The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1920-08-14

Sl III Lllo bdl sam
We are now upon the verge Of an
other commercial war, or, rather, en-
tering upon new phase Ct the CON
tinual commercial war, which, while
it may be bloodless, will prove to be
none the less bitter. The greed for
world trade will, wi hin the next ten
years become so keen that England
France and Germany will be offering
their goods a. small percentage
above cost and on long term credits
in order to get at the volume Of bust.
ness; and ! venture to say that they
already have The problem figured far
in advance Of anything that we may
have to offer.
If we are going to get our share of
the worlds business, now is the time.
The iron is hot, the sledge poised.
We have Drawn enough to forge for
ourselves an impregnable position
yet we should bear in mind that the
smith who rikes haphazardIy, or,
which is more important, who at
tempts too great weld with too lit
tie pains, seldom accompllshes much.
FIRST, wha is the relationship be
tween the two prime factors?
Practically none, The producer or
manufacturer seldom exports, and
the ultimate consumer seldom inn
ports The foreign consumer, so
termed, is the direct buyer of manu-
featured goods, or the manufacturer
1 Of goods from our raw ma erials, or
/ the man who uses our machinery for
the manufacture of goods from our or
his own raw materials-the man or
concern who Is instrumental in pre-
lparing an article for the ultimate con
sumers use, or who juggles it into the
foreign markets for his ultimate con
sumption On The other hand stands
the exporter. Both are commission
merchants. who today represent the
foreign establishment, to whom the
a handling of 80 per cent of the foreign
trade is entrusted They buy, sell
and trade Between the man who has
stbe goods to offer at Que end Of the
lime. and the man who wants the
goods at the other end, Just as our dc
nestle commission merchant stands
between the housewife in the home
|, and The farmer at his potato patch.
How much does the farmer get, how
much does the broker keep and how
much does mother pay? Why does
she scold the farmer fer poor.rich
/ potatoes and eventually buy substi-
tute?
The commission man can manipu.
late matters so that the producer is
considered a hog by the buyers, eth
er a home or abroad He may not
: do it invariably, but he does It regu-
larry enough to be serious detri-
lment to the integrity Of business. At
any, rate. the prs duser Isl seldom TO
r any great eX ept at, fault s.. a,.
{ Tho relationship between the brok-
Z ed and the producer shotild he such
. ! that The broker would receive al oom-
I }uiission exactly in proportion to bits
relative financial obligations as per
. the percentage value to the PRODUCER
and hey be Jointly related TOT the
consumer the ugh the t0talyeliminatiot;
/. tof the broker be too muclfto ask al
, 4 But having met our foreign hnyer
face to face and agreedluppp the most
J profitable medium of buying or sell
/ ing, with the goods andi cash ayal
able, we have only accomplished one
j phase II the situation. namelyp 1.-THE
/ easy angle of the subject NJ 1t 10
+ The angle ofHexchangei is of more
. Vital Importance and worthy of IA
Z greet deal of attention. Ii should and
J must be worked out In manner
? where the poor foreign buyer can by
exchange Of raw material for manu-
t Gastured articles and machinery for
: the / manufacture, he enabled to grow
+ and become true factor In the
5 commercial world, thus creating de-
1 mand for more and more of our
: American produc $, machinery, etc,
!. and the use OF certain eiIicinet ar
} ticlea. Once the acquaintance Is
r formed, likeness will follow and cs.
+ tablish a likeness. by making the ac
! qua ntance more attyac i've through a
+ medium of liberal exchange and cred
+ IL. Then We will have created de-
l mand which will soCn, with care, war
= rant liberal profits and eX ensiye cash
4 ssales besides having educated our
Z, foreign buyer to the use of high eff
j 9eiency machinery and products, to
1othc extent of prelerrns them a a
j, reasonably greater cost to articles
. sindlar m character which will be Of
. fured BY other coun rlcs at lesser
To begin With a medium of ex-
, change must be established in the
i Tn ted S,'tes for the proper dspos-
, al. Of raw materials from fore en-
= credit markets. If we can handle, for
. example, a million dollars worth of
y raw matcras frcm Russia, and
Russia is in need Of machinery of a
7 proportiouate value, there exisIs a
Q mutual demand and the exchange
J. should be made, and made in a way
9 which will encourage and attract
t rather than IN way which might dis
j, courage fur Jher and more extensive
o exchange, by Offering too small a
t prize fer the raw material and de
n iuandlng a prob ibitiye price for our
3 finished products.
g Through a properly es ablished ma
= ioual commercial exchange We
d should be able to place for our for
G en- buyer his raw materials both tc
his and our material advantage, and
g at the same time give him just what
he most desires in the way Of finished
+ products, or raw materials of cores
T. ppndng value to him