American Commerce

AN explanation of the causes and probable effects of the tremendous expansion in American commerce that has taken place during and since the World War cannot but be of interest to those who would keep in touch with the affairs of the world. Especially is this the case when such an authority as Dr. Klein is the author. As Director of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce he served under Herbert Hoover when the latter was Secretary of Commerce and his former chief has contributed a forword and many quotations to the book. It can be taken as the official statement of the significance of America's new position.

The main thesis of Dr. Klein's philosophy of trade is that of mutual interest. He shows how the prosperity of any one nation depends on the prosperity of its customers and its competitors, and endeavors to prove that the growth of American trade has not been at the expense of that of other nations. In what is by all odds the most important chapter in the book he claims that it will not be the source of rivalries which might disrupt the peace of the world, because the increase in American exports has been almost entirely in specialties such as typewriters and automobiles in the production of which we are almost without competitors. The theory is open to objections, but it makes an ingenious justification of the expansionist policy that has dominated the Hoover regime.

However one feels about this still unsettled problem, the rest of the book cannot prove of interest. The questions of natural monopolies, restrictions of trade, and the new position of America as a creditor nation are all discussed, and a whole section is devoted to review of the economic situation in the leading countries and their probable place in the postwar world of commerce. The author's long experience has enabled him to enliven the text with numerous anecdotes and illustrations that make the book not only informative but interesting reading as well.