The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-12-05
must be found for our surplus

markets must be found for our surplus
products and tc act as relief to our
financial system wnen by reason OF
i'anics, strikes and other industrial dis
turbances the home market has become
disarranged. Then II commerce he the
principal sock In trade let us insist on
our right ito live in the SUM-"
In seeking for new lines for COM
siercial expansion at the beginning of
this new era in our foreign trade policy
the North American republic naturally
looks longingly to our neighbors In
south America. on the security of whose
existence our own political interests have
forced us to expenJ time and money.
Indeed, we may claim this rich sec
ton of the western continent as our
sphere OF influence ; but every student
ni commercial history will discover that
South America has already been covered.
as far as It's industries are concerned.
by chattel mortgages. so to speak,
against which l.. viii be found difficult
10 operate for new enterprises. 1t is not
generally known, l think. that before
the war fully half of the entire income
or some of the Sobth American States
vas daily deposited in some European
controlled bank in payment of interest
on vast sums of money invested In their
capitals under Cover nTnental guarantee.
Many OF these investments are still
lien on the trade of our sister republics
10 the south. While We will gain some
new clients In this leld of commercial
activities in the pending struggle for
commercial advancement the increase
Will not at all comport with our needs
or our deserts.
Expansion to Near East,
Therefore In the great outpouring Of
our commercial wealth, which the reor-
ganization of the world calls for, we
must look to Eastern Europe and West
ern Asia for entrepots. The great field
of undeveloped utilities in China offer
the best inducements for the expansion
of our trade in Asia. but when our Ma.
ton was in its early childhood spheres
of influence" were established around
its eastern borders by European nations
which still act as bar to our progress
in that direction. to say nothing OF
still greater barrier that is now being
constructed against American trade in
the Far East by the japanese
In the early half of the last century
we did have a fighting chance for COM
mercial equality with our principal rival
OF those days and our young and ex-
banding merchant marine babe fair to
take the head of the line in the worlds
industrial fleet: but this ambition was
rudely shattered by the British people,
who took advantage of our misfortune In
the civil war and drove the American
flag from the face of the ocean. They
acknowledged their mistake in the break
ing of solemn treaties by paying US
S15.500.000 as an indemnity for our
actual losses (but not a penny for our
consequential damages) while they have
reaped harvest equalling thousands OF
times that amount as an offset to the
award of an international court. Shall
we permit the misfortunes Of another
war again to bar our right to a fair
share of the worlds trade with the Near
East, where spheres Of influence" are
now being established similar to those
long ago set up in the Far East to our
great disadvantage?
Definite Policy Needed.
The representations made by our Gov
eminent recently to Great Britain and
France asking equal opportunities for
the citizens of this country in the de-
velopment Of oil fields In Mesopotamia
assure US that the President, at least,
will not permit our rights there to be
jeopardized. but we want a policy. not
q dictum of a short lived Administers tiop