The Washington times., 1928-04-10
FOREIGN TRADE
FOUND VITAL
TO i. 8.
b B. 9. FORBES

All Of DIS owe much to those
who pioneered and to those who
are stiII pioneering In opening
foreign outlets for American
goods. Were these outlets to close,
we would have, not two or three
millions OF unemployed but many
millions. Our exports last fiscal
year TELL just short Of i've thou
sand millions of dollars five bill
lions.
Just as John ~. RockefeIler
pioneered IN bringing foreign money
into the United states In exchange
for American products. another
veteran, Robert Dollar, y doing
the same thing today. mainly ~
the Orient. Although ne y now
iii his eighty-fifth year, he sailed
from San Francisco the other
day on q Misunderstanding trip
round the world. Before going
on shipboards he sent this column
the following communication:
Consume 50 per cent
FL was much interested III q
recent article by you on prosperity
and sales. You dealt entirely in
selling to our own people, who con-
sumo 50 per cent Cf our products;
but you did not 80 into the Inn
portance Of selling the 70 per
cent in foreign lands.
This Is very important ~
were stopped, 20 per cent Of OnF
factories would be idle and q cor
responding number Of men sidle.
1T IL very difficult to sell more
ID the United States than = now
sold. but foreign trade can BE- ex-
panded indefinitely and bring
money into our country
As an illustration: When We
started our round the world SER
vice four years ago, practically no
trade existed between California
and Singapore. Penang and Ceylon.
During the four years Of our
giving that part cf the world
q fortnightIy service, 1t brought
into this country $40 900 Of
new money. The increase Of
the then existing trade In Japan,
China and the Philippines amounted
To &54,8S7 ,045, also new business
that did not exist before.
SO I claim that foreign trade
Is 4 great factor to our prosper
ity.
II mean what I write. for I
am leaving on my fifth business
trip around the world, the sole
object being to Increase and de-
velop our foreign trade. have
to hurry up. as I have passed
my elghty-fourth birthday.
Foreign Markets
Among the stalwarts who have
vigorously opened up foreign
markets Tor American goods and
labor have been. In addition to
RockefeIIer and Dollar. Andrew
Carnegie, James Al. Farrell,
Charles az. Schwab. g. a. Coffin,
George Westinghouse, Gerard
Swope, John ii Patterson. James
b. Duke, Henry Ford. IA. II.
Sloan, John m. WHY'S, Waiter
ChrysIer, Al. Il. Erakine, Roy ID.
Chaplin and other automobile lead
ers; Frank w. WOolWorth, the
Remington and Underwood peo-
pie, Walter G. TeagIe, s.. Behn,
our foremost international bank
er, and other bankers; Theodore
N. Vail, George Eastman.
The most dynamic agency t0-
day engaged In fostering foreign
selling of American products Is
the Bureau of Foreign and Do
nestle Commerce. under the ex-
Extraordinarily energetic direction
of DR.. julius Klein. It Is author
itatively estimated that its trade
promotive services bring In al
most half q billion of business =
year.
AS the years pass, We shall
need more and more foreign
trade. Let rs acknowledge our
indebtedness to those who are
helping us to get II.
Copyright, 1898. BY p. g. ForbeO