Evening star., 1925-04-26
BY HENRY L. sWEINHART.

If one doubts that trade is a battle"
/ he will be Strikingly reminded of that
| fact If he will look at the latest report
| just published by the United States
Department Of Commerce on the for
| eign trade of this country during the
past year. There his eye will en-
| counter numerous charts scattered
! through the volume, In which the
| heavy black lines project themselves
| across the page like the bore of IA
| inch or 12-inch or various other sizes
| OF guns from the largest to the small
| est. '-r.-
In this same volume the. reader
VIII ind other charts which look like
ragged mountain ranges, the peaks
| representing the volume of value of
exports and imports over a range"
| or years. These peaks" might be
| considered as the heights at which
the guns of commerce" shown in the
| other charts are aiming. In some in
stances these heights rise like Hima-
iayas; in others they are mere foot
| hills.
Trade With Europe Largest. -
One of the most comprehensive of
the charts shows a series of guns
| rising one above the other. giving
both the imports from and the exports
| TO Europe, North America, South
America and Asia for the 1910-19l4
period and for the years 1922, 1923
ana 1924. In commenting on this
| chart of geographical distribution the
| report says:
| Europe, on account of dense popu-
| lation of relatively high purchasing
| power, is by far our most important
customer, taking, both prior to the
war and during the war, over three
hfths of our exports, and even since
the war, in spite of widespread de.
! preston and exhaustion, over one
| haf OF the total. North America usu-
| ally abSorbS about one-fourth of our
| exports, while Asia has, during recent
years, taken nearly one-eighth. South
| America takes a somewhat larger pro-
portion than before the war, amount.
Ing to about one-sixteenth during re-
cent years
Europe also holds first place as a
source OF our imports. supplying dur.
| ing the last few years a little less
| than one-third Of the total, but is very
closely followed by Asia and North
| America. each accounting for some
what more than one-fourth From
1917 to as late as 1920 the great con-
| f1ict in Europe resulted in bringing
the imports from that continent to a
! point below those Of North America
|
lea constitute about one-eighth of the
| total"
Latin America i'm Second Place.
Latin America moved from third to
second place during the past calendar
year as supplier of imports to the
| United States, and retained second
place as u purchaser of products from
| this country. being outranked among
| the great trade regions of the world
only by Europe. The imports showed
a slight increase, from 1850 500, 900
in 1928 to 81 ,059 500 900 in 1924, while
| exports from the United States to the
| other American republics combined in
creased from $685. 900, 900 to s771 ,20O,-
| 600, or il per cent.
! Increased sales in Latin America, it
is pointed out. were made possible by
| the higher prices paid by Europe for
! products from the former section.
Exports to Argentina increased 4 per
| cent; to Paraguay. 40 per cent; and
to Uruguay, 21 per cent. Other out
| standing increases were to Brazil
| Colombia. Venezuela and Mexico.
Lower sugar prices account for a slight
decline in imports from Cuba. The
balance Of trade with Latin America
is normally much against the United
| States. The ratio of excess of ;nl-