Business & Finance: Foreign Trade Convention

After the roaring days of 1919 and 1920 in our export trade, there has been a great falling off in enthusiasm for the future of our foreign trade. New export firms have liquidated and disappeared. Banks have closed or pruned down their foreign departments. Manufacturers are less optimistic concerning the possibilities of foreign markets for our goods.

The National Foreign Trade Council, however, has not abandoned its efforts in behalf of a larger American export trade, even if it has grown wiser and more patient than were business-men-in-general four years ago. Last week the Council’s convention in Boston stressed the necessity for educational facilities in the U. S. for training foreign trade personnel, and for a thorough knowledge of the foreign markets into which our goods are to be sold.

It remained for President James A. Farrell* of the United States Steel Corporation to strike the real keynote of the convention in his optimistic assertion of the value of our foreign trade and its great future possibilities. Mr. Farrell pointed to Cuba as an example of the way American investment of capital abroad had paved the way for an expansion of our exports. Cuba’s consumption of American products now amounts to $44 per capita. The demand for American goods in other Central and South American countries, he declared, could be similarly increased as soon as American capitalists begin to develop the rich natural resources of these territories. Foreign trade, he stated, has become an economic necessity for this country, if our people are to continue in remunerative employment.

*James Augustine Farrell began his business career at the age of 16 in the employ of the New Haven Wire Mill. That was in 1863. Twenty-five years later he transferred his services to the Pittsburgh Wire Co., became superintendent of the factory. From then on he shot ahead with the rapidity and brilliance of a meteor. In 1911 he became President of the U. S. Steel Corporation— probably the greatest executive position in the indusrial world. His success is no doubt due to his thorough training as a workman. At the age of 61 he is still an ardent yachtsman and lover of outdoor life.