The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1921-05-26


Il New York. the biggest national
hank In America. lie organised and
3 now the chairman OF the board OF
directors OF the American intcrna'
sional corporation and Is a director
ind member OF the finance committee
n the International Mercantile Ma
rfne Co.
SOUGHT VIEWS ON
FOREIGN TRADE
II was 10 get vanderiip's views on
this important subject OF foreign
trade that arranged Tor the inter
view.
Nv first question was: TO what
extent does the future prosperity OF
this country depend on the develop
ncnt OF foreign trade
III may surprise YOU TO have me
<ay that l do not take the extreme
position that this country cannot en-
Joy fair degree OF prosperity with
out developing n great overseas ex-
port trade" was the answer.
s,of course do not take the other
extreme position that We arc so self
sufficient and self.con,ained as a ma
ton that foreign trade Is factor
that need not be considered. Some
where between these two extremes OF
opinion lies the real truth. We can
not attain the high state OF prosper.
fy TO which our natural wealth. buN-
ness genius and population cntitie US
without at least a normal foreign
trade development"
lis the problem Of the develop
ment OF American foreign trade. to
the extent that IL Is a problem. a
thing that can be solved government.
ally or Il II the problem Of American
business In Its private capacityg"
PROBLEM FOR BUSINESS
IN PRIVATE CAPACITY
Broadly speaking II Is a problem
for business In its private capacity.
I do not mean that the government
b. sympaihetic understanding and ef
fort cannot help. But 70 can only
help. The initiative and energy must
b. supplied BY the American business
man.
Before the war our foreign trade
failures were due In large measure
% the refusal Of financial and In
1ustrial leaders to apply the saxne In
teiisgence. energy and patencc to its
DEVELOPMENT that they did to domes
tic business. In addition to this we
were also handicapped By the higher
wage levels In this country as
against England. Germany and
Japan. But even In those lines
where. by the economy Of mas pro-
ductiou, we had overcome the hAndI-
cap Of higher individual wagcsI we
did not take full advantage OF our
opportunities. Our effort for foreign
trade was more or less q haphaxard.
spasmodic effort and as an Amert-
can I regret TO say that we were not
any too honest In our foreign trade
methods BY and large. should say
that we got all the foreign trade we
vera entitled to In the pre-war Pc
Rod
The war created such abnormal
conditions that our foreign trade
figures during that period mean 1T
tie or nothing an applied to the stu
alton we are now facing and win
face In the future
Having become creditor nation
our whole relationship with the rest
Of the world In terms OF trade and
finance has changed"
LONG CREDITS
NEEDED
rs II possible I asked. for us TO
absorb enough imports to balance
our exports. and thus maintain our
position as a creditor nation. with.
put causing n shrinkage In industry
and continued Unemployment
quite possible. IL we recognize the
necessity OF selling abroad those
cheapiy than other nations and buy
ing from abroad those things which
other nations can produce more
cheapiy than we can.
Foreign trade Is not a onesidcd
arrangement In the final analysis
the only way, we can be paid for
raw materials and manufactured
goods we export Is to take goods in
exchange.
AS the basis for building up our
foreign trade I'm the new era which
we are now entering we must ex
tend long time credits. Also we must
be prepared TO invest our surplus In
foreign securities This Is the policy
that made possible Engiand's for
eign trade development Before the
war the total of EngIand's foreign
security holdings was about 20 bill
lion dollars. To maintain our pres
ent position as creditor nation our
foreign investments ought to reach
40 billions"
DOESN'T EXPECT RETURN
10 PREWAR LEVEL
I asked vanderlip at what point
in his opinion. the commodity price
level and the wage level would be
established In this country. with ref
erence to the pre-war levels.
NO man can answer this with ex
actness," he said. because of ths
many factors involved. am posi-
tive, however. that neither average
prices nor wages will go back to
where they were pre-war SO far as
wages are concerned they ought not
to 20 back, because they were too
low. And. Of course. prices to a con
siderable extent are controlled BY
wages"
"Short Jury" in
Chester's Trial