The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-30
REDF|ELD POINTS ID NEW VISION OF ALL MANUFA LECTURERS Tells Business What to Ex- pect as Result of
 the War GROWTH OF FOREIGN TRADE IS ESSENTIAL Outlines What His Department Is Trying to Do to Help Manu-
 lecturers and Busi-
 ness Men

America must face the world in a diff feret attitude after the war is over. Our jauntiness of thought that idea
 that just because we are Americans we were omnipotent in all matters of finance and business will no longer pull us | through.
 We must have a vision. It is time for us to lay aside our old theory that
 "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. We can no longer sit down and held the bird we have but we must go
 out after the two birds in the bush. | The war has forced us to this new at | ttude and it marks the beginning of a new era in American industry and com merce."
 | These were some of the striking state ments made in his address at the Cham Der of Commerce at noon yesterday by William c. Redfield, Secretary of Cora merce. The address of the secretary was a remarkable one and created an in- tensely favorable impression on the men who heard it. It was a practical and | scientific statement of the conditions now confronting the business interests of the nation, and was an outline of the meth- ods which should and doubtless would be
 
 | tions.
 FOLLOWS GENERAL BLACK | Secretary Redfield followed Gen. Will 1 liam M. Black, chief of engineers, United States army, who made able address on the economic and practical sides of 1 the transportation problem of the coun- l try, paying especial attention to the river situation. General Black gave the people of Birmingham some important ideas and I ,Y, Lo -~I ,Ia. | for the use of the Warrior river, pointing out the difficulties which confronted them l and showing how the question could be solved if handled in the proper way with | due regard for the existing conditions. | T am keenly interested in the question l of river transportation, which has been discussed by General Black,'' said Secre-
 tary Redfeld. My father and my grandfather were steamboat men on the Hudson and all my life I have given
 more less attention to this problem. I l have seen the railroads build lines paral- | cling the Hudson river until now there are not less than eight tracks within sight of the stream on it's way down to | the city of New York, yet the river con- l tinues to handle vast amounts of freight. | It is an interesting fact that practically
 all the boats and the equipment used for transportation on that river are new, 1 showing that the people who have their l money invested in it know that river l transportation is good and paying l proposition when properly handled. The l largest passenger carrying steamer in l the world is operated on the Hudson l river
 "A BIRD IN THE HAND"
 "I want to talk to you today on that l old proverb, "A bird in the hand is worih two in the bush. The truth of
 that saying depends on the circum- stances. It may or may not be true, and generally it is not true. It is frequently an excuse for laziness and indolence on | the part of business men and business en- terprises. We heard much about con- | servatism in business. but most of this
 conservatism is simply the failure of a l business enterprise to look beyond it's narrow scope, a failure to grasp the won- derful opportunities which are lying in
 wait just beyond the horizon. That word l "Conservatism" covers multitude of l sins in the business world.
 1 Business of today in this country must have vision-the ability to get away from the old rule of thumb meth ods and to grasp the opportunities which l in the past we have overlooked, or failed 1 to take advantage of. We can no longer l do business in this country as we did two or three years ago. Those conditions have passed never to return. Those con- cerns which fail to meet the new situa- ton may be lost in the shuffle, but those enterprises with vision and the ability to grasp new conditions will move forward at a pace never before thought possible | in the industrial history of the United l States.
 REVERSE OUR BALANCE
 Two years ago we were debtor na- | tion Our financiers could not even con- ceive of any time in the future when we i might become creditor nation. In fact. l they could hardly conceive of the time when we would be able. to pay up our debts abroad We owed from $4,0OO, GOO O10
 to 5000, 900 in securities held abroad. We owed about $500000,O00 in trade bal 1 ances to foreign powers. In 20 months the situation has exactly reversed itself,
 and it has been reversed never to return itor nation-a heavy creditor. We have
 in these few brief months paid all that | we owed in balances abroad and we are rapidly absorbing our securities We 1 have already taken up more than $2,000 : l 900, 900 of these securities and are rapidly 1 absorbing the others to pay for goods ! bought in this country. France and Eng land are collecting them and are turning them over to us In addition we have
 made heavy loans abroad. $500, 900, 900 at
 one time and many others which add to this enormous total.
 We must face the world in a new attitude after the war. Are we ready for !