The Washington herald., 1921-03-17
REDFIELD IKES
OBESITY TO OUR
TRADE BALANCE
December's Enormous
Balance Meaningless
/ Without Other Facts.
CONGESTED ABROAD
Foreign Seaports Crowded
Because Would-be Buyers
Cannot or Will Not Buy.

We speak of our necessary for
eiKn trade as very sick" But"
one replies. look at the foreign
business we did in December. and
at the great favorable balnce. near
ly 5000. .Ooo. 900. dufng 1890"
The answer. says william c.
Redfeld in the Journal Of the
American Bankers Association, rs
that one may be fat without being
well, and that. indeed, obesity is a
condition which may. and often
does, threaten health. Further
more, 1t will hardly do to pick out
one period, still less one element
Cbulk), and reason from it to
Al general conclusion without regard
to other well-known facts:
american good that have been
/ shipped abroad are piled up in for
eign seaports because the would-be
buyers either cannot or do not ac-
cept them. American goods are
also stored in our own seaports.
stopped there on their outward
way for like reasons. More than
one American concern has had to
order its goods back from abroad
or else dispose of them there at the
best price possible in falling mar
ket- Failing this. some are carry
ing them either on their own ac-
count or through the aid of their
bankers. Any one of these condi-
tions means a serious loss. not
merely through the absence OF
prospective profits, but through the
presence of direct expenses Fur
thermore. the American exporter
who sold these goods has frequently
been obliged to pay for them at a
price far above that for which they
are now salable.
Caution Necessary.
Just as a burnt child breads the
fire, therefore, the exporter who
has suffered from such experiences
finds it necessary to move eau
tiously, to refrain from aggressive
saction and to give his attention
rather to the safeguarding Of such
business as he can do than to Wig
.orous steps toward extending trade.
This Is, of course, true of any kind
of exporter. whether merchant or
manufacturer, and its reactions
upon our domestic trade are plain.
One has only to look about in his
own locality to see partial results
in factories idle or running part
time. in men out of employment or
working at reduced wages.
Balance Not Yet Paid.
This Is not all of the story. Any
who may look with enthusiasm
upon the so-called favorable trade
balance OF nearly s3,0OO,000,000 dur
ing the last calendar year should
abate his joy by rejecting that this
balance Is not yet paid. OF course,
many Of the Individual transactions
out of which il is composed have
been liauidated, but when our for
eign commerce is considered as a
whole IL Is true that a sum larger
than this total balance due us on
Joint international account remains
unpaid in the form OF floating debt
OF many kinds. Some of this con-
sists of unpaid bills of exchange.
some is carried by the banks either
directly or in the form of loans to
the shipper. and much no doubt is
due to shippers who sold on open
account Some represents goods
consigned frozen" where they are.
efhere Is, of course. constant ad-
tustment among the items which
compose the mass, but little prog
ress is being made toward a re-
duction of the total"