The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-11-19
EUROPEANS SEEK TRADE IN BEST FOREIGN MARKET Trade With Germany If Her Terms Are Considered
 Satisfactory
AMERICA WILL HAVE
 TO WORK FUR TRADE
Outline of Our Foreign Trade Condition As It
 Now Exists

the Allied countries to buy German
 goods was to have been expected, ac-
 cordine to American Goods and Foreign Markets" the fortnightly re-
 view on foreign trade conditions is sued by the Guaranty Trust Company
 Of New York and is dictated by the
 most elementary business considera-
 tions. "It is,'' says the review, "an
 indication of a growing feeling of in
 dependence and self-re1iance in Euro
 pean business men, which argues
 more convincingly for their future
 than could any amount of special
 pleading.''
 Commenting upon the developments
 of the past two weeks, the review
 says i.i part:
 'Whatever financial arrangements
 may be entered into, whatever Ameri-
 can credits may be forthcoming, will
 of necessity be offered on a business
 basis. The best opinion in the United
 States Is that solvency should not be
 restored by a continuation of credit
 arrangements executed under war
 pressure by the various governments
 With the war, as such, thing of the
 past, loans offered by governments to
 governments with little regard to pre-
 vailing economic conditions should be
 little desired by European bor-
 rowers as by bankers and business
 men in the United States. It is
 thought that they would react all too
 sharply upon conditions in this coun-
 try, and might serve to aggravate in
 flation, promote higher prices, stimu
 late industrial unrest, and so delay
 rather than promote the stability
 which the world so greatly needs.
 This is apparently the American
 view, and there are evidences that
 this view is understood and shared ir
 the most influential European capi-
 tals. The British delegates to the
 International Trade Conference were
 emphatic in their statement of
 similar attitude. Stephan Lauzanne,
 the French journalist and economist,
 said recently, If America is to be
 led to take on her shoulders the financial burden of all Europe, it is
 necessary to show America that Flu rope cannot bear this burden her self !" There Is in France a great deal of money that needs only to be employed. What prevents the French Government from making an appeal
 to its own possessors of money before asking help from the rich across the ocean?'
 More important than such frank statements as these, however, is the attitude toward American loans, and indeed trade with America, which gradually grew clearer as the Trade Conference progressed, and which is being echoed and reflected in cur rent press comment on the other side. Some American business men have
 felt that loans made either to Eu- | ropean Governments or individuals should be spent in their entirety iri ! the purchase of goods in this country: The statem ent was frankly and ire quently made during the conference, and by the representatives of the very countries whose need Is greatest that supplies would be bought where ever they could be advantageously bought. In the case of Belgium and
 Italy, certainly, and possibly in the | case of France, this can mean only that some goods will be bought in Germany, where both the franc and the lira are at a premium.
 Supporting this frankly practical and altogether admirable attitude of 1 business men in the countries named there is the cold logic of the figures set forth in the statistics of foreis trade for September, as issued by ,I1e Bureau of Foreign and Domestic
 Commerce. The balance of trade in that month was approximately $158,- 900, ,000, the smallest since July, 1917 The unfavorab1e exchange situation is beginning to have it's effect.
 "If any conclusion can safely be drawn from these various factors in the situation it is that international relations are approaching once more sound basis. Nations on the verge of dissolution cannot and will not lose time in hagg1ing for terms. Europes need is vast and immediate. It Is not however, so overpowering as to force i her into the position of asking the doles of charity and accepting | thankfully on any terms whatever assistance richer and more fortunate nations may see fit to offer. Now more than ever 1t becomes clear that lending to Europe. when it is done.
 must be done as a matter of sound business for the United States. Eu- rope needs America, but hardly more
 than America needs Europe. Ar
 rangements which grew out of the i situation will be mutually advan- tageous.
 "It thus becomes more apparent ! that the future position of the United States in the markets of the world may soon repend almost entirely upon the initiative and ability of her mer- chants and the excellence of her products rather than upon any fortui- tous developments such as those which have brought about her pres ] ent pre- eminent position. The ten dency of trade will be to go back to the channels so deeply worn in the days before the war. To hold even a notable portion of our gains will re- quire conscientious effort and contin- 1 ual1y improved service.
 While 1t does not seek to overesti- mate the importance Of the pending Edge bill, the review says that many of it's provisions will be valuable as they afford additional opportunities for cooperation along lines that will benefit foreign trade. The bill allows banking corporations to be formed under the supervision of the Federal
 Reserve Board, which corporations, speaking generally, may discount the
 securities accepted by American mer-
 chants and manufacturers in payment
 for sales made in Europe. As the
 Webb law allows manufacturers and
 others to combine for the purpose of
 selling abroad, the present bill allows
 com b.nations for the pooling of credit