The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1939-05-05

back some of our foreign trade
that was lost to other nations in the
last few years. Nobody can be sure
that we ever will get all Of it back,
but l am hopeful because this little
institution of ours here is showing
that it can function safely and sat-
isfactorily."
That statement, perhaps, is the
best summary I can give of the
philosophy of Warren Lee Pierson,
the president-and pretty largely
the heart and soul--of the export
import bank. Likewise, it rather de-
lineates the program of that little
known federal agency; because Mr..
Pierson is determined to see Amer
lean products, farm or factory, NOV
ing as of old into the hands of users
and consumers in foreign lands.
Moreover, to analyze the outlook of
the man is to reach conclusion
that he believes the way to restore
people to jobs in this country is to
assist American farms and factories
in the sale of their products.
It is curiously true that some of
the federal agencies which are doing
important work and doing it eff
ficiently are least known to the gen.
eral public. They have no staff Of
press agents; they seldom "break
into print" yet they seem to be
serving all of the people well.
Department of commerce reports
have been showing how our exports
have declined through many
months. The records give one the
impression that the lines on the
chart, showing totals each month,
are in race to see which one can
dive faster or deeper. / have won
dered where we were headed, as
nation Of producers. Secretary
Hull's reciprocal trade treaties have
been getting exactly nowhere; and
have done so at enormous speed.
Secretary Wallace's ideas for sell
ing our farm products have proved
to be nothing but dreams and, like
dreams, they vanished the next
morning, except that perhaps the
next day Mr.. Wallace's publicity
staff announced another plan.
Solution of Unemployment
Is to Encourage Industry
what" I asked Mr.. Pierson, sis
the answer"
His reply was quoted as the intro
ductory paragraph. He seemed
fully to recognize all of the difficult
ties confronting the United States
at the moment. Further, there was
every evidence that Mr.. Pierson is
one of the few officials of govern
ment who are aware that the solu-
ton to our unemployment problem
is to assist industry so that it can
re-employ workers. Unless indus
try can be encouraged, it appears
that the nation is going to continue
with 100000 unemployed as it has
for the last few years. / found it
refreshing, therefore, to hear Mr..
Pierson talk about how a few dozen
large factories have been kept open
and with relatively full payrolls be-
cause the export-import bank was
able to help foreign buyers who
wanted American products but
could not pay cash for them.
For reasons that I will mention
subsequently, however, / had some
misgivings about the operations of
the export-import bank. / doubted
that there would be repayment of
money advanced by the bank.
"Well, the default is thing that
happens to a greater or less extent
wherever credit is extended" Mr..
Pierson explained. eff there were
never any defaults, there would be
no risk attached to banking bust
ness. But, unfortunately, that ele-
ment must be taken into considera-
ton. The fact that there is credit
risk is why this export-import bank
was organized. Of course, there
were other reasons, but the instabil-
ity of some foreign governments,
the lack of exchange and such con-
ditions made it necessary for our
government to step in and help
those who are trying to export
American-made goods.
Collateral Behind Notes
Is Guarantee of Payment
"It is to be remembered that
goods for export go in larger guam
titles and that necessarily larger
sums of money are needed to ham
die the transactions. In addition,
we have found that, in many in
stances, the buyers were what can
be termed as good credit risks, but
they were unable to make payments
of such large sums at one time.
Nor were the American manufac-
turers able to wait for three or four
or five years. To do so would ex-
haust their resources. That is where
we come into the picture.
"Take a case like this: A South
American railroad company wanted
to buy some locomotives. Those
things cost money. They wanted
American engines. But they wanted
to pay the bill on an installment
basis. We agreed to take about
60 per cent of the notes, Conn