SEIZING THE WORLD'S MARTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 September 1920, Page 6

SEIZING THE WORLD'S MARTS.

ENGLAND AWAKE-AMERICA ASLEEP. ""■ (By J. D. Whelpley.) While the United States remains at war with Germany, technically at least, and while the Peace Treaty and the League, of Nations - are being debated pro and eon, the rest of the world is consolidating its industrial and commercial forces to prevent American ascendancy in foreign trade in the years to come. A few of the great' American industrial corporations wliich have strong organisations abroad' are doing their best to hold .their place in the sun and a few daring and determined individuals are taking their share of the good things available. On the whole, however, it may be said that the people of the United Stated are making less effort, official or private to obtain a eeat at the grand opening of normal kisinoM for Jhe world than those of any one of the great industrial powers. In their strong' desire to secure foreign trade, to build up home Industry and to secure control of new and profitable fields, the peoples of Europe have cast all prudence to the winds and arc giving the moneyed and industrial interests a free, hand. That the flare hack will come'later is inevitable, for history repeats itself, and s6me years ago America passed through its age of lousiness consolidation only to find a nation demanding the breaking up of those same consolidations on the ground that they were a menace to the general welfare. At present there is in Europe a vast need for foreign trade. The glamor of opportunity and accomplishment is over the land. Under the stimulus of heavy taxation and vast expenditures the governments are giving first aid, not to infant industries, but to gigantic combines whichj, by sheer weight of money and influence aided by monopoly, can take over the exploitation [ of any market or territory, be it large or small. \ These combines are based upon cotton,,, wool, coal, iron, and oil, the foundation or basic materials of all industrial wealth and trade. The man who can bring about a ''merger" is hailed as a beneficent Napoleon of finance, he is the hero of the moment and a public benefactor. There is no law to restrain him and no general wish to do so even if it were possible. It is not difficult to foresee what will come in the future when the people wake up to their helplessness in the j hands of the few who will control the i mainsprings of industry and arc aroused to the plight of the individual or the small concern which endeavours to make ari independent living. This, however, is for the future. Before the war Germany was the threat to Europe, not only in a military sense, but commercially as well. When the war came Germany had distanced nil competitors but one, England, and the struggle between these two countries for commercial supremacy was titanic. With the war came the destruction "of the whole fabric of international finance a-<d trade, and at the end of the war the highly organised, sensitive, expensively constructed and carefully-planned system, not only of Germany but of every other industrial nation, was a tangled "mass of wreckage out of which it seemed at /first as though no order could possibly come. 'Hie world is getting back in some directions, however, to an ordered existence much faster thnn 'seemed possible two yearn ago. But for disordered finance and transportation it miglit almost be said that large areas had already been effectively ' cleared of the wreckage, but there has come about a vast change as compared with the prewar situation. At the moment Germany is no longer the greatly feared rival, though there is little doubt but .that in course of time her people will come back into their own. There must always be some one who is the runnerup and to-day the United States has taken the place of Germany in the minds of those who-'are seeking industrial and commercial power. The French method of guarding against possible future competition is now apparently to retreat behind a wall built of tariffs and rules, regulations and restrictions- designed to hamper the adventurous foreigner who wishes to do business on French territory or within a sphere of French influence. The English method is indicative of courage, vast confidence in the future, and a spirit of enterprise as admirable as it promises to be successful. In each English industry there have come about great consolidations, and in turn these groups of industries have, where their interests were mutual, still further consolidated or linked up, to the end that the English Government, the English public, and in fact the interests of'the whole British Empire are concerned with the success of these enterprises. To look upon England as a country hopelessly ruined by the war is an error into which many fall. English foreign investment is to-day greater than it was in 11)14, there is more money available for investment than ever before, and it is moving with greater freedom, a more adventurous spirit, and with a wider'purpose than ever before in the history of the country. <The forei"n trade of the United Kigdom is rapidly coming back into its own and it is significant to note that even now in certain lines of export the figures of 1020 exceed those of 19] 3. At the date of the armistice Europe lay prostrate in every sense of the word, but the armistice had hardly been signed before English money and. brains were at work assisting to reconstruct, but always with an eye to the benefit which miglit accrue in the end to British prestige and profit. To rail at this or to make bitter comment is useless, unprofitable and unfair, for i::ost of the criticism comes from those who were not quick enough or courageous enough to take the opportunity as It appeared. | Quite recently two of the greatest industrial combinations of modern times 1 have been brought about by English interests. Thirty-four of the largest oil, shipping, and manufacturing concerns interested in the fuel problem have combinedvto secure control of the oil supply of the world, and they are achieving a great measure of success. 'Just the other day it came to light that the great iron, coal, and timber interests of Canada had been linked up with like interests in England. A great £IOO,000,000 merger was promoted by Colonel Grant Morden, M.P.., for the purpose of harmonising the industries of all the British Empire, of ensuring British con trol, and of creating an organisation big enough to challenge the worhi in an effort to compete not' only in the home market but in the markets of all the world. It may be true as claimed that, some American interests are concerned and are perhaps even participants in these great British wembinis, but even so

they do not stand for the extension of American trade—in fact, quite the reverse. Some of the profits both of the merging operation and the later one of manufacture may go to America, but all the advantage accruing to tho community through the existence of an industry will belong to the peoples of the countries in which the" industries are located. Before the war the English Government did little to encourage British foreign trade, and what is more the Englishman resented'any Government effort to give such aid, for the English trader individual and jealous of his independence and self-reliance. During the war the experience gained under the operations of,, {lie Enemy Trading Act opened the flyes of the trading public generally to what could be done ..through co-operative and authoritative effort. Also in industrial combination effected as war measures was laid tho foundation of the movement now resulting in the creation of enormous money and material trusts or combines. When the armistice came the state of the world was such that the ordinarily independent British trader found himself hopelessly at sea anil after five years of training in co-opera-tion between Government and the habit of government dependence he turned naturally to the controlling power not only for information but for guidance and actual assistance in restoring his business. Thus imt of the war has come a thorough-going merger of private interests in securing opportunity for trade and the concentration of all available business intq British hands. The greatest fields for development in the near future are in Germany and Russia, ;nv! British genius lacked, by British capital is now at work getting in on the ground floor so that when America puts her own house in order and begins to sit up and take notice the bed, strategic positions Will have been secured.