The Washington herald., 1921-04-09
Nation Must Have Raw
:. Materials to Pad Out
Domestic Shortage.
PRINCIPLES UPHELD
Development Of; Our Trade
Hinges on Balance Be
tween the Two.

NJ commerce and president Of the
American Manufacturer Export
Association, in speaking on behalf
of the Foreign Trade Financing
Corporation, said, in part:
You are all familiar with the
famous question said TO have been
asked in the United States Senate
What have we got to do with
abroadr 1t Is not many months
since a member of the Appropria-
ton Committee of the lower branch
of our national Legislature asked.
What do we do for foreign trade
anyhow and still more recently
the statement has been privately
made that the United States can get
along ali by herself without the
help of any other nation. 1t is
partly in the hope of throwing
light upon the black ignorance in
volved in such questions and state
ments that / am venturing to trou-
BILE you today.
Necessity TO Homes
Let us look first at the import
side of foreign trade. What would
each OF you do in your own home
and business life without IL? Sup
pose for. a moment our import
trade cut OF for a sufficient time 10
allow imported stocks TO have be-
come exhausted. What would then
be happening to you and your
families? No coffee, no tea, no
chocolate, less sugar, no bananas,
fewer oranges and prunes and
lemons, and a higher price for the
reduced quantities, no linen. moth
ing with which to renew the supply
of handkerchiefs, collars. table
cloths, napkins. towels in your
home so far as these are of linen.
No rubber in any form. whether as
tires or rubber bands or as erasers
or combs or any other OF its multi
plex forms. No varnishes, no cellu-
loid because no camphor. and cut
ting of many articles which con-
tribute to your daily life. The abb
sence of Argentine hides. and Aus
tralian wool would result in en-
hancing the price of like articles
here and though favoring those
who have them to sell would make
the cost of living higher for every
man and woman. There would. oi
course. be no silk, no cocoanuts nor
their by-products. SO there would
be no cocoanut oil, and conse-
quent stoppage of great soap and
other industries that use II as raw
material There would be no hemr
and no binding twine. since the
raw material for both is imported
II would be difficult TO make steel
without manganese or chrome, ano
there would be no tin cans. be-
cause we have no tin and cannot
produce the palm oil necessary for
manufacturing tinplate. Every life
represented here and the families
you represent would be altered in
its daily course by the cessation OF
our import trade. There is no one
of you that does not call upon sew
eral continents every day in order
to get through the days living.
Necessity Of Exports.
But the export side. how about
that? II need hardly be told yol
that you need a foreign market fol
wheat or that in that foreign mar
ket you are personally affected BY
the competition Of Canada and Ar
gentina, and that in the past ant
probably in the future the price oi
Russian wheat is reflected into
every farm in Iowa So long as
you grow more wheat than We con-
sumo II must be sold abroad or not
at all. and when sold abroad II
must be in competition with Other
wheat growers. The same is true
Of cotton. That commodity is nov
very low, and the reason is that
the foreign markets are cut Of al
| time when the domestic market
is dull. This is not because the
foreign markets do not want our
cotton-they are eager for IL. but
4 because the means of paying for il
are not available. Our South today
suffers for lack Of sufficient foreign
outlet for this crop. 1t would be
ruin IL that outlet were, altogether
to cease. There is no farmers
home, either in the Central West OF
the entire South, whose livelihood
does not in some degree depend
upon the continuance of our export
trade upon a profitable basis. The
| same is true of our copper miners
They are idle in Montana and Utaf
| and other places now. Why? Be
cause the foreign market for cop
per has almost ceased to buy. w,
| do not consume much more thar
half the copper we produce, IL 8,
| much. and unless the rest is sole
| abroad the mines must close. Ant
so the failure of a foreign marke