New-York tribune., 1921-01-31
Europe Seeks
Market Here
For Materials
Foreigners Offer Delivery
Oe Brick at Dock af
: Less Cost Than That
Of the nameskic Product
German Cement on List
Plan Not Likely to Cain
Foothold Owing to Re
cent Drop in Supplies

From sourceS quito mysterious 4
hew Of foreign-msde building materials
has begun toward various ports in thu
United States which msy hsve some in-
dueuoe upon tho Immediate building
construction Future, aecordsng to the
current Dow Service Daily Buildfnr
Reports.
Rersan5 representing themselves 70
have European briek-manufacturing
connections have been In this market
Offering fcreign-mzdes brick in competi-
tlon with Ameriean-7nAde products ct =
delivered, dock pricR belew that Of do
mest7c building brick at wholesale. Bel
gian steel and glaas have been offered
here ct prices which have been consid-
erably belew the, levels governing do
Enestlc products of this sort But the
latest and most aggressive foreign
building material sxtes drive is that Of
esarMaa cement. Norwegisn humber has
been offered in mpetiBian with Doug
las hr frpm the Pacific Coast.
Owing 60 the high rate Of exchange
between Ehas and foreign countries.
shipping interests have been fzcing the
problem Of bringing their ships back
10 this country with something more
in their bottoms than sand and
,
commodity in this vicinity.
Europe Seeks Feothsld Here,
For almost q year representatives Of
building material misunderstanding inter-
ests in Europe have been coming to
this country to see whit this market
offered in the way Of sales opportunity.
they came when building material
prices here we're at peak, as reported
In this column at the time. They were
assured that they had chance to gain
great foothold upon the American
construction market, since American
made materials were higher than the
price they said they could send them
here for. Some coaaigrments were
made when it was learned that build
ing financing would not proceed as long
rs American producers quoted the
prices they did.
Europe, however. was having labor
troubles Of her own at about that time,
and domestic. housing conditions and
underproduction there took heavier
toll Of home building requirements
than the sales representatives sent
here had counted on. It has been only
ree.ntly, therefore, that this building
material in ballast has been coming in
in any volume, only to meet wholly
changed condition of American build
ing material production and demand.
Prices have been cut between IS and
40 per cent in the basic market, In the
aggregate, since last summer, and as
the cost Of fuel and cooperage, cottsn
and other items entering into manu-
featuring costs here declined, price re-
ducticns are still being made tn induce
building work to start.
But in the falling market building
material purchasing and construction
work stopped, and during this recess
this foreign material suddenly appears
upon the market.
The serious side Of this phase of the
already entangled building material
and construction market is that it is
likely to be seized upon by some pros
pective building investors as pretext
for keeping out Of the immediate
building market, with the thought in
mind Of possible price war between
importers and domestic manufacturers.
Local Plants Not OveRstocked
If American building material mills
were overproduced and were carrying
stocks for which there was no market,
as are mercantile material manufac-
turers, there might be basis for this
hope. American building material
plants are not overstocked.
If the exchange rate could be ex-
pected to remain stationary q sufficient
length pf time to benefit any consider
r I'm