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Show ITALY AND U. S. IN CLOSER TRADE Commission Should Be Sent to Italy to Bring About Better Understanding. HOME, May 2G. (Correspondence of The Associated Press.) "The United Unit-ed States should send a trade commission commis-sion to Italy, and Italy should send one to the United States, and the two commissions should co-operate, if these two countries want to fully develop de-velop their joint commerce," said Ernest Ern-est E. Ling of the American Chamber of Commerce for Italy and representative represen-tative in Italy of one of the largest banks of New York. "I have been In Italy eight months and It is clear to me that the big war business the United States Is now doing do-ing here can be continued after the war if both countries pull together," ho continued. "Th host nsfjot nnrl itao11. r ti.. is her working spirit that the war has awakened. The nobility of Italy have learned in the trenches that work Ib not a disgrace, and all are eager to leave off their old custom of cane-carrying cane-carrying and party dancing. "The other fellows In the trenches, who have always worked more or less for a living are going to come out of the war graduates of a fine working school and they aro going to go to work in the shops as skilled workmen. work-men. "From an American point of view, Italy has become a fine market for Iron, steel, coal, cotton, electrical equipment, for mechanical tools, for heavy machinery tools of all kinds. Before the war Germany sold largely of these materials hero, but now the Italians aro going it alone. They have developed self-reliance as a national asset, and this lasting result of the war should improve the market for American products. "The big point In international trade is salesmanship, and this is where trade commissions oould do much good, by securing closer government co-operation, by regulating tariffs, by revising commercial laws, by bringing closer together the business people of the respective nations, by using expert ex-pert information for the establishment of credits. What my firm thinks of Italy is indicated by the fact that its first European branch was established in Genoa October last, prior by four months to Its Petrograd branch. Of course, Genoa is a big shipping center cen-ter for nil of south Europe. "While the Americans in Italy are not idle, trade commissions of other nations, such as Japan, are active. A good deal of Italy's new trade will go to South America, but the credit extensions ex-tensions possible In the United States should be an advantage. The Italians appreciate this fact but I doubt If anybody, any-body, however, in all of Europe knows that the internal commerce of the United States Is so enormous that wo could do very well without any foreign trade whatever. "Italy is aware-of her own necessity for tho development of her foreign trade as well as her Internal resources. The coal situation in this war showed her how helpless she is, for instance, with steam instead of electrical power. pow-er. Her national poverty in industries is today registered by tho exchange value of her money, which loses some thirty per cent abrdad. She is courageously cour-ageously preparing to increase her industries, in-dustries, such as silk, to make her soil produce more wheat and other foods, and improve her land and water transportation systems, and to develop devel-op her natural mineral deposits." |