Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-05-17
U. S. PART AT GENOA
URGED AS SOLUTION
OF TRADE ISSUES
CONTINUED from First Page:)

and the nrosperity of every nation.
The reparations and the iateralne1
debts are inextricabiy involved ana
must be settled as one ecoho''i''
%. The debts owed the United
States cannot be paid in gold. we a. :
ready have too much of the world
supply Of gola, They The yrs ean Sf ns "
the reparations vitality affects our ouI
trade and our finance. the Cni tI a
States should be represented oh 'Ae
reparatiOn COMMISSION ,,;.,
IS How can there be any solu.loi
of any international problem unlesS
all the nations interested participate :
People Must Rebuild World.
THE responsibility of solving the
many internationai ecSnonl,C Suv ,Sd
the restoration of normal cohaitiolis
Of trade and finances. rests. NOT upon
the governments. but upon the PEG,
pie. upon the business men anu
bankers of the various nations. Pracs
teal men who have spent years OF
intensive study in the building up OF
business and financial ac,are ms wnrids
economic balance: Posltical leao 81 3
must bring about confidence IN t the
of rehabilitation must be done by the
people The efficiency of the govern
ment of any country depends upon
the intelligence and vision OF lts
The reports OF the Genoa confer
ence indicate the European economic
situation is critical. 1t is apparen,
the European countries cannot starr
the machinery to maA the wofid
function again as a gong concern
without our cooperation.
Their attempt to settle the eco
nomic troubles of Europe. at Genoa
without cor presence is as futile as 10
try to rearrange or adjust the anairs
of an individual bankrupt in the alb
sence of his creditor.
1T is the function of such organiZa.
tons as the Chamber of Commerce OF
the United States to educate the peo-
pie of this country to think interna-
tionally so that when Congress may
he asked to authorize the particlpa-
ton of the United States IN the soiu-
ton OF international problems the
members of our national legis!altae
may act as becomes the representa-
tives of the richest and most progress
sive country on earth.
Mr.. DeIaneId Warns.
Supplying the home market alone
Will not make the United states
prosperous. John r. Delaf1eld, for
nerly chairman, board of contract,
adjustment of the War Department
told the convention. The prosperity
of the United States, depends upon
maintaining its foreign trade at
IT'S maximum he said. ut may be
asked. How does the repayment by
the allies of our war loans to us and
the payment by them to us OF the
interest on these loans effect our for
eign trade? Why should it not IN
crease our prosperity. for II woulo
be bringing in cash to the govern
ment. which might then diminish our
taxes. and the cost of our products
might decline proportionately? But
let US consider whether this would
in fact, be the case. In order to
maintain foreign trade at It's maxi
mum our purchasers from US abroad
must have the means of paying for
our goods promptly and without great
difficulty or expense to themselves.
These same countries. Great Brit
ain. France. Belgium and ltaly-the
countries to whom we nave maze
these so-called war loans-are our
hest customers, and the ones upon
whom we have to depend to take our
surplus product and materials. and
thus to keep our industries going and
to give us prosperity
Serious Factor Involved.
There is a very serious economic
factor involved. which has already
begun to harm and will harm us
much more in the future unless the
situation is changed. 1t Is said that
France intends to use the reparations
payments from Germany as means
to get money with which to make
tinted States. and that it is for this
reason that France required the rep
arations to be paid her in money.
rather than in labor and goods.
Let us consider how this works
harm. The reparations payments
amount to about s2.4oo.aoo,ooe year.
This amount the Germans must raise
every year. 1t is sixteen times as
great as the interest the French owe
Germans have the same problem to
meet as the French have with their
interest payments. except that it is
on an immensely greater scale. They
must buy exchange to an extent
hitherto unheard of, and they have
credits in their favor and that Is by
themselves exporting as much as
they possibly can and buying as lit
tie as possible in returd. so as to use
all they can of their credits to pay
on the reparations. Such credits as
they can create by selling their de-
preciated marks to people of the al
lied countries who may desire to
speculate in them will be but small
help. almost negligible. in the face
of such an immense sum.
Now. the Germans must double their
own exports of 1913 to get the money
for the reparations payments. and.
unless the demands of the world have
increased that much. they must dis
place the trade of other countries to
this vast amount. an amount a little
less than one-third of the total ex-
port trade of the principal allied
countries. and this displacement of
trace will be largely a loss to these
allies whose trade will be thus
greatly affected.
Must Seek Worlds Trade.
I'm other words. in order to pay
her reparations in money or exchange.
Germany must capture this great
share of the worlds trade-so vastly
greater than the trade he ever had
does it successfully, then has she not
accomplished an economic supremacy
that it will be hard to over turn?
Her goods will then have an estab-
lished market the world over. such
as they never had before. Her in
dustries will continue their vast and
economical production on scale no
other nation can rival. and she will
soon become nation Of very great
wealth and power. perhaps greater
than ever before.
Are we willing to deliberately con-
tribute to this result and to raise
this great rival to our trade? Do
our debtor nations look to the Ger
man reparations for the means to
pay their war debts to US? If they
do, we should think and act quickly
to alter the situation.
THE problem is a grave one and
Of a character that requires courage
and statesma nship to solve. 1t also
gives an opportunity to effect a gen.
eral readjustment which would add
to the benefits that would flow to US
from the forgiving of these claims
against our allies: England. for ex-
ample. is not only our debtor, but