New-York tribune., 1919-04-12
The Tribune Page of Business News

they would respond to a large money
inducement alone, and there were both
surprise and cfagrin when opposition
was encountered in which earnings
were not involved in any way"
DR.. Charles A. Eaton, commenting
on strvings after industrial democ-
racy, said: ut is u singular fact that
we arc confused. disturbed and even
alarmed by the sudden necessity which
every one feels of attempting to apply
the principles of political democracy,
in which we all profess to believe, to
the whole organized life of the nation.
Before the war there was long period
of strife between capital and labor.
be matter of dollars. We now see
that this view was as superficial as it
was dangerous to the wellbeing Of the
country"
Wants Investments Protected
Other basic problems, besides the
question of the relation of capital and
labor, were also considered. Francis
H. Sisson, vice president Of the Guar
anty Trust Company, said the larger
significance of the recent "unpegglng'
or withdrawal of government support
from sterling and franc exchange Is
daily becoming more apparent.
at marks" he said, Gin n dramatic
fashion the shifting from war to
peace basis, not alone in financing, but
also in practically every economic phase
of international relations. 1t is one
of the most immediate, vital postwar
financial problems, and concerns the
importer and manufacturer OF domestl-
cally consumed products as we'll as the
exporter and manufacturer of goods
,Lr toe
an invisible tariff against American
goods in England and France, which,
sooner or later, but inevitably, will af-
feet our domestic trade. We are awak-
ening to a realization that the prosper
ity of the country to-day depends upon
increased production, and, consequent
ly that it behooves US to expand our
foreign markets, instead of letting
them contract"
Mr. Sesson, after urging the neces-
sity of heavy foreign investments, ex-
planned the relation of the government
to the question.
"Aside from the material security
which will guarantee the repayment of
capital and interest, there is involved
the question of property rights" he
said. "These rights must be protected
by the United States government. 1t
is high time that policy which would
afford such protection be formulated
and put into practice-not perfunctor-
lily, but actively, and earnestly-so
that our investors in foreign lands
Will be assured that, regardless of the
Administration in power at Washing
ton, their property rights will be de-
Tended, if need be, scrupulously and
sternly."
Foreign Trade Problems
In a talk on foreign trade prob
lens, G. A. O'Reilly, of the Irving Ma
tional Bank said
Zone of our most serious Difficult
ties in the field of foreign trade could
be considerably simplfed if as ma
ton we could learn the merit Of
standing together, of minimizing, or
at least not exaggerating, the short
comings and pecu1iarities Of our own
people, of ourselves. The foreigner
in foreign fields will not take liber-
ties with US, or with our institutions,
unless we invite him to do so. Nearly
everybody has met the delightful lady,
an American, who has travelled, not
enough to know the world, but enough
to have been somewhat. spoiled in her
Amercanism. She visits, say, Buenos
Ayres, Rio. Lima and a few other
Latina American centres, and returns
to the United States filled with dis
gust at the 'vulgarity of Americans
and the 'crudeness of our own people,"
o. o. Austin, statistcian of the Ma
tional City Bank, in an address on
prices, said that in his opinion the
chief causes of the world wide advances
in prices are: Imitation of currency,
coupled with the scarcity demand"
and the consequent advance in labor
costs. The prospect of material re-
duction in the near future, he said,
would depend upon the possibility Of
the removal or modification of these
causes.
at Yale University, urged the need of
q stabilized dollar. constant in purchas-
ing power, rather than constant as
unit Of gold.