The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-07

New York. December .-(SpeciaL)- Our exports seem to be financing them selves in some way, notWithstandlhs the mentions frequently uttered that by reason of foreign exchange condl- tions, poverty in Europe, the depres- sion which is said to prevail in south America. and in the Far East Amerl- can exporters should be very careiui. To be careful would ordinarily iaeah the refusal to sell goods unless pay ment were certain and speedy. Alp parenty no refusal of this kind char acterized American export trade in October. In some way our exporters are finding convenient means by which they may place our commodities Tn the foreign markets.
 October's record of our international trade furnished another of the unex- pected monthly reports which nave been received since the first Of the present year. In midsummer some ob the best authorities predicted a slow ing up of our sales to foreign coun- tries while on the other hand our imports would be greatly increased so that within a few months they might approach approximately the money value of our exports.
 Now these experts are confounded by the latest reports which have come from the department of commerce eat Washington. Instead of falling off, in sales for export we sold in October to other countries about $150,000,00u worth of c 0 m 0 q ti e In ex- cess of the money value of the com modities which we sold in September We did not buy as much In that month as we did in September. The imports decreased by about $1.000,000. The money value of the October imports Is regarded as astonishingly large. It IS placed at s752, ,000.000. It is so great that the apparent balance of trade in our favor in October was nearly S400,- 0O0, 900.
 Explanations of many kinds have been given for this unexpected reversal since the summer of our foreign trade It has taken place notwithstanding Iconditions in South America, and in the Far East. When we get details which tell item by item what these exports consisted of it will be possible to reach a better understanding of this extraordinary increase than can now be obtained. The presumption, how ever, is strong that 1t represents the imperative need of many of the ma a- tions of the world for food. raw ma terial, and manufactured articles. This explanation however, does not go far enough. It does not tell us how this S752 900, 900, or at least the balance over our imports of nearly $400.000,0O0 are to be liquidated. The trade balance in favor of the United States, which has been established since the first of January is a little over $2.O0O, 000, 900 Against this however, should be off set the so-called invisible balance-that is to say the money that we owe to Europe on account of freight insur- ance travellers credits and interest or dividends upon investment of American securities After making all offset, there will remain nearly S2.oo0, 100000 to pay out now.
 WILL TT CONTINUE?
 Apparently this enormous export business is to be continued throughout the remainder of the year, and prob- ably throughout the winter. Yet no one can foretell what the reports for No vember, December and other months may be. There may come sudden re- versal But the presumption is strong that the world, and especially Europe, will for a long time need American commodities, imperatively need them and will obtain them.
 While our exports to France have been heavy. nevertheless it is the view of the experts, that France may nore
 
 the international trade between her and the United States then some of the other European countries can do, even Belgium and Great Britain. American business men of high authority whc have recently visited France have re- turned bringing words of encourage ment. As for instance F. Harvey Mid dleron who is manager of the. interna- tional trade service, which 1s de- partment of the Guaranty Trvst com : pany of New York, said day or two ago that in the first nine months of 1920 the adverse trade balance of France had decreased s6 per cent as compared with the same period in 1919. He furthermore said that the thrifty people of France are now carrying 100000 individual saving banks ac- counts. In addition the French govern ment and people are turning towards the development of French colonial possessions in Africa and Asia, whose lurking wealth contain resources hitherto unsuspected by any except the leading authorities of France. Mir. Middleton says that France is the rich est country in iron ore in Europe and that the United States is the only coun- try now in a position to challenge France as leader in the iron industry of the world. As soon as Alsace and Lorraine have completely recovered from the horrors of the war, they will furnish France 45.000,000 tons of iron ore year and nearly 20,o0o,0o0 tons of this will be available for export,
 LOOKING FOR FOREIGN TRADE
 France is now perfecting various organizations whose purpose is to stimulate foreign trade. and 1t will not be long before that republic will be arff fna eik dG hides and leather. linen thread and fabrics. dresses and many