He is willing to pay more for American goods, even when his own countrymen make equally good ones of the same sort. American advertising and sales methods have captured the German heart." Space does not permit a detailed description of the methods used by Europe to compete with us. But it will be interesting to describe, briefly, the principal different types of competition which face American export trade.

Preferentials are a method originating within the British Empire. Dominions within the Empire accord favored preferential tariff treatment to one another, from which foreigners are excluded. Canada and the Mother Country have long had such an arrangement. Other European countries have entered into similar agreements with their colonies, among them, France, Belgium, and Portugal.

New customs tariffs for Protection, for the express purpose of fostering local industries, rather weak in the face of competition from abroad, may be well represented by the British Safeguarding of Industries Act, adopted in 1921.

New industries involve the custom of establishing and fostering certain industries not heretofore existing, with special concessions and privileges, sometimes even subsidies, for the purpose of lessening the importation of goods formerly bought abroad. It is not a very successful method and, at best, a slow working one.

The granting of Export Credits, with government guarantee, is a comparatively new expedient. It can be of great aid to shippers. British and German merchants have certain mutual arrangements of this kind.

In some European countries the legislation aimed at restricting imports and encouraging the demand for locally produced merchandise, requires the marking of imported goods with the name of the country of origin.

Soviet Russia furnishes the best example of State control or monopoly. The Russian Government takes by far the largest individual part in Russian industry and almost all such industry, including all foreign trade, is under Government control. There are several other examples of this, notably the Spanish Government's control of oil.

At the close of the world war a number of prohibitions or re

strictions of imports went into effect. They were accompanied by a rather complicated and burdensome system of contingents or licenses. Some of these have not yet been abolished.

"Dumping" is no new custom-the selling of goods abroad at lower prices than in the home market. Special legislation has been enacted in many countries to protect local manufacturers against "dumping". The Union of South Africa has become worried over what its merchants call American "dumping".

Lower production costs have long been an advantage which the European exporter has had over his American competitor, chiefly in cheaper labor. The wages of the world's workers, on the other hand, are steadily, if slowly, increasing. While it does not seem likely that they will ever be as high as in the United States certainly not in the near future—this factor of advantage held by European manufacturers in their production costs will tend to decrease as time goes on.

So much for special forms of competition. All are the outgrowth of differences in labor costs as applied to unequal natural

resources.

It is really remarkable, how the "Americanization" of the world, as it is coming to be called, seems to fit in with the modern mood of higher living standards, the result of greater wealth and increasing desires. A shrewd observer recently remarked that a social consciousness seems to emerge only when backward regions begin to use American goods. Perhaps it is the other way. It may be that the belated areas of our globe yearn for Yankee products because they are "coming up" socially. "Social consciousness' as a phrase, might be considered to be equivalent to what most of us mean when we use the word "civilized". But then, what, after all, is "civilization"? Is a man more highly civilized when he begins to use tooth-paste, simply because he has money sufficient to buy a tube, when formerly he had better teeth because he ate less rich food?

Then, of course, back of all such discussions is the consideration of differences physical differences, at any rate. Does it necessarily follow that, because an American, living in the United States, finds canned goods, safety razors and steam heat useful and comforting, the Chinese peasant in the Yangtse

Valley, or the Tahitan under his banana tree, will find these things equally useful and desirable in their Oriental habitats? But, you say, neither the Chinese peasant nor the Tahitan brave will want to use these evidences of "civilized" life until he has made sufficient progress to be able to understand them. Perhaps. Be that as it may, it seems beyond denial that an increasing consciousness of fitness, awareness of the value of a proper and engaging appearance, comes with the greater use of the many material appliances, contrivances, devices and preparations which are so peculiarly characteristic of our modern America.

Coöperation, comity and understanding will work wonders in world trade, as well as in other things. Of course, we wish to have our fair share of world trade, and we are going to have it. But we do not wish a share that will deprive others of what they need and should have. Our trade flourishes as much by selling to countries which are our competitors as by selling to those which do not compete with us. The United Kingdom, for example, is our chief competitor and our largest overseas customer. What she does with these goods-whether she consumes them herself, or ships them elsewhere-need not concern us. She buys them. Britain and other Old World countries need foreign trade as much as we, and it is to our interest for them to have it. A monopoly of world trade for us would not be far from an unmixed disaster.

There will always be enough trade to go round. Higher wages and better standards of living will become the order, the normal course, for many backward countries. Increased demand will emerge in these places while many new markets will develop in other ways. The world now knows its economic ills and feels confident it can find out the remedies.

Perhaps the entire matter may be summed up in what the Rt. Hon. Walter Runciman, the British statesman, said as to the definite gain of the Geneva Conference:

Those who are concerned to maintain business prosperity in all countries are convinced that a mutual understanding in international, economic and business problems is the surest guarantee for a growing volume of trade and for the maintenance of the higher standards of life and comfort, which are the legitimate aspirations of modern diplomacy.

THE CONGESTION PROBLEM

BY IRVING T. BUSH

I HAVE a great respect for engineers. Modern progress has been due to their genius. But when an amateur engineer reaches for a pencil, I put the checkbook into the safe. A new pencil, a clean sheet of paper, and an imaginative mind, which has not been taught by experience the restraint which practical considerations throw about any project, can make the war debt of Europe look like pocket money.

The "congestion problem" is suffering from too many cooks of this variety. "Ah," you say, "so here is another." I have worn the points from enough lead pencils, studying one phase of the New York congestion problem, to know at least that Mr. Mellon is not going to ship the gold reserve to me just because I have a pretty idea.

If we were building a new city, we would avoid many of our present difficulties. We would have more streets and wider streets, with adequate parking space for motor cars. We have not, however, a clean sheet of paper and we must adjust ourselves to conditions as they are. My experience in dealing with one phase of traffic congestion-that having to do with the movement of freight-has made me realize the importance of a welldefined plan. There may be some new cities where study has been given to create a well rounded scheme for a complete city. This has not been true in New York. It, like Topsy, “has just growed," and it is useless to bemoan that fact, for in the beginning no one could visualize the ultimate size of New York, and city planning as a science had not been thought of. Even yet, city planners give little thought to elements except those which touch the personal comfort of the people. They seem to forget that the fundament of all is an opportunity for the men and women who live in the city to make a living.

A few years ago, I was asked to attend a conference of men

creating a plan for the future of New York. I saw that park areas had been provided, residential sections set aside, and locations for wholesale and retail business thought of. I asked where the manufacturing of the city was to be located. The planners made a vague gesture towards the outskirts of the city, and said they had not given consideration to that phase of the matter, for it would be taken care of by the railroads. I pointed out that the success of any city depends upon its industry, and that its life blood is the little yellow pay envelope which circulates through all of its arteries, supporting the shops, theatres and trade of the city, and paying the salaries of those who work in the office buildings. Without this life blood, the heart of a city will cease to beat and it will die.

Cities compete with one another as do individuals, and ultimately business will go to the place where it can be conducted the most cheaply. A volume could be written upon this phase alone, but it is important only in considering the street congestion of American cities, because it teaches that a growth of expediency should not be permitted, but a plan should be adopted which will prevent congestion, instead of relying upon the little cures which usually only intensify the trouble. Surgery is not a pleasant treatment, but it is more effective than a poultice, when necessary.

areas.

One of the causes of freight congestion in modern cities is that effort for relief has been concentrated upon means which will make it possible to do more business in the same congested No attempt has been made to look at the city as a whole. When, for instance, conditions have become almost intolerable on the West Side of Manhattan, someone has suggested building an elevated freight railroad, which would add to the expense of handling freight, and make conditions even more intolerable. The prevailing idea has always pointed toward centralization, when the cure for congestion is decentralization.

Within the Metropolitan District of New York-and the same is true of every other American city with which I am familiar-there is abundant room for industry and a population much greater than now exists. There is cheaper property which can be used, where less costly operating conditions can be created