Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-11-28
TO DEVELOP FAR EAST
MARKETS FOR AMERICA
Daily Letter by Frederic J. Haskin

WASHINGTON, Nov. 25.-AE
effort is to be made at the forthcom-
ing session Of congress to stimulate
trade between the United States and
the Far East. 1t will be based on
the theory that there must be a sort
of vacation of trade with Europe and
that, meanwhile, the United States
must find and develop a new a
ket for her large surplus.
All the world knows that two
strong elements prevent much trade
with the great manufacturing powers
of Europe. First, the foreign eX-
change situation practically forbids
extensive purchases by European na-
tions from the. United States. This
is because the European ~currencies
are so badly deprecated that a dis
| proportionate amount of the foreign
money is required to purchase a dol
lars worth of goods in the United
States. Second, the American pro-
tective tariff is so high that Euro
pean manufacturers cannot ship
much here, pay the tariff and still
compete with the goods manufacture
ed within our borders. Therefore,
there is a check on both outgoing
and incoming goods-the two cur
rents which make up foreign traSe.
The United States is SO attuned
industrially that to attain her great
est prosperity she must sell the sur
plus of her manufactures abroad.
If she cannot sell to Europe she must
find another market. The present
indications are that she will look
toward Asia.
The Asiatic countries do not man.
ufacture goods in the same vast VOL
ume that the European nations dc.
Japan, it is true, rapidly is forging
ahead as a manufacturing state, but
her population, her facilities and her
manufacturing skill have not yet de-
veloped to a point where they can
supply the whole of the Far Eastern
trade. While China has made rapid
advances in the last decade, she still
is too far behind to supply herself
with all the manufactured goods for
which a market can be made.
These circumstances invite a deter
| mined effort on the part of the Unit
ed States to develop the Far Eastern
market and in all probability con-
gress will suggest that either exist
ing machinery such as the Bureau of
Foreign and Domestic Commerce, or
some new agency, make a special
study of increasing trade between the
United States on the n hand and
Japan, China, the new states of the
Siberian territory, Australia, New
Zealand, the Dutch East Indies and
the islands of Malaysia and the South
Seas, on the other.
China's Purchasing Power
Population makes markets. Be-
fore Columbus discovered America,
America was here but did not figure
in trade. Indeed, for many years
after the discovery. America vas not
a market. The country was here,
but no people to buy. The vast re-
public of China has a population OF
nearly 450,000,000 persons. The
United States has only some 1885,
000, 900. 1t is true that the Chin
ese are not so wealthy as the Ameri-
cans and therefore the individual
Chinaman cannot buy as much a:
the individual American, but there
are more than four times as many
Cinnamon as there are Americans
and, in the aggregate, they represen.
a tremendous purchasing power
When the peoples of the other ORR
entail countries are added, a total o.
many hundreds of millions of pros,
pective customers is found.
They are not, primarily, manufac.
turing peoples. They produce vas
stores of raw materials and consums
vast stores of manufactured goods
1.-THE situation is ideal to develop trad
ing and there is less arrangement Of
foreign exchange between the Orien'
and the United States than between
Europe and the United States.
What is of especial importance II
connection with the unbuiiding o
trade in the East Is the rapid strides
which China has made toward pros
perity in the last few years. Julear
Arnold, a trade attache of the De
partment of Commerce. in a recen
report on China, says
During the past few decades
wealth in China has increased Con
siderably. A Chinese banker tell
me that 80 years ago a man will
$4,000 was looked upon as well off
Today little distinction is given u
the man possessing ten times tina
amount. Within recent years man,
OF the Chinese who have piled III
huge fortunes in political life hay'
invested large sums in industrial en-
terprises. Many of the largest in
dustrial concerns. and numerou
banking companies are the creation
of those who have enriched them
selves as military governors or othe
officials. These people are not abl'