The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1921-03-14
AMERICA LEADS AS GREATEST CRED.
ITOR NATION; CIRCUMSTANCES REVERSED
Former Debtor Nation of Four Billion Dollars
is Now Creditor to Europe Thru
Immediate Effects of War
BY w. S. SHEARER


President Idaho Farm Bureau
Editors Note: Mr.. Shearer's ad
dress at Twin Falls was printed in
full in The Daily News of that city
and we reprint it as given there.)
As far back as 1918 few far
sighted men familiar with the trend
of world commerce and international
finance saw breakers ahead for
Americas foreign trade when the war
should close. On the earnest solicita-
ton of these gentlemen the American
Bankers association at its annual
meeting in the fall of that year
formed new committee to be known
as the commerce and marine COM
mittee. The committee was in
structed to make a survey of the
whole field of Americas foreign
trade and devise ways and means for
its support and extension in world
markets when peace should be re-
stored. The committee pursued its
work thruout 1919 and 1920 hold
ing many meetings and conferences.
1t called into conference with it a
committee from the Chamber of Com
merce of the United States and like
committee from the National Foreign
Trade council. 1t made four separ-
ate reports Of it's progress to the
American Bankers association. On
December 10 last it made it's final
report to a conference of bankers,
manufacturers, merchants and pro-
ducers in Chicago called together by
the American Bankers association to
consider the report and to consider
the committees plan for the organ
ization of foreign trade corpora
ton under the Edge law
Before the War
In this paper l shall discuss briefly
the committees report and shall pre-
sent somewhat in detail, the plan pro-
posed for financing Americas foreign
trade thru the medium of a large
corporation heavily capitalized and
under federal supervision. Before
doing this, however, wish to review
for a few moments the history Of
Americas foreign commerce prior to
the war. In 1914 at the beginning of
the war in Europe, the total national
debt of the United States was little
over nine hundred million dollars and
the total indebtedness of the Ameri-
can people to the rest of the world
was about four billion dollars. In
the whole history Of Americas de-
velopment there is no more fasciaat-
ing chapter than the one that tells
of the gradual accumulation, cover
ing period of fifty years, of this four
billion Indebtedness. After the Civil
war America entered upon a period
of intensive development of her re-
sources and industries that was to
last for many years. She needed
merchandise and she needed invest
ment capital in large sums. Europe
had merchandise to sell and capital
to invest. Her merchants and manu-
facturers loaded their ships with
goods for American ports and her
bankers and capitalists modified the
investment capital Of her people for
the purchase of American securities.
The two activities went hand in hand.
Europe's financiers were finding pro-
fitable investment for her surplus
capital and her merchants were
finding a profitable market for her
surplus merchandise. So great was
the demand for investment capital in
America, that investment corpora
lions were formed in Europe whose
representatives went thru the country
organizing what we would call thrift
clubs" into which was accumulated
the savings of workers, producers,
merchants in small villages and
towns and invested in debentures is
sued against American securities
and the proceeds used to finance ex-
ports to American and for further in
vestments in American industries.
Industry Grows Rapidly
In the meantime America was
rapidly recovering from Civil war
and her industries aided by Europe's
investment capital were forging
ahead by leaps and bounds. As these
grew and prospered production in
creased enormously. Domestic needs |
were met and surplus supplies began
to accumulate. This called for
foreign markets and naturally our
merchants and manufacturers turned
to Europe. We were indebted to
SuAoPO AOA ldI sc VI luFcSLu0uL
capital on which we were paying in
terest and dividends. Instead of dis
charging these obligations in gold,
we were now able to discharge them
in large measure with surplus mer-
chandise. Europe needed raw ma
terials and food. We had raw ma
terials and food to sell at reasonable
prices, so that as the years came and
went our wheat and cotton and fruit,
our coal-oil and lumber our pig-iron
and copper entered more and more
into the commerce of Europe and the
spread between imports from Europe
and exports to Europe narrowed,
until in the early part of the TWEEN
tieth century the one Offset the other
and thereafter the balance of trade
registered in our favor, until at the
close of 1913 our exports over i'm t
ports had reached the tidy sum of l
five hundred million dollars. This I
favorable balance was absorbed by I
our interest and divided obligations. s
our tourist expenditures abroad and !
he remittances of foreign laborers I
n America to dependent families in I
Europe. The net result of this fifty
vears of commercial intercourse was
| profitable investment on the part of /
europe in American industries in the I
=