The Colorado statesman., 1919-04-19
Conditions of Few Years Ago
Have Been Entirely Re-
versed by War.
DUTY NOW TO PAY OUR WAY
Looking to World Leadership In Ma
tional Ethics and international
Commerce Brings Us Face to
Face With Problem.
BY WILLIAM c REDFlELD,
Secretary of Commerce.


Five years ago the United States
was a debtor nation. We had financed
many of our largest enterprises with
the aid of European funds. The visible
balance of trade was In our favor but
was nearly or quite offset by such I'M
seen Items as payments for interest
for services Transportation for the
expenditures of Americans travelling
abroad, etc. We were as n whole an
expanding rather than an investing
| country. The work of developing the
| full range OF our resources was incom-
plete. We were far from being indie
pendent in the economic sense, but
looked to the world outside our limits
for many essentials, viz: for credits,
for materials and for many manufac-
! tured products which we did not our
selves produce.
There were then three great com
petitors in the international market
Great Britain, Germany and the United
| States-whlch ranked In the order
stated The first two were lntrenched
all around the globe with banking ia
cilities and transportation systems
ever NltIt at lltll NohAiihhN'
Britain possessed the largest merchant
feet and the greatest aggregate of
liquid capital in the world. Germany
based her industries on science and
her world commerce on research and
backed both by government aid. 1t
speaks volumes for the competing
power of American industry that
against competition OF this nature she
was close competitor in a common
field.
Conditions Reversed by War.
These conditions are today reversed;
the war has changed them all. Ger
many has for years been excluded
from the world markets and has lost
her good will in them. Her fleets
have vanished. At home she is disor-
ganlzed by defeat and civil strife.
Abroad her methods have been dis
credited because the trail of evil Is
over them all. The earlier years OF
the world war altered the currents of
thought and action so that Great Brit
ain and her allies looked to us for
credits and other essentials. First
they recalled the investments made
here and we repaid them sum esti-
mated at from $4,000, 100000 to $1,000
100000 Then while looking to us for
further loans they called upon our nat
urol resources and our industries for
vast volumes of raw and manufactured
materials Tins the balance of trade
In orr favor grow immensely and the
ordinary offsets against 1t We're re-
moved While others were fighting we
accumulated wealth. We paid what
we owed abroad and became in turn a
creditor nation. When we saw that
the great contest was one In which we
were vitality concerned and entered
the war this process was accelerated.
We loaned vast sums to the nations
with which we were associated so that
today not only has our foreign debt to
Europe disappeared but n debt from
Europe to us of eight and a half bill
lions has taken its place. We have
accumulated the greatest stock of gold
in the history of the world. Now that
the strife seems over the world looks
to us for essential materials and
equipment with which to rebuild that
which war has destroyed and to re-
sumo the normal work of life. We
must not only feed and supply the
world but must furnish in large part
the credits from which we shall be
paid. Industries which we did not
have are created and operated. We
are far more economically independent
than ever before and have come to
realize the danger of being dependent
on foreign sources of supply for any
essential factors of commerce.
Vast Chance Is WROUGHT