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Show v WOULD ASSIST AMERICAN TRADE Plea for the Expansion of Home and Foreign Bureau Bu-reau of Commerce. WASI-riiNGTOX. Dec. 10. Kxpanslon of the bureau of foroipn and domestic iom-merce iom-merce to enable it to i;i'c effective aid to American manufacturers and merchants In taking full advantage of after-the-war world trade opportunities is the chief recommendation of Sot retarv RedHeld in his annual report made public today. Tho secret ary nlso reiterates his approval ap-proval of the proposed development of a jrovernment owned intraeoastal waterway to link up the Kieat cities of the cast, from the hes to the coast and down tho Atlantic seaboard. Dealing with post-war trade and the part the bureau of foreign and domestic commerce can play, the report emphasizes especially the need for additional commercial com-mercial attaches and trade commissioners. commission-ers. The balance of trade in favor of the I'nited States for the fiscal vear IMS was $L',9S2.22B.2SS: the total of the mer- f-handise export trade was S".0''s.2Sr.t"ill and of the import trade 52.940,059,403. "Measured by Die economic needs of the country and by the grave responsibilities of post-war competition." the report says, "the bureau should be expanded substantially substan-tially in every branch of service. "New .attaches should be assigned to a number of important capttals, especially A t hens. Rome, Madrid. Ottawa. Mexico City and Santiago. Chile. Ve should also establish at the earliest possible moment resident trade commissioners In Sweden. Norway. Cieat Prltain, France, Greece, Switzerland. Russia, Mexico, Bolivia. Cruguay. Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela. luteh East Indies. China, Philippine islands, British India. Japan, Malay peninsula. pen-insula. Egypt. South Africa. Australia a-nd New Zealand. The value of resident representatives is too obvious to require any argument for the extension of this feature of our service. "The field for European investigations by special agents immediately upon the conclusion of the war will be so extensive that the bureau will require greatly increased in-creased funds. American concerns have a tremendous field for service to our allies al-lies in helping them rebuild and for future fu-ture business. "To much emphasis can not be placed on the desirability of employing trained economists, statisticians and experts on banking, shipping, etc., in excess of the bureau's present force. These types or economic authority are constantly needed to conduct work equal in importance to that performed by the great federal commissions com-missions in Washington. "Our country Is looking to the bureau of foreign and domestic commerce to do its share In preparing the country for economic security and prosperity after the war, when the chief industrial and commercial com-mercial forces in both hemispheres will be ready to launch great organizations on the commercial seas In quest of trade. The Instinct of commercial self-preservation demands organized action. This Is not the time for short-sighted thrift. Other countries are looking ahead and s; ending nionev to organize for their commercial security. "A v.isely liberal preparation now will mean millions of income some day to this country, will mean industrial prosperity for our labor, and will mean, strength for our economic structure against adverse conditions or sharper competition from an,- quarter. No country has excelled us in "the type of commercial service which wo have for six years past rendered to the business community, and this position should be maintained by us regardless of our temporary absorption in military defense." |