The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-08-11
By HOLLAND


 New York, August :o.-(Special)- Rudolph S. Hecht, who is president of one of the large banking institutions of New Orleans, is reported to have said to his friends immediately after his return from Great Britain and Europe, that he saw and heard enough to justify him in saying that the principal European nations have not been exhausted although they have been seriously impaired in their industries and their agriculture. They possessed strength hitherto latent which Is now enabling them to recuperate. Therefore MT. Hecht Is persuaded that these nations will continue to make heavy demand for some American raw materials. Cot ton for instance, copper and, of course, foodstuffs.
 Cotton is indispensable, if Germany, Belgium, Roumania and even Great Britain are to regain their former in- dustrial prestige. But raw cotton of the kind chiefly used in the European manufacture of cotton goods can be found nowhere else than in the United States. MT. Hecht is in iull accord with other authorities who re- gard 1t as inevitable that within a few months a heavy increase in the export of cotton to Europe VIII pc made.
 On the other hand MT. .Hecht does
 Q ahnut the maintenance certainly not about the increase in our exports of manu- factured products. One reason why he is thus apprehensive is based upon | the labor costs which are proportion | ately the larger part of the cost of | manufacture in the United States.
 In Germany where labor Is the Fundamental means by which the ! reparations can be paid and German | industry restored, labor receives on l the average a little under dollar a | day whereas the American workman l averages at least 36 day. That brief statement in part explains why ] it is that Germany Is successfully en- 1 tering the worlds market and why Mir. Hecht is appreciative lest ou1 1 exports of manufactures be greatly l decreased.
 | Yet the exports of American manu' factured articles formed a considera- ble part of our share in the interna- | tional trade of the year which ended on December S1. In fact there was ar increase in our exports of manufac- 1 tured products. Seven years age /, American, manufactured articles con | stituted only about one sixth of the manufactured products in the entire 1 international trade. But in 1920 our own manufactured articles amounted 1 to about one-third of all the manu- l factures entering into international | trade.
 Can We Hold the Trade 1 A question of the utmost impor- tance is caused by the consideration suggested by MT. Hecht respecting I our exports of manufactures. The l question Is this; can we increase or even hold the large international l trade manufactured articles which W. were fortunate enough to secure. Il is only within 20 years that Ameri- | can manufactures have constituted 1 any considerable part of our exports The Standard Oil company set the 1 pace some 35 years ago when 1t be- gan the export of the product ob- tained from petroleum and estab- ] lished the export trade upon world wide basis.
 Following the organization of thu 1 United States Steel corporation noticeable increase in exports o steel and iron products occurred | Gradually it began to be observed | that exports of manufacturers were 1 creeping up upon foodstuffs. After z l while conjectures were made as tt I the possibility that our manufac | tured products would match food ex ports in the quantity and value O the exports of them.
 Not until about 1910 was it possi ble to report that at last the Unitet i States had. secured new relation il | international trade because this coun try no longer was chiefly an exporte. of food products, but was matching I exports of this kind with manufac tured products. So the gain con tinued until now when apprehension begins that we may lose some of ou markets for manufactured products I Labors Chief Competitor
 Nowhere does there appear to b. any understanding or apprehension 1 on the part of the labor organization
 of the United States, that very dan
 gerous competitor has arisen. Ger
 man labor at an average of a littl
 under si day is actually, In com
 petition with American labor who's
 average is $6 day. The German
 who work in the factories which ar
 turning out manufactured articles re
 ceive pay which is SO small that it |
 possible to manufacture these com
 modities and market them elsewher
 in the world at price which othe
 nations cannot meet.
 No one expects or desires Ameri
 can labor to be paid wages compara
 ble with those which the Germal
 workmen receive. But it does seen
 as though labor should understan.
 that unless it offsets this Germa,
 competition, it is in serious danger
 There must be stabilization of wage and there must be greater efficienc, . than even the industrious GermaI
 workman gives. We have alread