New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-29
(From The Americds)

rTOW much do the foreign sales
II of this country contribute TO
- the whole country's prosperity
II is a question which ought to be an
swered right, because there are I'M
portant matters Of national foreign
policy 10 be decided before long ana
problems affecting the general business
Of the people dependent Oh the atti-
tude Of the country toward its export
and import commerce. A Few months
ago Professor Irving Fisher, OF fale
University, made the rather startling
statement that our export sales are SO
small in proportion TO domestic Dusi-
mes. AZ to be unimportant; and Presi-
dent Wilson during the campaign re-
iterated Professor Fishers argument
az basis for his statement that present
prosperity is not due to war orders.
Professor Fisher estimated the do
mestic turnover of business at
$500, 900 900, 900, and said that our to-
tai exports, then around s4,0Oo,oOo,OOO'
were too small in comparison TO be
a deciding factor in our national SIT
uation.
The Business Turnover
or course, ones estimate Of the
amount Of this country's internal busi-
ness depends on what he regards as
business turnover. Professor Fisher
did not mean income or profits; that
is evident. He meant TO measure the
whole gross" Of all business activities
! in a years handling, and maybe he was
close to the correct figure in his round
amount. Bank clearings exceeding
/ s24O. 00O, 100000 indicate that the total
Of transactions in the over-and-over
turn Of production of raw materials,
marketing, transportation, part manu-
facture, further manufacture, combina-
ton Of part manufactures for further
! fabrication, up to the completely fin
! ished article that may have involved a
dozen separate preliminary manu-
featuring processes and sales this
Mus an immense induction of collateral
business-is we'll up in the hundreds
Of billions.
One can also conceive of actual use
fulness in knowing what the total is.
II might have bearing on how mucn
currency or banking accommodations
the country ought TO have, though
there are simpler ways of determining
that. The best use Of guessing at the
big total, it seems to US, is in the in
cidental demonstration it gives Of the
fact how much every mans prosperity
and chance TO exert himself for the
increase Of his income depend on the
prosperity Of every other mans bust
ness.
A farmer raises a steer whose hide
sells for 50 and is going TO end by be-
ing made into shoes, belts and other
odd trinkets. II nobody wanted the
final products, OF course, the hide
WouIu HOL De NOilH 90 hcibhci N""N
hide nor any others in the neighbor-
hood-so the village storekeeper, the
farmland, the local minister and 9TH
ers whose activities are benefited by
the sale Of the hide would be so much
| less prosperous. Between the farmer
and the men who wear the shoes are
I r bfAne
/ truckmen, two or three railroad trans
| portations, two separate processes or
/ preliminary tanning and manufacture,
jobber Of leather, a merchant of
findings" and odd shoemaking mate
rials, q maker of shoe machinery and
tools, tho shoe factory and at least one
wholesaler and a retailer. There are
at least eight turnovers, maybe ten,
and from the 81 hide to shoes and
leather novelties worth $50 Professor
Fisher can easily count 5000 in sue
cessive sales. If the successive deposit
and collection Of the checks involved
is also "business"-and it is-it ex-
pands to s272.25.
That isn't all the gainful human ac-
tivity set in motion by the turnover"
of the one hide. Every concern that
handled it had place Of business and
employees; the handling of the hide is
part of the reason for paying rents,
wages, stationery bills, postage, tele
graph and phones, electric light or
gas, lawyers fees. taxes. From profits,
wages and payments set in circulation
the benefit Of the business extends to
every kind Of trade. There are few
lines Of modern production that do
not involve long train Of turnover,
successive manufacture and combina-
ton. And every turnover sets in mo-
ton its widening rings of universal
benefit.
Measuring Our Productions
In the latest years officially reported
for the manufacturing output of the
United States aggregated s24,246,323.-
600; agricultural production, S10,501,-
$4,000; mining output, $2,114,946,O24;
forestry and fisheries about 81, 900, 000,-
coo. This total Of material production