The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-06-30
WAYS TO MEET
 FOREIGN DEMAND
By HOLLAND


 Secretary of the Treasury. MT. Glass, Henry P. Davison immediately after his retuurn from Europe, Frank A.. vanderlip and others have recently stated that only in one of three ways or else in all of the three possible ways can the prodigious demand which oth- CT nations will make upon the United met. One of these is by our own pur- chase from other nations of commodi- ties whose money value in the aggre- gate would be equivalent to the money value of our exports. Another way would be the sending of gold to the United States in payment of the bal ance of trade created in favor of this country. The third is financial method, the utilization of credit enormous in the aggregate and furnished by the United States to the people of other nations by means of which they can secure the funds which are necessary to pay for the commodities they buy here.
 It is interesting to note that in these final days of the present fiscal year, all three of these methods are to serve in ldCllltdtlHS lne iAdHSih6 VI Odi III ternational trade. First of all it is spoken of in the financial district as a matter worthy of congratulation that our imports from other countries are steadily increasing. The aggregate money value of the imports for the fiscal year which ends on June 30 Is far greater than the money value of our imports in any preceding year The hope is strong that imports will in crease. for that is the easiest method by which international trade can be equalized Furthermore, MT. Dawson and Mr. vandelip, as well as others. have spoken of the relation which inn ports bear not only to our own man ufacturers but also to the productive ness of the world. If we import com modities such as raw materials or par tially manufactured articles, that IS done because our merchants and our manufacturers need these commodi- ties and the greater the import of them the greater the amount of com modfties we manufacture will be. Then again for the first time in many months gold is coming into this coun- try. This movement is spoken of in the financial district as something which bears no special relation to our gem eral imports. The gold is brought here chiefly for the purpose of bringing foreign exchange conditions to point as nearly normal sN possible. That will result in facilitating trade Eng land is sending to the United States gold already as much as SlS,0o0,O0O ana possibly to be as much as $5o.000, 000. This is sent by way of Ottawa, Can. Of itself, the movement is compara- lively trival. But it is spoken of as contributing in some measure to the restoration of normal conditions
 THE GREATER PLAN
 But the most important of the in- fuences now at work whereby inter national trade can he maintained and Increased until i. a, last reaches pro portions which a few years ago would have been deemed impossible, is the method suggested by Hepfy F. Dawson and now partially under ay by which we can supply credits, .,s matter how many billions may be .eeded within the next four or five years. These cred {! it's will enable the purchasers of Amer | ican commodities to secure the funds with which payment can be made Tor | them.
 | It is, therefore, spoken of as extra | ordinary that in the closing days of l the present fiscal year and within six months after the armistice was signed and almost coincident in point of time with the signing of the peace treaty I the United States is so situated through 1 the coordination and cooperation of our resources as to make it certain Ethat the stupendous problems will be Satisfactorily answered.
 l It is very rapid work which has already been accomplished. In midwin- ter of this year. the wonder was wheth- CT it would be possible to maintain and | increase our foreign trade so that the remarkable demonstration of it's size which the statistics of January and | February furnished could be reward ed as anything else but mere temper ary reaction from the end of the con- ditions. as those were when the ar mistice was signed There were also many difficult questions relating te readjustment which it was necessary satisfactorily to answer. But within four or five months we are we'll under | way towards perfect readjustment and are also well prepared for handling ths stupendous foreign trade proposition.
 WHAT FRANCE WANTS
 Just as in these last days of tht fiscal year the situation is regarded as very encouraging and the reports from all over the country of the rapid progress in the direction of readjust, mont of business and trade .conditi9hI are received in New York. word coJhei
 from Europe that France will bef re