The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1921-05-11
WORLD PROBLEM MAY BE
SOLVED BY PRODUCTION
BY Stephen G. Mason, President
National Association of Manufacture.


National Association of Manufacture
erS.
written for the United Press)
New York, May 9.-The purposes
which actuated the National Associa-
ton Of Manufacturers in calling a
Conference of Ambassadorsi and Min
listers on World Trade, We're exem-
plified by President Harding in his
first address to congress when he
said:
'AOur obligations in effecting, Euro
pean tranquility because of war in
Movements are not less impelling
than our part in the waJ itself. This
restoration must be wrought before
the human procession can go onward
again" 81 E&s@
AS an organization comprising s.
900 members, which produces app
proximately 80 per cent of all OF the
raw and manufactured materials in
the United States, the Nation"l ,AsSo-
citation of Manufacturers has determ-
ined If possible coordinate the re-
sources of it's members in an effort to
stabilize social and econopdc con-
ditions throughout the world. Fl
OuI Ol lut COuliCtIA9 uCSAASS ouu
needs of the world today, two funda-
mental necessities are apparent. They
are employment for the people,
and =. production Z by industry-each
dependent upon the other, and Doth
dependent upon sources of supply
which only the United States can
provide. Production in the United
States today is hampered because we
have a surplus of raw and manufac-
tured materials. Production in Eu-
rope is stagnant because she lacks the
very materials of which we have a
surplus, which she cannot buy be-
cause she has not the ready funds.
=" It Is an amazing dilemma which
we must solve and which we can
solve only by extending the necessary
credits that will enable factories
that are now idle for lack of raw ma
,ten:als, to resume production, there
by providing employment for the peo-
pie and producing not only the neces-
stiles of life, for which they stand so
much in need, but also SURPLUS
which will enable them to meet their
obligations and to increase their pur-
chases of additional raw material and
manufactured materials. l-...-s
Tt has become more and more ev'-
dent during the last five years that
no section of the world can he sot'"'-
ly or economically independent. The
United States, once regarded as the
most self-sufficient of all the great
nations of the world, has discovered
that she must not only lave an out
let for her surplus i'm the markets Of
the world, but that she must be able
to buy as freely from the rest of the
world the various raw and manufac-
tured materials which she consumes
or which goes into manufacture of
her own products. Economists esti-
mate that in 1920, for instance, the
total income of the country from all
forms of activity was $70,OOO,00O,-
900 and 15,0OO,O0O,0OOl OF this
amount, or more than FL per cent,
was in foreign, trade. -.
The financial interest of the coln-
try, whose duty ut is to organize the
complicated mechanism by which
commerce is carried on, keenly real
ICES the necessity for adequate
machinery to meet entirely new prC'b-
lens in international commercial
finance. 1t is apparent that I'M order
to meet them, the thorough coOpera-
bion of the producers of the country
is necessary, because after all, imam
eiers are merely trained specialists,
operating with the ammunition sup
piled entirely by the producer. 1
+ Unless the manufacturer knows
definitely and concisely the relation
which commercial stagnation thru
out the rest of the world bears to IT'S
own Industry he is not liable to be
vitality interested, except in an alb
stract manner. I believe, however,
that when American manufacturers
realize the fundam entally important
part which conditions in Europe
play in shaping conditions in this
country, that they will endeavor to
stabilize them with the same degree
of precision, experiences ana energy
which mark their conduct of domes-
tic business. III .,#
It is because the National Associa-
tion of Manufacturers believes that
Its members can best be informed
through the representatives of other
nations just what conditions abroad
are today, that it has organized the
Conference of Ambassadors and Min
listers Of World Trade. The diplo-
| matte and consular representatives
of "a nations will be present in New
York ON May 10th, 18th and 18th
and in conferences they will explain