OCR Text |
Show A writer'in a current magazine wants to know where all our trade balances go. He points out that notwithstanding the favorable trade balances of the last six years we owe to foreign countries more than wo did six years apo. We suspect the first reason is the enormous sums spent by Americans annually in Europe. It is estimated at $100,000,000. We suspect it is twice that sum. Then European capitalists still hold big blocks of American railroad securities. fl The interest on these is a great deal and has to be B paid semi-annually. Then our products that we B sell abroad are mostly raw products and cheap B and all the freight money to carry those1 products fl over the sea is paid to foreign ship owners. As a fl rule the nation that trades raw for manufactured fl products in a little while goes broke, dur nation fl is still doing lots of that kind of business. The B freight and passenger money we pay annually to fl foreigners and the sums spent by wealthy Ameri- B cans in Europe would swamp any country but fl ours in five years. |