Evening star., 1933-07-13
World Would Have Hard Time Getting Along /
Without American Trade, Figures Reveal
NJ eats, Fruit, Cotton
Among Commodities
Needed.
FUTURE in DOUBT
Dwindling Exports Since
1920 Shown by Agri-
culture Department.

BY the Associated Press.
T TOW well could the rest of the
II world get along without the
United States?
L i The economist sees that
question linked to the consid-
eraticn OF the commercial advantages
accruing to foreign nations that buy
American goods.
Leading American commodities the
world would have difficulty in doing
without and their 1882 volume and
value are:
Produc,. Value.
S04 .0l3, 900 lbs. SJ4. 600
29O,l5O,OOO lbs. 10. ss7 900
100000 bbls 2ee.4l7 900
4ll.l5e,oo lbs. ~ 65,9oa. 900
Raw Cotton.
4 500. 900 900 lbs 345.165 900
Saved Timber. Boards. Planks. Etc.
l. 10" .Ooo,Ono b. 1t. e6,1Jo.000
Petroleum and Products.
s5.7s. 600 ooiS. I;o.63?. 600
Motion Picture Films.
~ 9Sf,nOu lin. Il. 6,:il 1000
Agricul ural Machinery.
1S,o6i implements 3.ssl,o00
MOTOR Vehicles.
7l,I0l in number. SOB" 600
From the domestic standpoint
dWlndllng exports since 1920 and the
anxiety of the London Economic Con-
ference over international trade bar
rlers has raised the question Of this
country's future place in commerce
Charts by the Department of Agricul-
ture show that in 1882 there were only
Is cargo ships en- route to Europe for
every 20 before the war and every II
during the 1920 peak.
Low Point in Volume.
1t was said at the Department Of
Commerce that last years volume and
items of export probably represented
the lowest point to which foreign ma
Ions could cut their American pur-
chases without making expensive sub
stitutlons or paying higher prices else
where.
elimination of the gold clause in con-
tracts and depreciation of the dollar to
a purchasing power more in line with
lorelgn exchange has made American
proouctS cheaper in terms of interna-
tlonal currencies. Increased exports
we're aimed at in the devaluatioa.
Artlflclal manipulation of trade. econ-
omlsts hold, has walled up want in most
importing countries and burdensome
surpluses in exporting countries.
Germany, once a chief market for
on the product because of an import
tax approXimating $40 per hundred
weight
The idea is to protect the German
producer, but trade reports say the
country is short of supplies. paying
comparatively prohibitory prices or us
ing substitutes
When Liverpool was flooded with 60
cent wheat continental Europeans we're
paying around s1.50 bushel for their
native product and the United States
went out of the export column.
The United States is the worlds best
source for cotton. At times the Ameri-
can product has been cheaper in Shang-
lai than Chinese cotton. Yet, any
country placing some other cause above
commercial expediency could get along
without it. Linen could be substituted
in the flaX-growing European countries
while Egypt. India and Brazil could in
crease cotton acreage if importers were
willing to pay higher prices.
A corollary cited at the Department
of Commerce would be bananas grown
under glass in Maine to retail at $40
apiece.
Much Cotton Exported.
Forty countries purchased 1903 000.-
UUD pl ulluS VI hlllSIlCdu COtlSll lOl
S345.165 coo last year Is Of them taking
more than s1.C0o.C00 each and the seven
leading importers accounting in volume
end value for:
Country Quantity Value
japan lib .664 288 lbs. s35.545.ll
Germany. 92o,o68,7c4 67,373.2 .267
United
Kingdom. 79s,572.9c6 . 1881
France 4357ll9I8 g. S22 $50
Italy. 90. 371.759.374 27.023 .646
China 3O3,234,528 2l.608 POI
Aside from consumer burden when a
countrvs imports are turned from a
normal source of supply is the question
Of unbalanced international settlements.
Imports and exports cannot be divorced
in economic equilibrium.
Economists reiterate the view that one
country cannot buy from another unless
it cells it enough or has sufficient in
vestment in its securities to provide pay
ment in terms of its currency.
Brazil for instance. depends on coffee
exports for about 60 per cent of her
national income and the United States
takes about 60 per cent of the product.
Assuming no other trade developments
an ar,hs roo M, Rro lillian coffee yuO,l1d