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March 6, 1946 Mr. Robert P. Vanderpoel Financial Editor Herald American 326 W. Madison Street Chicago 6, Illinois Dear Bob; I am wary aorry t**t we diAa 1 1 get together la Chieego but, as you learned* the time ssfeed&le *** a l i t t l e too oloee* tha IK ue ahlch you ralea la y<mr l e t t e r of February 19 la one which i§ of profound i n t e r e s t , not only to me personally, but to the £xport-Inport Bank. I earn &s«ure you that mo one la more mindful than wo are that the fundamental ferelf* trade problem of the limited States i s to stimulate imports. From the special wie* point of the Bank, i t i« only by increasing import* both absolutely and relatiw* to exports that th# Beak** foreign loam program earn work out la the long rna and the Beak9a loans to foreign countries bo repaid* lou ask bow mrnnh money the Export-Import Bank has loaned to finance Imports* Tho answer 1E pr&ctically mome» The ration, however, i s aot that the Bank i s aot favorably disposed towards ertaadlmg credit asaiets&ee to importers* the hard fact la that the Bank receives pract i c a l l y no appliestloms for eradit es£iat«inee from importer** the reason for t h i s i s aot far to seek* The commercial b$nk# of the Onited State© &ro ao organised tad so oriemtsd that or adit either a t short-term or intermediate-term earn bo raadlly obtained om tha security of good domestic mamma. t h i s aeaas that imports into tha 9mlted S t a t e s , ahlah require only short-tera financing to the extent of probably mora thaa 90 9*r cent* earn ba financed without d i f f i c u l t y through priwata eommmrc i a l banks, Furtharmora# there la usually mo particular d i f f i c u l t y in arranging term fla&noing for tha r e l a t i v e l y small volume of import* which require financing beyond s i x month** Finally, im tha comparatively rare oaaa im which American imjxjrtmra buy capital goods abroad on extended credit terms, tha f im&melmg i f provided aithar by tha foreign s a i l e r on his own rasoureet* or with the asaiattueiee of a government agency im hla o«m co^mtry* Thle la in accordance with tha general rula that tha necessary f in&neiag of foraiga trada i s prowldad by tha exporting country* '/U..€ -2- the comparatively few application* from Importer* which eoae to the Export-Import Bank are from importer* who h&ve obtained ee much credit as they m a froa their own commercial hank* aad who wish to obtain ad&iticmfcl credit froa thefccport-IaportBeak la order to expaad their opcratione* the l*port~Xmport leak will consider application* of thi* character, although there ie aot arach that it earn do ia cases where it ie clear that the importer hae extended himeelf ee far a* he rwaeoaably eaa oa the baelc of hie o m capital* On the aore femoral queetloa of etimealatlag import** with particular reference to Secretary Wallace1* etetemeat before the tor id Trade Coafereaee le*t month, It le ay understanding that the Bepertmeat of Coaaeroe le working inteaeiToly oa concrete meaeure* for promoting import* iato the Salted State** I, of course * do aot know wigr Secretery Wallace did aot aeation thle la hie Chicago speech. Sincerely youre* Wm* HoC« Kartla* Jr+ Ch*in**m Mime
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