The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-03-09
EUROPE SENDING BACK U. s. FOOD
 TO SELL AGAIN
Present Prices Make Return
 Sale Over Here Profit ,1 able

1 z Starving Europe is returing food products to America to take advan- tage of profits through exchange. This return of products purchased from this country for dollar profits, according to George F. Braun, presi- dent of the Hale Company. an export and import company of San Francisco has just begun. MT. Braun. who is in New York to canvas the export situation, says that California's food shippers are becoming gravely con cerned.
 Several large shipments of dried fruits, goods which were sold to Flu rope early last fall, have recently ar rived in this country from Holland
 and England" MT. Braun said in an interview today. Three large ship ! ments of prunes came from Holland, the shipments aggregating sixty car loads, Or $600,000 worth. England has
 resold to us a shipment of thirty car loads of raisins, valued approximately at $400.000. This movement of Amer l ican food exports back 10 our mark cts has just started. And yet Europe | is badly in need of all kinds of food stuffs
 "The Scandinavian countries have great quantities of American canned foods, peaches, apples, prunes etc, which were shipped to them last fall, and upon which the European buyers can now make a handsome profit by l reselling in our market. Meanwhile 1 food exports have practically ceased. The European countries despite their great present needs, cannot afford to | pay the high prices which their un- favorable exchanges with the dollar impose upon them.
 There is a great quantity of Amer. 1 ican canned goods purchased for shipment to Europe, which is being held here in New York. There is no present prospect of selling these can. | ned goods to European buyers. Fur | thermore, the tide is just setting in 1 for the return of American products, and it would not surprise me to see return shipments of American meat products, particularly lard, arrive | here soon. "California sees very unpleasant handwriting on the wall, as far as | Americas export trade is concerned, 1 unless some means are devised for granting Europe long time credits for
 enabling the people of Europe to get the supplies upon which to go back | to work. California is dependent for i the export of between 25 and 35 per 1 cent of it's production of canned and i dried fruits.
 "rSothing is being shipped now at all. The fruit export business is abso- lntely dead"
 MT. Braun proposes a novel ma i chinery for extending long mercantile l credits to Europe whereby, he be- l lieves, Americas huge export trade | can be maintained and increased, and also the object be served of hasten 1 ing Europe's return to a productive, 1 solvent basis. He proposes that the 1 Government arrange with the Euro 1 pean Governments for their guarantee 1 for long term commercial paper aris- l ing out of purchases by their import l CTS of American raw materials and | other products and for the rediscount- 1 ing of this paper by the Federal Re
 serve Banks. The credits, he sug-
 gests, will have O run for ten to 1 twenty years, and, he adds, these
 should be carried by the Federal Re 1 serve Banks.
 .The problem of giving Europe the l credits she needs is entirely too big
 1 for any single firm or combination of
 | firms" MT. Braun says There are
 no American exporters who can af-
 1OTu IO ldCe LIit COIllIIlS5eIlCy oI Ic1N HE
 | their capital tied up for ten or twenty
 years This bare contingency makes
 | it almost impossible to get the raw
 1 materials and the foodstuffs neces-
 sary started and until these supplies
 are forthcoming Europe will not be
 ] able to go to work and her security
 as risk will steadily diminish. Only
 the Government can help. The pres
 ent conditions are deplorabIe, and
 they can only be remedied by prompt
 l adequate action"