The Revival of Belgian International Trade by HARRY T
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20 Commissioner of Siamese State rail- other countries foreign trade is a con- roads were conducted recently by an venience or a luxury, to England it is officer of the department to a number an absolute necessity. In only one of important plants throughout Eng- of the raw materials vital to her indus- land ; as a result, substantial orders tries--~oal-is there a surplus in the have been placed. Representatives of United Kingdom. All the others- the &dquo;Hangya&dquo; Co6perative Whole- ores, fibers, timber and oils, as well as sale Society of Budapest arrived in cereals and meats-Great Britain is England in August, 1920, to make pur- obliged to import either wholly, or in chases on behalf of the Hungarian the greater proportion, and the neces- Minister of War. They bought two sity for paying for them requires a hundred and fifty thousand yards of large and ever-increasing export trade. khaki cloth valued at ~140,000. Due Great Britain is today determined to to the efforts of the British Trade Com- recapture the trade won from her in missioner, the representatives of an pre-war days by the Germans, and, important British electrical company, although she is compelled to resume her who had recently visited New Zealand, financial and industrial role with enor- secured the first and most important mously increased burdens, she takes up post-war contract placed by the New the commercial struggle with the great Zealand Government for the first sec- advantage of having to learn very little tion of railroad to be electrified. about the conditions under which it It has been well said that, while to can be successfully prosecuted. The Revival of Belgian International Trade By HARRY T. COLLINGS, PH.D. University of Pennsylvania, Former United States Trade Commissioner of Belgium HE opening of the world war in live. The kingdom is poorly endowed T 1914 found Belgium actively en- with raw materials; nevertheless, the gaged in international trade. With an road to national prosperity seemed to area one-fourth that of Pennsylvania, lie in the direction of manufacturing Belgium was the most densely popu- products for exportation, while in- lated country in the world, if one com- creasingly larger quantities of food- pares entire countries only. For dec- stuffs were imported. In the calendar ades before the war the population had year 1913, Belgian per capita imports been increasing at the rate of about amounted to $127.59 and exports to one per cent a year, with a policy gen- $94.85, which may be compared with erally avowed of relying less and less our per capita imports of $17.94 and on their native soil for support and exports of $24.66 for the fiscal year development. 1913. Foreign trade is and has been the Briefly, it may be said that Belgium life blood of Belgium. For years before imported coal, ores, cotton, wool, hides, the war the people gave increasingly rubber, lumber and chemicals, and less attention to agriculture and more turned them into products more or less to manufacture. No other country finished. Germany was the best cus- depends so largely upon its manufac- tomer, followed in order by France and turing industries. It must export to Great Britain; these three countries Downloaded from ann.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on March 9, 2015 21 also supplied the largest quantity of an organization for the control of inter- goods in return, France leading, fol- national trade to and from Belgian lowed by Germany and Great Britain. borders. This commission advocated Belgium took practically no part in an association of affiliated industries international trade from August, 1914 for export organization, extensive to 1919. And for some months after courses in commercial education, en- the armistice her participation in for- largement of the merchant marine, and eign commerce was limited to the the establishment of a Government purchase of foodstuffs and raw mate- publication giving foreign trade infor- rials to replace depleted stocks, with mation. Special attention, too, was very little selling, pending the manu- given by the commission to improve- facture of these materials into finished ments in credit extension for the pro- or semi-finished products. motion of foreign trade, and the recent In the rehabilitation of Belgian in- practices of American banks were ternational trade, one thing became looked upon with approval. Com- apparent early in 1919, namely, the mercial attaches or similar Government lack of national organization for re- officers in the foreign field were to suming such relations. German con- supplement the home organization. trol of export organizations had been Probably none of the countries at practically complete previous to 1914; war resumed normal economic activity and this monopoly of Belgian imports more readily than Belgium. Farmers and exports, especially the latter, had began more or less normal cultivation been left in the hands of foreigners with with the spring of 1919, and the crops apparent complacency. Belgian im- of that year were nearly up to the aver- porters and exporters had made little age pre-war production. The resump- effort, and expressed little interest in tion of industrial activity too was re- assuming control of their trade rela- markable. It must be said, however, tions with other parts of the world. that this was interrupted rather than Two things were evident-that Ger- destroyed during the war. The section many had lost her commercial grip in of the country actually devastated was the country and that Belgian business small, and located chiefly in agricul- men must build up for themselves a tural Flanders. V’hile much machin- complete foreign trade organization. ery was destroyed or removed from The Belgian Government and the bus- manufacturing plants from 1914 to iness men at once manifested a keener 1918, the plants themselves were often interest in the conduct of international not destroyed. Belgian coal mines commerce. Little was known of the produced at the lowest ebb during the methods of foreign trade organizations, war about 65 per cent of their normal since only eight concerns of importance annual production. With this eco- had had branches in foreign countries. nomic situation one may compare the German agencies at Antwerp had cared plight of France, where scores of square for foreign connections so thoroughly miles in the industrial heart of the that more than one American, when country were devastated to a degree inquiring about Belgian goods previous that beggars description. to 1914, had addressed his letter to The revival of Belgian industry and &dquo;Antwerp, Germany.&dquo; foreign trade since the war has not been In July, 1919, a special officials corn- hindered solely by damaged plants or mission was appointed to advise con- missing machinery. It has been partly the best means cerning of establishing due to continued scarcity of raw mate- Downloaded from ann.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on March 9, 2015 22 rials, to depreciated exchange, to labor able. The year 1920 brought little, if difficulties and to transportation prob- any, improvement in this low exchange lems. value of the Belgian franc. Belgium formerly imported quanti- By the very irony of economic fate ties of coal and ores to operate her in- Belgium found herself unable to pur- dustries, cotton and wool for her tex- chase from her recent allies, England tile establishments, and large quanti- and the United States, and at the same ties of chemicals for various plants. time invitingly beckoned to her enemy, Without these there can be little prog- Germany. Owing to the extreme de- ress. The re6stablishment of national preciation of the German mark in for- industries was hampered in 1919 by eign exchange, Belgium found she could lack of fuel. Previous to the war, the purchase of her recent enemies at much country exported 5,000,000 tons of lower prices than in any other country. coal a year, which, being anthracite, Indeed, in 1919, millions of francs’ was consequently unsuited to industrial worth of machinery, dyestuffs and uses in the country. The average pre- other materials were imported into war importations of coal, amounting to Belgium from beyond the Rhine. In 10,000,000 tons, were of the bitumi- the German territory occupied by Bel- nous type best suited to steel making gium a special commission was organ- and other industrial uses. This came ized to put their merchants into con- largely from Germany before 1914. nection with German firms and many During 1919, practically no coal came successful transactions were initiated. into Belgium from this source except But industrial difficulties were found the shipments stipulated by the Peace within the state. The war left Belgian Conference and these were sometimes labor as dissatisfied as elsewhere in the irregular and insu~cient. Almost the world. In February, 1919, it was esti- entire Belgian imports of coal during mated that 700,000 were unemployed the first six months of 1919 came from in the kingdom; by July of that year England. Coal production at the end this number had been reduced to 350,- of 1919 had become nearly normal and 000, but unrest was prevalent. Labor the total annual production for 1920, was dissatisfied with the pre-war work- as estimated on the basis of actual ing day of nine or ten hours; insistent production figures for the first half of demands for an eight-hour day had to the year, has been given as ~~,0’~8,~’1~ be met by a compromise. Many indus- tons, as compared with a production in trial enterprises found operating con- 1913 of Z~,846,000 tons. But this still ditions unbearable.