OCR Text |
Show GETTING BACK FOREIGN MARKETS. No the least of the problems faced by the new administration is that of foreign trade and its allied problems war debts, world cooperation in economic eco-nomic matters, monetary revision, and good foreign relations of all kinds. It is probable that but a small proportion pro-portion of our people realize how j much foreign trade used to mean to ' us. Three or four years ago it amount-! amount-! ed to about ten per cent of the total national .business and ten per cent often marked the difference between profit and loss in the average business. busi-ness. It employed, directly and indirectly, in-directly, between three and four million mil-lion people. It kept gigantic factories humming to provide the products and commodities the nations abroad wanted. The problem of war debts has been and is a barrier to the interchange of goods on a large scale. Ruinous silver prices have deprived much of the world of its buying power. Tariff wars and embargoes have worked against imports and exports. .The last administra' ion grappled with the problem, and the new one will do the same. Secretary of State 1 Hull has long been a friend of foreign for-eign trade, and it is to be hoped his efforts may produce results. If some measure of success in stimulating international in-ternational commerce is attained, it will go a long way toward solving the i ' probVms of unemployment and indus- trial recession in this country, and will give a strong helping hand in I the work of recovery. |