Capital Comment

There has been no hiding of the fact that during the coming months the United States intends to make an intensive drive to regain foreign markets. While trade negotiations will be entered into with a number of foreign countries, present indications are that as far as the United States is concerned, Germany will be out of the picture.

Until recently there was much backstage talk in Washington about a trade agreement between this country and Germany. That was before the Hitler power became exceedingly obnoxious to the world at large. Those anxious for a trade agreement between the two countries are, for the present, gloomy about the prospects.

Word from George N. Peek, president of the Export-Import Bank, which was recently established to expand American foreign trade, makes the outlook for a trade agreement with Germany even gloomier. Peek has taken the position that the Export-Import Bank will finance only transactions where ability to pay exists. He insists “that the operation of this bank will be carried on in line with a definite knowledge, insofar as we are able to obtain it, of the current incoming and outgoing accounts of the United States. I believe in assisting our foreign trade, but I also believe in making sure that we get paid for it.”

This policy, as expressed by Peek, was arrived at after a comprehensive canvass of the foreign trade situation conducted during the past six months among American producers and business men. The Export-Import Bank officials studied that country’s actual needs in relation to export and import business.

In view of the position taken by the bank, it is quite obvious that the study did not overlook the effect the boycott against German imported goods was having on trade relations between the United States and Germany. Ever since the boycott was instituted in this country and in other countries, it was made clear to the world at large that the boycott will continue as long as Germany follows the Hitler policy or racial, religious and political persecutions. With no signs of any change in policy by the Nazi regime, there is little immediate hope for the boycott to subside. Thus Germany is kept from selling her goods on other markets.

Germany’s status as a debtor nation is an obstacle to easy credits. Her recent moratorium or default on all foreign debts, including the Dawes and Young loans, led to complications with the United States and other creditor nations.

Recent events in Germany have not improved conditions. The boycott and internal unrest are subjecting the country as a whole to terrific pressure. The country’s economic isolation from the outer world, through restrictive measures, moratorium, and other factors, is becoming more and more apparent each day.

That Germany is losing ground at a rapid pace is seen from the most recent report of the United States Department of Commerce. “Reports of unsatisfactory export business are current from all industries, while the monthly trade is piling up an adverse balance. The State, still refusing currency devaluation as a means of restoring the competitive position of industry, has again reminded German manufacturers of their “national duty” to export regardless of any temporary losses that they might suffer,” the Department of Commerce says.

Germany is making an intensive effort to break the force of the boycott. This is seen from the department’s report that “Furthermore, all governmental agencies have been instructed to satisfy themselves, before placing orders in connection with public works and other employment schemes, that the manufacturers in question have contributed their full share towards a collective effort to export German goods. Still more pertinent is the remainder, addressed to manufacturers that are using imported materials, to withdraw or curtail their foreign exchange permits unless a substantial part of these materials are exported in finished form.”

While the United States has no direct interest in political developments in Austria and Germany, or in the complications which are being brewed as a result of the slaying of Chancellor Dollfuss, official Washington has its eyes peeled on Eastern Europe, watching day by day developments.

The State Department is keeping fully informed on what is going on in both Austria and Germany. Ambassador William E. Dodd at Berlin and George S. Messersmith, American Minister to Austria, are supplying the necessary information.

The authority on the Nazis is Messersmith. Up to this year he was consul general at Berlin, where he gained much prestige in diplomatic circles for his firmness in protests to Hitler officials against Nazi maltreatment of American citizens. He was promoted to the post of Minister to Uruguay last winter. Before Messersmith left the United States, the State Department decided that because of his Berlin experience, it would be wise to send him to fill the vacancy in the ministry to Austria.

Ambassador Dodd is keeping close tabs on Nazi developments in Germany. He is a student of political events in that country and has a record of presenting a stern front to the Hitler government when American interests are at stake.

In the death of Paul May, who came to the United States as the Ambassador of Belgium in 1930, the diplomatic corps loses one of its most distinguished members and the people of America a proved friend.

M. May was an orthodox Jew and the funeral services conducted last Thursday were in keeping with his religious belief. Religion, however, played no part in his relationships with men during his lifetime. To him religion was something personal.

Belgian-American relations were handled by M. May with a seasoned hand. He was courteous, diplomatic, and showed statesmanship in all of his dealings. He was a conspicuous example of Old World culture and polish, and fitted ideally into the role in which his life work cast him.