The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-09-04
BANKING SERVICE FOR AMERICAS
 FOREIGN TRADE

Today there are probably 2o,oo0 firms or merchants or manufacturers in the United States that have dt- rect interest in our international trade relations. Furthermore, the passage of the Federal Reserve Act, under the terms of which American banks dbuld establish branches abroad has led to a vast extension of our direct foreign financial interests and there are now branches of our banks in score of foreign countries. Our export trade and our merchant marine have both grown to great proportions, and, to- day, the current political and econo- mic conditions in other countries have a very real relation to the welfare of our country, and innumerabIe pug zling questions about trade and if nance are arising daily to which an swerS are sought. It is especially important that every phase of trade and financial development abroad should be reported promptly to those responsible for the conduct of the great international banks. In order to solve the problem of obtaining this information day by day, many of these institutions have found it necessary to organize especially equipped ser- vice branches charged with this task,
 
 and overworked officers to devote to it the study and attention required by this duty.
 A typical example of the develop ment of this branch of banking ser vice is the Foreign Trade Bureau of the Guaranty Trust Company and the range of it's activities discloses plainly the character and scope of the pres ent demand by the banks and the public for accurate and up-to-date service in this field. This Bureau draws on the valuable sources of in formation available to it in every country, through the branches and banking correspondents of the Guar anty Trust Company itself, whose di- rect relations are worldwide in ex- tent. It receives a flood of material from official publications of foreign countries, from our own Government and from foreign daily and weekly journals, magazines, reports of for eign trade organizations, and from American Cham bers>of Commerce in commercial centers overseas. It main- tains close relations with foreign con- sular officers stationed in New York and with merchants trading in export and import commodities of every class and with every market. Strang- CTS from foreign countries are con- stantly visiting the office, each con- tributing his quota of specific news his home country.
 As scores of foreign papers and documents are currently studied, the research assistants employed in the Bureau must, of course, be qualified to read languages other than English and, in fact, knowledge of eight or ten languages is available.
 In the background of this work there is a. richly equipped commercial library and there are also elaborate files packed with records of every sort that might at any time contribute to accurate judgment of conditions abroad These records are classified by country or city, by commodities entering into foreign trade, by firm names of possible buyers or sellers ot any class of products and in any trade center at home and abroad They in f>clude copies of foreign tariffs and trade and banking laws, information on commercial and banking practices credit terms, facts about transporta- ton and innun nerable details about in dustries and agricultural development in every part /of the world.
 In fact, the ideal of the office is to. be prepared to answer any ques. ton in the field of foreign trade ol I international banking that can be an swered through the intelligent co11ec. 1 tion and digesting of information | available from any source and through 1 the employment of a personnel espec 1 ial1y trained and with experience | which should qualify them for tht | task of keeping fully informed o1 | these subjects. In actual practice, i | is found that this purpose is fulfilled l to a degree that is at times surpris l ing and gratifying to those charged with the development of this service 1 The inquiries received in connection with the work of the bank itself o which are submitted by its clients cover an extraordinary range, but i I is rare that some adequate or help l fu1 reply cannot be made to the ques 1 lions propounded. and often it is pos | sible to give to the inquirer a repor that covers very fully the matters il 1 which he is interested. Making sucl reports in the form of research man uscripts is 8 daily routine in the Bur 1 eau. in addition to the informatio7 1 that is given through personal inter l views with clients or by letter in re spoase to incoming correspondence. i Every fortnight, also a carefully edited compilation of specific an practical foreign trade facts, chose
 
 l that has passed under the eyes o 1 the research assistants ofthe Bureau
 is published in 8 convenient bu1leti and distributed to an extensive mail | ing list- This places at the servic Of & large number of merchants an l manufacturers the benefit of the care fu1 survey of the world condition
 that has been made from day to da by the corps of trained observers
 service that few private firms wol1
 find it practicable or possible to es tab1ish.
 |, Another branch of foreign trad : service that contributes materially | the value of the banks foreign trad
 promotion work is the Foreign Cred
 Division in which information as t
 the moral and financial standing (
 purchasers abroad is currently com , piled. An increasing interest in tn
 possibilities of giving credit in foreig