Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-10-22
TRADE ILLS TO
BE DISCUSSED
ATT CONFERENCE
Men High in Affairs of the
Worlds Nations at At
lantic City

Atlantic City, n. J., Oct. a.
Hundreds of the worlds greatest
business ''surgeons''-men high in
affairs in the United States. Great
Britain, France, Italy and Belgium
met here to-day at the opening
session of Il three-days' "clinic" to
diagnose international trade ills and
prescribe for their cure. The first
day was spent largely in the organi-
Zation of committees and other pre-
liminiary work.
Tho International Trade Confer
ence, as it is called, is being held
under the auspices of the Chamber
of Commerce of the United States.
Among the notables who are invited
to speak are King Albert, of Bel
GUM; Herbert Hoover, A. c. Bed
ford, chairman of the board of di-
rectors of the Standard Oil Com
pany; Sir Arthur, Shirley Benn. M.
P, of England; Eugene Schneider,
head of the Creusot works, the
steel king of France; Florimonde
Hankar, of Brussels. director of the
National Bank of Belgium, and Fer
nando Quartieri, formerly head Of
the Italian delegation to the Inter
allied Munitions Council.
Committees to Report
Ten committees. named by an
executive committee of which Mr.
Hedford is chairman, are to submit
surveys and reports on American
trade and financial conditions for
the information and guidance of the
thirty-siS foreign delegates. The
topics are as follows: Credit and
Finance: Chemicals; Foodstuffs;
Coal; Oil; Metals; Shipping; Tex
tiles; Reconstruction, Supplies and
Permanent Organization. OF all
these committees none, perhaps. is
more important than the one on
credit and finance, headed by James
S. Alexander, president of the Ma
tional Bank of Commerce of New
York.
Discussing the objects of the
Credit and Finance Committee, Mr..
Alexander said: 1T is to study the
question of re-establishing normal
trade relations between the United
States and the nations of Europe, to
provide an opportunity for frank
discussion of facts and an exchange
of views with our visitors from Eng
land, France, Italy and Belgium
Neither the foreign delegation nor
the Am erican committee is in any
sense official"
Will Garry Weight
While it is a fact that the dele
gates to the conference are not en-
powered to pledge their govern
ments in any way, their recommen-
dations are expected to carry great
weight. The conference, it is said,
has the sympathy" of each nation
represented. England, France, Italy
and Belgium, as we'll as the United
States, has in attendance an official
Observer" who will report to his
government and, where such a
course is desirable, it is expected
necessary enabling legislation" will
be passed to put the recommenda-
tions of the conference into effect.
Stabilizing of foreign exchange is,
perhaps, the most vital topic up for
consideration. One delegate put it:
I'VE must stabilize exchange or we
won't have any foreign trade at all.
Europe needs vast quantities of raw
materials, semi-finished as we'll as
finished goods, and the United
States as the storehouse of the
world must extend credit to put
Europe back upon an industrial
buying basis"
Two recomme endations will be
made at the conference, among 9TH
ers, for the stabilization of exchange,
one of an international currency"
by Marshall Stevens, of England,
one of the founders of the Man
chester Ship Canal, and the other
for a guarantee by American banks
of foreign railroad and industrial
securities to encourage their pur-
chase by American investors.