Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-07-20
SCHOOL Of FOREIGN
commerce. OPENS

Formal opening exercises of the
Summer School of Pan-American and
Foreign Commerce were held last
night in the Hall Of the Americas of
the Pan-American Union building,
with heads of government commerce
promotion organizations and foreign
diplomats taking part in launching
the first "Plattsburg" OF foreign
trade in Washington John Barrett.
director general of the Pan Amer1ca
Union, summed up the purpose of the
school in a word when he said in the
opening address that the purpose OF
the school is to present in as detailed
a way as possible all the facts and
principles underlying our foreign
commerce. within a course OF not
more than thirty days study. He said
the course as at present laid down is
hardly long enough to go into the
field of European and Asiatic COM
merce, but that such study will come
later. probably next summer, when
the school will be started earlier in
the year.
The speaker praised the work al
ready accomplished in actually organ
izing the school by DR.. Clarence j..
Owens, director general of the South
ern Commercial Congress. and X. 5.
McElwee. director of the bureau OF
foreign and domestic commerce OF the
Department of Commerce. The prof.
ect has received the unanimous in
dorsement of government officials. ne
said, and rapid progress is expected
in training men and women to enter
the export field.
Commercial Language Needed.
The three basic requirements. Of
world commerce are ships. fuel ana
Admiral William s.
Benson. chairman of the Shipping
Board said in an address at the exer-
cises. Chairman Benson said the Ship
ping Board has the ships; that 1t Is
getting oil in sufficient quantities and
will probably get it at lower prices,
but that the communications are apt
to cause trouble. Lack of a suitable
COMMERCIAL language is big him
drance to greater development OF our
foreign trade, he said.
Admiral Benson warned that 1T Is
high time American men ana women
entered the foreign trade field in
great numbers, as other countries
notably Japan and England. are spar
ing no efforts to take away the bulk
of our trade gathered during the war.
He explained the Shipping Board plan
for ultimately allowing the great
government-owned merchant heet TO
pass into the hands OF private opera
tors, and said no merchant marine
line could make money unless 1t was
under the pressure of such fierce COM
petition as obtains in the privately
operated merchant marine. Admiral
Benson said Shipping Board engineers
are now working on an improved type
of engine, which will give greater
power on less fuel than the oil en-
gines now in use. He said he hoped
for eventual development of the Die
sci oil engine to generate electric
power to run the ships of the mer-
chant marine. as it did in the latest
battleships of the Navy.
Many Positions Opened.
DR.. r. S. McElwee, director of the
bureau Of foreign and domestic COM
merce, who is dean of the faculty of
the new school, explained the pur-
poses of the school, declaring that
many jobs are open for many men and
women in the field of foreign trade.
and that thorough business training
is the only way to successfully enter
the field.
Other speakers last night were DR..
Owens, Senior Don J. Antonio Lopez
Gutierrez. minister from Honduras,
and Senior Don J. E. Lefevre, charge
d affaires of the legation of Panama.
Regular classes of the school began
today and will continue for thirty
days, Mr.. Barrett told the audience.