The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-11-17
TWO BILLION IN AMERICAN GOODS
 FOR EUROPEANS
Financiers and Industrial Leaders Tell of Needs of
 Europe.

frank statements of representatives to the International Trade Conference which recently met at Atlantic City, in regard to the tremendous needs of Europe, fnanciers and industrial leaders are perfecting plans for for eign securities corporations under the proposed Edge Bill, says Export American Industries, the official or gan of the National Association of Manufacturers.
 The Edge Bill, which has passed
 the House of Representatives permits
 the organization of companies to buy,
 sell and discount notes, drafts, trade
 acceptances and all other forms of
 legitimate evidences of indebtedness
 for the purpose of advancing foreign
 trade It is believed certain that
 once in operation the corporations
 which are already in process of for
 nation will, within the year, be able
 to absorb foreign credit instruments
 to the value of one billion dollars.
 This will permit a tremendous ex-
 pansion of our foreign trade, not only
 by opening up avenues of credit that
 are now impossible but also by aid
 ing in stabilizing exchange, which is ] today, the greatest single deterrent to American foreign commerce. The delegates to the International
 Trade Conference, representing the leading fnanciers and manufacturers of Great, Britain, France, Belgium and ! Italy. estimated their needs during , the coming year at s1,5O0, 100000. If the proper credit facilities can be ar ranged in the United States they will purchase materials to that amount here. The huge figure which this represents can be better appreciated when it is recalled that in 1913 our total exports to all of Europe were but $300,000, and that last year, including exports for war purposes, Europe purchased but s1,6O0, 100000 worth of materials from the United States.
 France alone asks between $5o0,- 000,000 and $700,000.O0O which she desires to expend in this market for materials that will laid her in rebuild ing her industries. Italy wants S800,- 100000 for the same purchase of
 necessary coal and fuel oil Belgium wants S100,0O0, ,0O00, while Great Britain will fill her needs by a loan now being floated here for 0,000,- 900.
 The delegates at Atlantic City who | made these estimates declared that Europe cannot rebuild her industries without materials from the United
 States. They convinced the American
 represen natives that the group of na-
 tions which they represented was sol vent-from the nationalistic stand point and also industrially and finan- cially. They estimate that it will take l three years before the tide is turned so that there Is a really equable re- lation between exports from the United States and imports from their countries. But in the meantime they will be supplying a large home mar ket and will be settling their financial difficulties.
 The urgent necessity for credit or l ganizations to handle this business is fully realized and it is anticipated 1 that within a few months - unless passage of the Edge Bill is delayed by Congress elastic and powerful | market for foreign credit instruments
 will be available in this country. The | securities of these companies will be | sold directly to the general public or l if the public does not evince suf- 1 fcient interest, to the group of manu- 1 lecturers, fnanciers and export mer | chants who have the success of the 1 project most at heart.
 The needs of Great Britain, Italy and France, while tremendous in | themselves, represent only a part of l the demand for our products during | the coming year. The new nations of 1 Eastern Europe who must be sup | ported in every way by the older and
 stronger nations whose victory over
 the Central Powers brought them into l existence, must be provided for. l Poland a, tremendously rich indus l trial and agricultural country has vast requirements of raw
 materials and machinery which she 1 can use to manufacture goods for
 which there is a ready market.
 Czecho-Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, ] Jugo-Slavia and Germany must buy
 in the United States market. Before 1 they can buy however, there must be i some stabilization of their currency ! and some material assurance of their 1 ability to pay. These ends can only
 be achieved. through the aid of other countries whose prosperity is linked {, with theirs.
 Production and tonnage promise to l be the major physical requirements 1 for this country during the coming l year. There is little doubt that the proper financing for export will be
 accomplished and that wherever there is a market which is solvent l and staple, the proper credits will be
 easily arranged. But the demands of l1IS HulOp6dD UdllOIiS e11 . oO NfhA iVSt 1 that to meet them will require a peak ] production in practically every line
 of industrial activity in the United
 States. A partial list of the products most needed includes coal, fuel oils,
 cotton, metals, agricultural machinery, l concrete mixing machinery of all l types, refrigerating plants, lumber,
 foodstuffs, building materials and
 equipment, automobiles and trucks, 1 and general industrial machinery.
 Stability in industry alone will pro-
 duce quantities sufficient to meet the
 demands. There is a flourishing do- 1 1nestic market-so flourishing that it's i requirement. can hardly be met-and
 as a result American manufacturers
 are prone to slight the world market.
 The shortsightednes of such course
 is too apparent to require comment.
 The United States must retain a | foreign market, probably not the
 emergency market spelled in billions
 annually such as exists today, but a anarket of sufficient size to absorb the
 surplus production which we have in normal times. Our commercial fu-
 ture is bound up in the restoration of
 Europe and only coordination every | 1VIera will enable Ills to meet the de-