Foreign Trade Organization in Europe Since the War

Abstract

AMONG significant influences of the war is an increased respect for organization as a means of accomplishing desired ends in civil life, as well as in military operation. It was recognized, in a conflict in which there was call for the entire energy and resources of nations, that economic cooperation was as necessary as military organization; and continuous co6peration was only to be assured by more or less formal organization. In some cases, the necessary organization of industry was accomplished by direct government control; in other cases, by private organizations directed in varying measure by public authority. It was logical that, as thoughts of a postwar period began to assume importance in the minds occupied by war activity, organization should be regarded as the first step for the recovery and development of national, as well as international, production and distribution. Although action was sporadic in the early years of the war and in form the organization varied in different industrial countries, the end of the war saw a much greater similarity in organization methods and in ideas and opinions of nations concerning industrial combination than had existed before 1914. The greatest change in opinion appears in England and in the United States, which were the most prominent industrial countries characterized by the English common law attitude of opposition to certain types of combinations which involved restraint of trade. English government committees and authorities adopted a position of encouragement of trade and industrial organizations as a means of rehabilitating commerce and industry. The United States departed from its traditional attitude in passing the Webb Law, legalizing export combinations. The pre-war contrasts with Germany in this respect have largely disappeared. The development of trade and industrial organization during and following the war, in so far as it affects foreign trade, may be broadly classified into government organizations, on the one hand, and private and semi-public organizations on the other. Government organization for foreign trade shows the greatest development in England, where the Board of Trade and the Foreign Office jointly formed the Department of Overseas Trade which combined a variety of promotional activities formerly decentralized. The general divisions-Empire Trades and Economic Division, Foreign Division, Exhibitions and Fairs Division, Export Credits Department-indicate roughly the broad scope of its work. Chiefly through the collection and dissemination of commercial intelligence concerning trade conditions and opportunities, the Department aims to develop British foreign trade.