a perman-
 ent basis. It is probable that never
 again will so prdopitious an oppor-
 tunity knock at the GOT of American
 enterprise.
 Questions concerning the value of
 foreign trade, and problems of it's de-
 velopment have recently, therefore,
 become emphasized in the public
 mild. The analysis of our economic
 conditions which world events have
 precipitated, has brought to us the realization that the economic charac-
 ter of our national life has changed. We are no longer an agricultural coun-
 try of undeveloped resources alone,
 but have become one of the great in-
 dustrial and financial nations of the
 world, and have become subject to the trade and industrial fluctuations
 which such conditions breed h addi-
 tion to the contribution to national
 wealth which foreign trade brings, it's
 substantial value has become recog-
 liZed because of the stablizing influ- ence it has upon production as a back log for industrial energy. The desir- ability of foreign trade has become a large factor in national outlook.
 The problems connected with the development of foreign trade are mani fest. The goods must be produced. 1 They must be carried in ships to for eign countries. Banking and credit l facilities must be provided. Markets | must sometimes be created, and in- ternational competition must be met. | That portion of the problem which has to do with competitive conditions is peculiarly germane to the functions of | the Federal Trade Commission; and | it was because of its judgment that | no more opportune time than the 1 present could be had to exercise the | power conferred upon it by Congress | in respect thereto. that it has been engaged upon an investigation for the last several months of conditions in foreign trade, and the competitive | conditions in international merkets which will have to be met in the sue cessful projection of American trade abroad. It was for this reason, pre- sume, that you have asked me to dis cuss upon this occasion, the question of "Co-operation in Foreign Trade"
 Our exports consist of two general classes. Two-thirds of the total is made up, approximately, of foodstuffs and materials to be used in manufac ture abroad. The remaining one-third is made upof manufactured articles.
 The first class of exports-the raw foodstuffs, and the like presents. so far as developing mar ket is concerned, little or no need for effort. The market is !, there. The goods sell themselves. If there were need, the foreigner would come and extract the goods from the earth; for his necessities require that he have them to live and to translate the problem is rather that of conserv- ing our natural resources. Investiga ton disclosses that American sellers of lumber in Australia and elsewhere; that in some instances American sell CTS of coal, minerals and metals in foreign markets, are forced into the severest competition with each other at the hands of combination of buy CTS who thus secure the lowest pos sible prices. There is reason to be- lieve that, in csonequence, our raw resources are frequently sold abroad at lower prices than at home, and not merely at no profit, but at a loss. This economic waste in raw resources ac- crues, under such conditions. not to the benefit and advantage of consum- CTS in this country (wherein some possible justification might be alleg- ed), but to the benefit and advantage of consumers abroad. The require ments of an intelligent and provident people would certainly seem to de- mand that some system should be de- yised to prevent this economic waste and preference of the foreign con sumer and at the same time method that would protect the domestic mar ket and the domestic consumer con- 1: and fully, from any i'll effects that might possibly arise as result ; of such system. |:
 The remaining one-third of our eX- ports are manufactured articles, and | generally of two classes-spe- cialties and staples. These do not sell themselves. A demand must be { and foreign competition 1 must be met. In specialties, the de- ' mand is largely created and the com { petition met through the popular char acter of the product. In staples. l which constitute the large bulk of in- trade in manufactured {