Evening star., 1919-09-28
NO TIME TO "BREAK TRAINING"

Every college man and every sport
devotee knows what It means to
'break training" that
In the Period let-down after weeks
w. Of gradual physical
Of Waiting development along .
certain line so as to be ''in the pink
Of perfection" keyed up to the high
est point Of efacient tension for the
big struggle. and then relaxing.
To break training" before the big
game is a matter of dishonor, and
much worse than to "go stale
through overtraining..
Now Is no time for the United
States manufacturer to break train
ing" during the unsettled period OF
waiting for the big competitive con-
test for world trade. He must be
getting all of his faculties and tai
ents developed and his plays" well
practical.
Just now he is engaged in what
might be called scrub" games: In
these contests he Is an easy winner
because there is no real competition.
But the American manufacturer. like
the American athlete. like the Ameri-
can Army, must not be satisfied until
he has won success in the ''big game"
For the American manufacturer and
exporter this big game" Is more than
six months Of. Even as the athlete
in training has coaches-in charge OF
his practice and watching the play
Of his rival, SO are Similar agencies
at work for the American manufac-
'turer and business man ambitious to
make q record in the foreign trade
contest. Uncle Sam has his trade
trainers coaching the American manu-
facturers, individually and collective
ly. for individual trade enterprise and
for mass plays. and he has his inspec-
tors in the training camps Of trade RI
walls tipping OF the coaches how to
best develop the American business
interests to meet tho competition that
is being schemed.
Philip B. Kennedy, the new chief OF
the bureau Of foreign and domestic
commerce. who recent
Rio Fnrnes ly was stationed in
- London observing
u Wo1A' trade conditions. op-
portunities and prospects. and who
has taken o broad view Of American
fitness and the world outlook. sizing
up the situation. warns that great
forces are today at work whose out
come must be closely watched. and
that now 10 the time when the individ-
ual manufacturer ana exporter should
be putting his house In order.
The thought on which Mr.. Kennedy
lays emphasis is that the present ab-
normal demand for American goods
is primarily due 70 underproduction
abroad. and that this may conceivably
tend to increase American costs OF
production. When trade is brisk at
good prices the same attention is not
always given to economies Of produc-
tion as when it takes close figuring to
secure a profit. He suggests that
there may be a rebound in European
countries when production gains mo-
mentum. England. France, Belgium
and Germany have shown in the past
that they could often manufacture
cheaper than we could in the United
States. In all these countries vigor-
GUS efforts are already being made.
which will be increased as factories
build up facilities for intensified pro-
ductton and, get q. steady supply Of
raw materials. =
These countries and these industries
within the countries have been hard
pressed and have had every incen-
tive to recoup. It IL none too soon to
study carefully the mounting costs
which, not only infiict the people OF
the United States with the domestic
burden and problem Of the high cost
Of living, but which may also-sooner
than we want to believe-limit oppor.
tunities abroad.
Foreign trade Is no Eldorado. and
the goal is to be reached in the long
run in proportion to the way we pre-
pare ourselves for skillful and cheap
production.
Basins his opinion on = careful