The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-12-28
AMERICAS CHANCE
 ID BECOME RICH
By Associated Pres.

New York, December 27.--Three fac tors in the demoralization of foreign exchange, intelligible to the average man. rise above the complexities of the present situation, according to old timers in Wall street.
 These are: CD Allied and other na- tions of the world owe the United States approximately $15,0oo. 900. GOO. CD American manufacturers hesi- tate, owing to peace treaty uncertainty, to accept big advance foreign orders.
 (3) England's virtual suspension of gold exports outside the British colo nies is repulsing American trade.
 Just why the British pound sterling, normally worth s4.S665 in American gold, should have declined so much since the war ended, and what it all means, is an obscure question:" said a New York financial expert" The pre- ent situation, Sir George Paish's appre hensions notwithstanding, Is by no means hopeless. Prophecies of a breakdown of credit are not we'll founded.
 America, the storehouse of the world, and now the worlds banker, is in the same position England was in after the Napoleonic and American civil wars She bought the cheap securities of impoverished nations in a most prodigious manner and thereby laid the foundation for her luther wealth. We must do likewise and do it within the next two or three years, by which time these abnormal conditions will have passed.
 With pound sterling 25 per cent or more below par, England can sell to the United States at a great advantage. We can sell American goods abroad only at a great disadvantage because we must add the abnormal rate of ex- change to the goods to get into foreign markets. Premier Lloyd George re- gently declared, when sterling was sell- ing at a discount of Is per cent, that the discount really represented pro- tective tariff of 15 per cent on goods manufactured in England. Certainly it is helping to keep American goods out of that country.
 "The only remedy for this condition is for the United States to buy foreign securities and extend long time credit for merchandise. We are in strong economic position. The nations of Eu- rope must have our cotton and wheat and, since they are so heavily indebted to us and we must extend them many more millions to put them on their feet, what is the difference whether we buy their bonds or send them our mer- chandise?
 "'Every one in Wall street knows that if the peace treaty had been signed in Washington an international exchange committee would have been organized long before now to stabilize exchange and bring about other, necessary read- justments. Never during the darkest days of the war when the Germans were almost at Paris. did British and French exchange go to where it Is now The British, during the war, by sys- tenn of credits with the United States, had sterling begged to si.52.
 "The tension over and gold exports curtailed there was nothing to keep it that close to parity Indeed, unless the United States loosens it's purse strings there are London financial experts who sa ythe pound sterling will drop as low as s2.50. That would be a calamity. It would be a two-edge sword injuring both England and the United States
 Europe is like man on the verge of death due to starvation. When you find such an unfortunate you feed him gradually until the stomach becomes accustomed to digesting food. Now, our aim has been all along to stuff Europe with all kinds of American products. We have piled up a trade balance, according to former Secretary of Commerce Redfield. aggregating $4000, GOO, 900 a year. Europe's finan- cial system. like the starved human stomach. has been unable to assimilate it. Consequently, we thus contribute to the demoralization of foreign exchange and, incidentally, by imitation help to lower the purchasing power of our own dollar.
 'sWhen you consider as Mir. Redfield points out, that s4.0o0,00o,000 represents American dollars at par and must be paid by those who owe it in depreciated currencies. making it the equivalent or S5 000 000 000 the result cannot be healthful to future American trade and commerce. Foreign buyers are going into more favorable markets"