Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-08-02
r E TRADE EXPERTS
TOLD OF BY HASKIN
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskio

WASHINGTON, Aug 2.-The
American business man has spent
several years and a good many mill
lion dollars in discovering that
romance taken by itself, does not
pay dividends. A revival of the
foreign trade idea was making it
self felt rather strongly when the
war came along and suddenly Great
ed an enormous overseas demand
for American goods. Ships were set
on the seas and went scurrying to
the ends of the earth with the pro-
ducts of American factories and
farms. With the end of the war
came a reconstruction period in
which the demand for American
goods continued, although the pay
was not so good. This series of
events built up in the American
business man a pleasing conception
of the romance Of foreign trade.
The days of the East India Com
pany, the days of the merchant
adventures of the Free Cities, were
recalled and it seemed a fine thing
merely to send cargoes of goods out
from American ports, bounding over
the even seas on trade missions.
When in 1920 the world wide bust
ness depression came, the American
exporter discovered that the romance
of foreign trade grew pale and
anemic. Under the stimulus of the
war and the post-Armistice hustle,
figures and prices were not so close
ly s%crutinized. When depression
came, ~jennies had to be counted. 1t
was discovered that hit or miss
foreign trade did not pay; in fact
that 1t could be and in many cases
was a source of heavy loss. Many
an American business concern be-
came permanently disguised with
this kind of romance.
There is at Washington a we'll
organized bureau whose duty it is
to show to the American business
man that there is a middle course
between the gay, adventurous,
romantic type of foreign trading
where everything seems fine, and
absolute condemnation of this kind
Of business enterprise. The Bureau
of Foreign and Domestic Commerce
takes the xce romance out of
foreign trade but also it extracts
the excess pessimism. 1t shows the
American merchant that foreign
trade is not a fairy tale adventure
but keen business competition; it
also shows him that, wisely and con-
servatively conducted, it is a source
of legitimate profit. Above all.
foreign trade is a balance wheel for
the business of the whole country.
Great Aid to Business Men
Much preliminary work had been
done in organizing the Bureau of
foreign and Domestic Commerce be-
fore the war, but it had lacked the
services of a promoter. In Herbert
Hoover, the present Secretary of
Commerce, and in DR.. julius Klein,
the Director of the Bureau, it has
found the promoter type. These
officials, building yet stronger on the
old foundation. have made the
Bureau a live, keen aid to American
business men which now is putting
American foreign trade on a basis
of utmost usefulness to the whole
nation.
The Bureau does not encourage
Americans to follow the romance
Of foreign trade. 1t encourages them
to watch the dollar and the romance
will take care of itself. The Ameri-
can exporter finds very little
romance in a deficit or in an uncol-
lectible bill for goods shipped. Know
the game before you go into it, is
the Bureaus advice, but don't stay
out because you are prejudiced
against It.
1t is a fundamental Of political
economy that communities of people
like the United States produce goods
and trade them off to each other.
While they deal in terms of money,
still there is no net gain so long as
they merely exchange their products
among themselves. Also, it is a law
of economies that the lowest price
of a certain commodity at a certain
time must become the price of all
there is of that commodity.
If a group of people produce 1000
bushels of wheat and the consump-
tive demand is for only 900 bushels,
the price of the whole 1000 bushels
will be depressed because there is
no market for the extra 100 bushels.
That is true of all commodities. 1t
is the job of the Bureau of Foreign
and Domestic Commerce to help
the producers sell that extra 100
bushels to another group so that the
kdomestic price Will not be depressed
Mellow the cost of production. The
2ezabrcad maintains a remunera-