The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-04-27
VITAL TO OUR COMMERCE.

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 It is very significant that the volume of our foreign trade has not been diminished by. the. European staghation. Our commerce other continents has increased to make m for the decline in trade with Europe whersas in 1913 our European trade was aboisf six ty five per cent. of the total it IS nowgofly about forty per cent Its volume hassdeclined, in about the same proportion The fact that our exports to Europe reached their apex in the period from 1914 to 1920. while imports from Europe reached their lowest point during the same period IS of course explained by the war conditions Gu! riousiy enough, however, the, total volume of our European imports and exports re- mained about the same during the same years the increase in the one about balanc- ing off the decrease in the other. ~. <
 The decline in trade with Europe during the past three or four years is easily ex- plained by the depression over there, de- pression which reduced their surplus produc- tion and approximately also reduced their abilitS to import from us The situation, therefore, looks very good, for, while trade withs Europe is bound to increase and to pass alls previous totals within the next decade, lis inevitable also that our ex- banding trade with other continents will continue to grow, so, that the near future should hold for us total of import and export tonnage never before equalled. Our trade with Africa and South America has slightly increased, while our trade with other portions of North America has doubled and our trade with Asiatic countries has almost trebled in ten years. There is no telling where this trade expansion will stop. for much 4of this new tonnage represents, not what Europe has lost, but entirely new mar kets. =, | Theresis significance also in the change in the character of our trade in the past thirty years. We have always been heavy exporters of foodstuffs, but in 1893 this represented nearly half of ,ouE total exports, while in 1923 it represented only about twen- ty. per cent. This does not mean g decline in actual volume but a decline in the rela- tiyeypgumeG of our food exports. In the same way ,sRhereas in 1893 we were heavy tex- porters. of raw materials, in 1923 we had reversed that and become heavy importers of raw materials, with a corresponding change from a heavy importer to a heavy exporter of manufactured articles. Nevertheless, this change is only relative, for our totals in both imports and exports | fo- aIr hau iY, thirty years.
 This means that the United States has become one of the two leading commercial nations of the world. We have tremendous stake qn the high seas and in the foreign markets. This stake amounts to billions of dollars. Were it contained within our own boundaries we would without question con slider it worthy of protection in every req sonable manner regardless of cost. Because itison the high seas, and because it involves ourfnAtional government as a. maritime na. tion with merchant fleet commensurate with our importance in the world of trade, we are slow to extend that protection which every other commercial nation has regarded as indispensable and to be extended as a matter of government routine. A merchant fleet is the only kind of reliable insurance we may establish to safeguard our tremen- dousn foreign commerce, now become the chief bulwark of our prosperity. Only with merchant fleet equipped to carry American cargoes at reasonable rates can our eompe- tition in foreign markets be active and free from those impediments that nations with large merchant fleets could so easily throw in the way of our foreign deliveries. Nay. impediments that they have time and again thrown in our way, as in the case of i'm ports of Egyptian cotton, which, prior to the existence of our merchant fleet, was i'm. ported solely in British vessels, by way of Liverpool, with the attendant double trans portation charge upon American importers and3 American consumers of this product Other instances might be cited.
 Congress has been dilatory about giving the2 support to the merchant marine that would tend to make it permanent by estab- fishing it on a profitable basis under prl- vate operation: The shipping board has sought to have congress make the provision needed, so as to enable the nation to escape the annual deficit that now accrues under the present method. Perhaps now congress is about to learn such vital facts, as will makesit very clear just how important, how indispensable, our merchant fleet is, and how t should be administered so as to at- tain that permanent adequacy that was evi. dently contemplated, but insufficiently- pro. ] Yided for in our merchant marine act