Evening star., 1924-03-01
BY JAMES A. FARRELL,
President of the United States Steel
Corporation, and Chairman of the
NATIONAL Foreign Trade Council.

President Of the United States Steel
Corporation. and Chairman of the
National Foreign Trade Council.
So long as our exports consisted
| chle11y OF surplus natural products the
| mechanism Of sale and shipment was
provided by the overseas purchaser.
The Importation Of large quantities
of food products not produced in this
country, manufactured merchandise
and raw materials for manufacture
! has been conducted by a compara-
lively small number of individuals.
It Is doubtless true that for some
years past the great bulk Of the for
eign commerce of the United States
has been handled by our largest cor
porations. This is because these COM
panies were able to organize depart
! ments devoted exclusively to this
branch of business and invested large
sums of money in establishing agen-
cies an branches in foreign countries.
But the fact remains-and this,
take it, is the foundation upon which
we are building-that several thou
sand manufacturers and exporters are
now becoming Interested in the eX-
tension of their foreign trade.
Always Had Foreign Trade.
Our participation in foreign trade is
not now. and never has been. merely
a matter of preference on our part,
or even a matter Of convenience. On
the contrary. it has been and is a mat
ter OF economic necessity.
The first men who landed on our
shores from Europe needed and had
! to have supplies OF various sorts from
the countries from which they came.
Our import trade began at that time
in the supply Of these wants. So, also,
| our export trade began then. In the
shipment back OF the products OF this
land; and by this means those first
comers paid for the necessary things
they received from their old homes.
That same necessity exists today.
However it may have shifted in it's
have occurred in the details of our
International trade, the principle of
need and the satisfaction of same
that operated in the very beginning
is precisely the same principle that is
In operation today.
So I say it is not within the scope
of our preference or convenience to
attempt to retire from foreign trade
now just because Europe has become
a chaos of political conflicts that seri-
sell We must in any case go on in
| the development of our foreign trade.
The need of our first settlers that
had to be supplied by the importation
| of various articles from other lands
| was no more urgent and compelling
! than the need of our manufacturers
| today for foreign markets that Will
absorb part of their production and
| permit them to keep their plants busy
and furnish employment to our peo-
pie.
Problems A ays Arising.
Our foreign trade is ever confront
ed by new problems. The most i'm
portant phase of the situation today is
that of making larger use of mar
kets that hitherto have been regarded
as secondary while the main flow Of
our exports and imports was with
Europe. The thought and study Of
those connected with international
commerce must be devoted with re-
newed vigor to this question.
Until Europe begins to make def
mite progress against the forces that
we should be seeking to establish n
more permanent position in other
markets to absorb our surplus pro-
duction. And at the same time. as
our requirements in raw materials
steadily increase while Europe's abil-
| ity to produce them diminishes or
fails to keep pace with our growing
demand, it is the course of ordinary
prudence on our part to expand our
activity in seeking such materials in
| other markets of supply.
This is very important factor Of
! our situation today. The full en-
ployment of our people is essential to
prosperity in this country. 1t is the
expansion of our industrial establish
ment which makes such full employ
ment possible. This Industrial estab-
lishment needs, for its full occupation.
large and constant supplies of raw
material. In many lines. probably in
most of them, such supplies are avail
able from domestic sources.
But in some lines, even among those
| which use domestic materials, our own
supplies are not sufficient to keep the
snnplemented by importations from
| foreign sources. Also there are not a