Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1920-10-15
Cheap Goods of Europe, Asia and
Japan Crowd Out Products
of American Mills.
u. S. TRADE BALANCE
FAST DISAPPEARING
Figures of First Seven Months of
1920 Show Mounting Increase
of Imports from Countries With
Low Living Standards for Labor.
american Economist.)


Washington, October 5.--The ia
orable trade balance of the United
States is rapidly disappearing under
the flood of imports. In August, the
excess of American imports over ex-
ports dropped to $65,000,000, the low
est figure since October, 1914. In
June. 1919, this excess of exports
over imports had reached the high
water mark of $685., 463,600 and in
the calendar year of 1919 this excess
was $4,O16,061 ,05S.
The waning trade balance is due
both to the increase in the imports
and a decrease in exports. But the
significant fact for American indus
try, Just now, is the stupendous
growth of its imports which, for the
eight months ending with August 81.
1920, had piled up a total of $780,
100000 more than the total for any
previous calendar year, and n per
cent. in excess of the $2,262, 900
of imports for the first eight months
of 1919. The August imports alone
aggregated $519,O0O,000. While this
represents an S1S,0O0,000 decrease
from the July, 1920 figure of S537,-
900 900, it is exceeded only two other
months of the present year and is far
in excess of any month in any pre-
vious year.
The August exports totaled S584.-
100000, a decrease of 67,OOo,Ooo
from the July, 1920, figures of $65l' :
100000, and $62,000,000 short of the
August, 1919, total of $646,00O,OOO.
Instead of finding cause for alarm
in the rise of imports and the decline
in our exports the Free Trade apollo
pists proclaim this as a healthy and
necessary resumption of normal busi-
ness. That, of course, is cold com
fort to the manufacturer who finds
his export market slipping away and
his domestic market invaded by for
eign production. The Free Trader
tells him that only by the increase in
imports over exports can Europe re-
nav the enormous debt which it piled
up on this side of the ocean during
the war.
But the statistics of the Bureau OF
Foreign and Domestic Commerce put
an entirely different front upon the
situation. For an analysis of thu
sources of the increasing imports ano
of the destination of the decreasing
exports reveals the fact that Europe
is almost as far as ever from paying
it's debt to the United States, while
A e;o ,,,;1L ;Is obaap labor 10 daily
making new conquests of American
markets.
For the seven months of the cur
rent year, our exports to Europe ag
gregated $2,692, ,470, while its eX
ports to the United States totalet
1874, 783,708, leaving an excess OF
European commerce in our favor o.
$1,907, 231 1852. That certainly doe
not look as though the disappearance
of our world trade balance were help
ing Europe to pay its debts.
On the other hand, the exports Of
the United States to Asia in the frs
seven months of the current year to
tailed $544, ,198,636, while our imports
from Asia were 1854, 572, 388. II
1919, the same seven months snoWe'
imports from Asia of $506,466,577
There lies the danger to American
industry. 1t is even more emphaticallN
shown in the import figures from ia
pan. Mn the first seven months o.
lSeNvkAese totaled 5000, 083,875, al
gainst $751; ,536,917 in the first sever
months of 1919. In the same sever
months our imports from China
doubled For the first seven months
Of 1920 they aggregated $l43,563,8S6
against $72,Os9, 1888 for the same per
led of the preceding year. The i'm
ports from British India-justly IA
nous for its cheap labor-were SIG
SS1,5l4 for the first seven months o
1919.
The increasing imports touch al
most every industry in the Unite
States. In August, 1919, our import
of glass ware for instance aggregat
ed $l34,694. In August, 1920, the,
were S1,006,260. For the first eigh
months of 1919 they totaled $1,136,
276; for the first eight months o
the current year they were $4,435, 1896