Albuquerque morning journal., 1920-12-21
UNITED STATES
MADE HEART OF
WORLD BUSINESS
Director of the Bureau of
Foreign and Domestic
Commerce Says We Are
Not Going to Have Panic.

Washington, Dec. 20.-The Unit
ed States has been made the heart
of the worlds business by the west
ward trend of commercial affairs
and has reached the stage in its in
dustrial and commercial develop
ment where the maintenance of
foreign outlets is necessary to con-
tinued domestic prosperity, Direc-
tor r. S. MacElwee, of the bureau
OF foreign and domestic commerce
of the department of commerce,
announced today in his annual re-
port.
Declaring that the present stag
nation in the business world was
only passing phase insofar as this
country was concerned, Director
MacElwe urged that the develop
ment of foreign markets be taken
up with renewed vigor.
Our Foreign Trade.
"Our foreign trade in the fiscal
year of 1920, with a total value
of $13,349,661, ,401, was larger than
in any previous year." he said. 1T
exceeded by $4,000, 1000 the for
mer high record in 1919, and was
more than three times the value of
the combined imports and exports
in 1914, the last year before the
war.
MANY people are more interest
ed now than they were a year ago
in foreign commerce. There are a
few firms who had the foresight
to take out life insurance while
they were in good health. Others
now wish they had done so. The
only real insurance that will spread
the risks of depression between the
crests of the waves of domestic de-
mand is the allotment of a sub
stantial quota of the firms prod
uct for foreign commerce and the
building up in the worlds mar
kets of a selling organization and
clientele that will not necessarily
fluctuate with the waves of de-
mand at home.
Depression Follows War.
"a depression regularly follows
great war, and its time of occur
renee may be estimated, from his
tOrical analogies, as about two tc
three years after the close of hos
tilities. We are not going to have
a panic in the United States, buI
we certainly feel the kind of re-
action that the surgeons call shoci
after an operation"
To meet the increased demand:
Of business and carry on the worH
of the bureau of foreign and do
nestle commerce 81, l,493,270 wa.
asked of congress for the next fis'
cal year. That is an increase OF
more than half a million dollars
4 over the present years approprla-
tions. OF the total. for next yeai
I $1,100,00O would be spent for com
mercial attaches abroad and fol-
, the promotion of commerce.
1t is proposed to double the mum.
! Der of commercial attaches making
| twenty-four, and to increase the
number of trade commissioners
abroad by seventeen, making a to-
| tay of twenty-six, while CONNER,
cial agents would be tripled with
total of thirtythree.
Estimates include 100000 fol
commercial attaches, 100000 fol
promoting commerce in general
$150,000 for promoting commerce
| in Central and South America and
$150,000 for promoting commerce
in the far east. The increased ap-
preparations would permit greatly
intensified development of markets
for American goods in Latin Amer
lea and the far east which are
considered the most PROMISING
| fields for American commercial ef-
fort at this time, the report stated
Traces Commercial Supremacy.
Going back three thousand years
Director MacElwee traced the cen
ter of commercial supremacy from
Phoenicia westward to London
where it had been since 1851 and
! 1900 and said the last war had
moved the center of commerce
westward again, the predominant
interests at the present time being
on the Pacific in addition to the
Atlantic. Analyses show, he said
the reason for the rise of nations
that successfully dominated the
worlds commerce to be that they
were situated at the crossroads of
transportation; that they devel-
oped their merchant marine and a
navy to protect it; that they pos
sessed the raw materials need to
supply the wants of man, and de-
veioped the artisans to shape these
raw materials into the form in
which man could use them.
I'VE are spread out across the
paths Of the westerly movement In
the destiny of commerce. Director
MacElwee said. "As to the natural
resources and the skill of our arti-
sans, these need no comment. Des-
pite high wages, Yankee ingenuity
and American ability to organize
mass production with improved
labor saving machinery have made
it possible for us, for many years,
to dominate the worlds commerce
in such articles as harvesting ma
chinery, sewing machines, cash
registers, typewriters, office sup
plies, automobiles, and many other