Evening star., 1921-03-16
u. S. TOJ0|N HANDS
W|THBUS|NESSM men
President Approves Course
Designed to Aid Great
Export Trade.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

President Harding has approved q
course of action that may mean more
for the prosperity Of America-its
business revival and permanent de-
velopment-than anything else that
has happened since the close of the
European war.
American business men are to be
mobilized through their respective
trades and indusNies.
The United States government is
again to render measure of CO.
operation with private business which
made possible during the war the
building up of huge export trade, but
which since then has been allowed to
lapse, partly through the dissolution
Of war agencies and partly through
the failure of the American govern
ment to proclaim a definite foreign
policy toward Europe.
Thorough discussion by President
Harding and his cabinet of plans
which will be largely in the hands of
Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Com
merce, has led to the conviction that
America must have foreign markets
as the way out of her industrial and
agricultural depression, and that the
American government must adopt
somewhat the same attitude of help
European governments are adopting.
Will Call Representative.
Secretary Hoover will therefore.
call to Washington the representa-
tives of all trade and industrial
bodies. The leather manufacturers.
the shoe dealers. the lumber men, the
grain men-indeed, all who have any
oh I
be summoned here in an effort to
bring about an agreement in each in
dustry SO as to benefit the whole
trade. The establishment not merely
of permanent committees to coop
crate with the Department of Com
merce in Washington, but some
thing even more far-reaching than
lean export houses abroad. The trou-
BILE about the whole question of for
eign trade heretofore has been that
American firms either have not been
permitted to combine or have been
unwilling to do SO because of COM
petitiye conditions on this side of the
Atlantic.
The effort of the United States gov
ernment will be to secure combina-
tions not in restraint of individual
trade, but in promotion Of all Amer
lean trade. The government of Great
Britain, IOT lnStduCe, says " IFS IIlcT-
chants: You, of course, do not know
the credit standing of the mer-
chants in Czechoslovakia through
our government agencies we can find
that out and take the risk-go ahead
and trade with Czechoslovada and
we will back you up"
u. s. to Back Merchants.
Under such conditions the European
merchant has had his own govern
ment back of him. The new plan of
the Harding administration. just ap-
nroyed. is to put the United States
government back of the merchants
and the former. and. of course. the
exporter. To do this there must be
the closest kind of cooperation be-
tween trade organizations and the
units of American industry. There
must also be financial cooperation.
While the Harding administration
means to use the War Finance Cor
noration in this project. it is really
Intended that the private corpora
tons organized under the Edge law
shall be the basis of the export ef-
fort. Herbert Hoover's desire to
make a real department of commerce
was. to be sure, not the Incidental re-
quest of a cabinet member. 1t was
made because he knew the Depart
IContinued on Page 2. Column 81.