Palatka daily news. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1919-1994, 1922-05-12
AM ER|CA'S TRADE
MUST Be KEPT At
AN EVEN BALANCE
Exports Depend on I'm
ports, Declares Lich-
enSteln
ALLIED DEBT MENACE
If Payment Is Forced 1t
Will Injure American
Production
(By Associs.cs Pressl

Philadelphia, May 12.-Declarinl
that the prosperity of the country de
pends in part upon its imports, DR.
Walter Lichenstein, executive secre
tary of the First National Bank O.
Chicago, told the Ninth Nationa
Foreign Trade convention today tha
to shave large exports there must b.
correspondingly large imports, ant
that with the increase of both oul
prosperity will be enhanced"
He also opposed demanding full
payment of the allied debt.
exports are necessary for the
prosperity of the country" said DR.
Lichenstein, unless, indeed, we are
willing to face an indeterminate pc.
riod during which we should suffer
stagnation and social and political
upheaval. Ultimately we can be paiC
for our exports only by receiving i'm.
ports from foreign countries. l think
tina tiff we look far enough ahead, &he
danger of dumping (of foreign goods
on American markets) is very, much
exaggerated.
Danger of Collection.
eff, however, we wish really to in,
crease the danger of competition in
our own markets, all that will be nee
essary for US to do is to insist upon
full payment of the debts due us
from oul late allies. When we re-
quire payments of this kind the eff
feet is the same as an over-stimula-
tion of our imports and a checking of
our exports, for the payment of these
huge debts means the expectation of
foreign goods to us in enormous
quantities that being the only way
in which these payments can be
made.
"If we have permanently a very
high protective tariff, whic hwill
check imports into this country to a
marked degree, and our exports go
on as they did during the last years
of the war and Immediately follow
ing, then we shall have an influx Of
gold which will increase ultimately
our currency and thus in the final
analysis affect our prices and pre-
vent the expectation of our goods. In
a sense that is exactly what has been
taking place"
No Advantage in Being Creditor.
Asserting that there is no special
in being a creditor nation,
DR.. Lichenstein said: "We have still
vast undeveloped tracts here at home,
and it will be long time before it is
likely that we shall receive much
greater returns from foreign invest
ments than we do from domestic
ones"
Declaring that agricultural prices
and profits are influenced by the for
eign market, and that during the last
fiscal year about 81 per cent of the
wheat crop was exported, and in 1920
about AZ per cent of the cotton crop,
DIR. Lichenstein said:
"The last census would indicate
that somewhere between 40 and 45
per cent of the people of the Unit
I'd States are still engaged directly
and indirectly in agricultural produc-
lion. It is idle to talk of any return
10 normal conditions in this country
as long as one-half of the working
population is unable to market its
product at proper prices"
Referring to the fear that cheap
European goods may flood American
markets, the speaker said: "As a
matter of fact, according to a recent
of The Nations Business,
Termany's exports at present are in
mantity only fourth of what they
we're before the war, and have been
declining in recent months"