Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-06-29
Foreign Markets Important.

The development Of American in
dustry n agriculture and mining
has created a condition that makes
the disposition Of our excess produc-
ton Of raw materials and manufac-
tured goods in foreign markets a mat
perity at home.
The growth of. the financial strength
Of the United States during and since
the war has placed us in a position
in which We, pre- -eminently the
creditor nation Of theeworld. must in
our own selfish interests create the
financial machinery that is necessary
to enable the markets Of the. world to
Iabsorb u excess production. y
This is more than an oblieation;' the
conditions of the time give US an OPP
portunity that no other nation pos
sesses-the opportunity to create in
foreign countries, virtually under
whatever conditions WI ourselves may
desire to establish. lasting markets for
all the goods and raw materials the
United States can produce.
Industries Speeded Up.
During the val and in the months
following the armistice our farms and
mines and industries-all the elements
were speeded to a high rate of pro-
ductivf activity. for the world needed
everything we could produce and had
the means to pay for it. Our export
trade reached huge proportions.
The countries of the world settled
for our goods first by selling back to
us virtually all the American securi-
ties that the older nations of Europe
had purchased in the generations be-
fore the war, then. out Of the moneys
that our government lent to Euro
pean governments and finally by
means of short-time credits extended
by our exporters to purchasers in for
eign countries.
At length the supply of foreign
held American securities vas virtually
exhausted and American government
loans to other nations were discon-
ttnued. And about a year, 6 the
limit Of short-timN credits. which had
become in the main frozen credits
in our banks, was reached.
Europe Can't Pay. .
The world need for American pro-
ducts continued. but the ability to
pay for our goods no longer existed.
The farms land mines and industries
Of the United States. in other words,
lost in large measure the markets for
their excess production.
We are all familiar with what hap
pened. Reduced purchasing power
abroad vas reflected in reduced pur-
chasing power at home. Foreign
markets could not buy our farmers
crops. and therefore our farmers had
no money with which to buy the goods
that our factories had manufactured,
nor with which to repay their Dor
,rowings from the banks.
Our manufacturers could not sell
their goods, SO they reduced. their
output and in many cases shut down
their plants altogether. Hundreds of
thousands Of men were thrown out Of
employment, and domestic purchasing
power suffered a further reduction.
Every element in our economic life.
from the simplest to the most com
plex, felt the situation more or less
seriously.
Many Problems Involved.
OF in this was not all due to
the loss OF our foreign trade, for we
have had all the problems that natur-
ally accompany the period Of de-
flation and readjustment that. must
follow every great war. We have the
problems of the costs of production,
OF transportation costs, Of ,readjust-
ment Of costs and selling prices upon.
10 normal basis, but all these, by the
operation Of memorable economic
time, whether we help or not and
even II we try t. hinder. They are
working themselves u already.
But the problem of excess pro-
duction-the problem Of finding for
etgn markets for our surplus goods
requires more than time for Its solu-
ton. It requires the united intelli-
gent action OF the people of the
United States.
Defiation and readjustment are
progressing as rapidly and with as
little loss and disorder as might
reasonably be expected. hut the prob
lem OF excess production remains and
awaits U ahirmative. constructive
action.
Tn situation.
What Is our situation today? We
have on the one hand our best Gus
toners. the nations Of Europe, crying
for our goods but unable to buy them
beca III their purchaaing power5shaa
been 20 greatly impaired by the de-
s%truction and 8wastssof wealth tnyaf