New-York tribune., 1920-05-13
U. S. Prosperity
Held to Lie in
Foreign Trade
lanes Nj. Farrell, Head of
Steel Corporation, Says
Vast Opportunity Waits
for American Enterprise
Waste by Nations Scored
New York Banker Declares
Extravagance Main Cause
of High Cost of Living

saN FRANCISCO, May 12.-The
xcrld's pocket book was examined to-
,.r nv more than 1000 financial and
.-sss experts in the opening session Of
.,s Seventh Annual Trade Convention.
The first of the four days of discus
ian revealed that internationally
krowu leaders of world commerce find
r.nv things within this pocket book
rhich may fall to the lot Of Americans,
hut the speakers agreed that two
.onr,es are plain-one leading to busi-
,sss reverses. low wages, panic and
s&arnation, and the other to prosperity,
,rogress and security for the business
msn and the worker.
''G Increased foreign trade, increased
nnorts as well as exports, form the
tsv 10 prosperity, said James A, Far
III chairman of the National Foreign
Trade Council, in opening the conven-
.ion. ..,
so- American enterprise, Mr.. Farrell
said.
The abnormal demand upon Ameri-
can production during the war, he
said, has been projected into the first
resrs OF peace because of the exhaus-
ton OF the worlds reserve stocks.
I'VE shall be confronted" he said,
IN quite unmi stakable way, with the
fact that we are able to produce more
nan " can sell at home. EitEer We
shall find markets abroad for the sur
plus Of our industrial productivity or
We shall cease TO produce it, which is
quite unthinkable. That way lies
stagnation. unemployment and busi-
ness reverses.
Needs that have been restricted by
eaous and discordant political parties,
material development that has been
checked by the insistence on narrow
spheres of interest, ~fll be governed
IN the future by a broader and freer
conception of international cooperation
than has ever prevailed before"
A period of depression, with lower
wages but not a panic or crisis, was
forecast by Fred L. Lipman, San Fran
cisco banker, in discussing the inflated
financial situation. Foreign trade, he
said, IS IN the position shat exports
can best be stimulated through en-
couraging imports.
Governmental Waste Assailed
Governmental waste by every natior
vas scored by Fred 1. Kent, New York
banker and member of the financia
committee of the InterAllied Prepare
tlons Commission. He asserted no gov
ernment has since the war returned tt
orderly operation These things, witt
chaotic labor conditions provoked bl
agi tators, he said, were Fundamental
causes of the high cost OF living
Foreign exchange, Mr.. Kent said
would not be stabilized until railroads
shipping, building construction and al
Industries interru pied by the war were
returned 10 normal conditions, adding
that stabilized, orderly labor conditions
with a maximum of efficiency were nee
essary for this.
Captain Robert Dollar. of San Fran.
cisco, veteran Of trans-Pacific trade
told the delegates of opportunities Of
the Pacific, where more than & billion
people, half the world population, were
awaiting development of commerce
He predicted removal OF the world cen
ter Of trade from the Atlantic TO the
Pacific within q generation.
The afternoon session was devoted tc
a discussion of exports and imports,
George Z. Roberts, of New York.
banker, discussing the function of i'm
ports to foreign trade. E. P. Thomas
president OF the United States Stee
Products Company, also discussed i'm
ports.
The convention, it was announced, il
the largest gathe. ing Of trade experts
held by the council. Expert trade ad
visers from fourteen foreign countries
are in attendance.