clearly reflected in the foreign trade statistics of the United States. Whether one considers our foreign trade from the angle of the relationship between quantities and values of goods shipped or from that of the excess of exports over imports, whether one views it from the standpoint of the character and the direction of the commodities moved or from that of the methods used in financing shipments, one must conclude that the world in its industrial life is yet under the shadow of the Great War. The turbulent waves set into motion on the seas of international commerce have not yet subsided, and the movement of goods and of payments is yet far from what one would expect it to be in an era of peace and prosperity based upon an intelligent utilization of the natural resources in the various regions of the globe. Four years of exaltation and of agony, of fear and hope, of hatred and devotion, four years of roaring cannons and of bursting shrapnel have left Europe, the main workshop of the world, wounded, dazed, incapable of quickly returning to the sustained effort and the humdrum existence of mill and factory towns. Those who expected that with Germany's acknowledgment of defeat a new industrial Europe would immediately emerge from the ruins of the old one proved poor economists and poorer psychologists. 2 1 It is somewhat difficult to foretell at present how soon a normal basis in our commercial intercourse with foreign nations will be reached. However, certain tendencies are beginning to manifest themselves which corroborate the contentions of those who have been pointing out the utterly artificial character of our trade development since the memorable days of August, 1914.
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Simon Litman (1921) studied this question.