New Britain herald., 1930-08-23
American Plants Abroad
 May Increase U. $. Exports

May Increase U. $. Exports
 No end of economic speculation has followed the creation of a trac- tor plant by Henry Ford in Cork, Ireland. MT. Ford has let it be known that he intends to establish additional plants in other parts of the world. Indeed, MT. Ford is not in a class by himself. other Amer ican corporations having either es- tablished foreign plants outright or purchased existing foreign plants.
 One school of economic thought looks upon the new development with alarm. Another school, probab- ly equally astute, declares there is nothing to fear.
 We have digested exhaustive treatises on both sides of the fence, and at the moment are inclined to favor the side which holds that the establishment of American plants abroad, though it might immediate lY and directly curtail the manufac- tUre of American goods which might be shipped to Europe. in the long run vii result in indirect prof it's coming to Americans just the same.
 For instance: The money which Ford and other American firms pay to Europeans in wages will give the increased purchasing power. |. will set many men to work who idle With ci power they will be able to buy bread made from American wheat, clothing from American cotton. American shoes, and other goods made in America.
 But suppose they purchase Euro pean goods? If so, European busi- ness men will be able to hire more workers. pay more in wages, and thus place money in circualtion that will go 10 other workers. which money the others workers inevita bly, v-ill eXpend wholly or in part for American goods.
 An industrial awakening in any country the world being as inter- related as it is, aids other countries.
 Then comes the question. as it has been aptly put by one writer:
 Would we in America suffer. or would we prosper if the people of Africa. Asia, or the undevelopcd countries Of the world would raise their standards Of living, limit their nj harc daN-1lnr al resources as we ourselves have done? Every people in the world, it seems clear. may expect to gain from the success and prosperity of every other people. We gain in eco- homie strength as others grow be weak. The man who fears Fords foreign factories takes but a short and limited view Of the prob lem. He is thinking only in terms oi a fixed number Of jobs. If other people get more of the jobs, we get fewer of them. But when work is provided for people who were previ- ously idle We increase the number Of jobs all around, augment the to- tai product Of labor. and increase the general standard of living"
 All Of which. we are aware, does not conform to the thoughts of folks who seem to believe there are only a limited number of jobs in the world. and if the standards of living in other lands remains low and ours remains high. we will have most of the jobs and most of the prosperity.
 Trade, however, consists in buy ing and selling. Let the sayages of Africa become civilized and raise their standards of fife and the inn petus would be felt everywhere else.
 It is not entirely an accident that our best foreign customer is Canada, a nation with nearly as high a standard of living as ourselves and q vast producer in agriculture and the products of nature. She remains our best customer in spite of the fact that there are American auto mobile plants distributed all over Canada; and strange to say. nobody has ever cited these as tending to limit American jobs in the United States Our experience with Canada. indeed. tends to prove conclusively that the establishing of American plants in Europe cannot do other- wise than aid Europe and aid us. for the same thing has occurred in Canada. In spite of the astonishing number of American factories in Canada, we sell more goods to Canada than to Europe. and our trade with Canada surpasses all the business we do with all of South America.
 Perhaps. If We could raise the buying power of South Americans as we have done with Canadians, Lo