Evening star., 1916-01-15
Mr.. REDF|ELD DETAILS
| ACTIVITY FOR TRADE
Writes to President of Western
Railway Explaining What His
Department Is Doing.

Some idea of what the government is
doing to aid the commerce of the
country is given in letter which
Secretary Redfeld has written to E.
P. Ripley, president of the Atchison,
Topeka and Santa Fe railway, and
made public by the Secretary. The let
ter was written as a result of state
ments in Chicago paper. purported to
have come from Mr.. Ripley, and which
said that the government was not
doing anything to aid domestic and
foreign commerce. Here are the activi-
ties as pointed out by the Secretary
to Mr.. Pir1ey:
Active cooperation through con-
tinued months Of our commercial at
tache at Lima whereby the Bolivian
tin business. heretofore transacted
wholly with London, has been brought
to the United States, and through the
agency of one of our largest indus
trial corporations tin smelling will
now for the first time be actively car
ried on in the United States.
The active cooperation of our CON-
rnercial attache in China with the rep
resentative of a large American manu-
fact erer whereby an order is secured
for the entire equipment of two cotton
mills with American machinery and
has since been followed by an addi-
tional order.
Coal Tax Removed.
The cooperation of our commercial
attache to France in a joint visit to
the Spanish government with our am
bassador, as result of which the pre-
ferential tax against American coal
was removed, since which time many
thousands of tons of coal have been
sold and are now being sold to Spain
The cooperation of the New York
office of the Department of Commerce
with Russian buyers to such an effect
that contract has been entered into
for the purchase by said Russian buy.
ers of 10000 bales of cotton per an.
mum for five years
The securing with the aid of anothe,
commercial attache of an order by ar
American firm for telegraph material tc
the value of 100000
THE cooperation in this country by
our service to such effect as to secure
orders for the building of a railway or
the Island of Formosa; for the buildina
of capitol building on the same is.
land: for the construction of a petro.
leum pipe line in Rumania and a tele.
phone system for Bergen in Norway.
Does Aid Commerce,
ioui dltcHtioH Is respectfully In
vited to my annual report, sent you un.
der another cover, in which letters from
business houses are quoted upon thi.
theme, and also to the report of the
bureau of foreign and domestic com.
merce, which speaks for itself. It is tn.
fact which 1 am sure you will be GLAD
to know and l am equally glad to be
able to say 1t is the recognized fact
that the Department of Commerce does
do that thing which you are, l believe
mistakenly, quoted as saying it doe.
not do. namely actively aid our do
festic and foreign trade development.
The facts are open and accessible to
all. A message to the Chicago office OF
the department Will bring them to your
desk.
II know you will concur with me in
regretting that under the name of a
gentleman as widely and favora bly,
known as yourself SO entirely incorrect
and misleading statement should
have mistakenly appeaIed.
MAY / add that through other serv-
ices of the Department of Commerce
than the single one with which / deal
above. the industry of making chemi-
cal porcelain has been established in
the United States within the last year
and also that of dyeing and dressing
sealskins, both of which have hitherto
heeu strictly foreign industries"