e buying; now the
balance of trade is greatly in our favor, due to the enormous export
of foodstuffs and war supplies of all kinds. Monthly our exports are
exceeding our imports by many millions of dollars. This indicates that
foreign nations are going into debt to us.

At the time of writing this article foreign exchange was quoted as
follows: London exchange, sterling, 4.76-1/2; Paris exchange, franc,
5.45-3/4. By paying down $4.76-1/2 in New York you can get L1 in
London, which on a par gold basis is equivalent to $4.86 in London. By
paying down 94-1/2 cents in New York you can get the equivalent to 100
cents in Paris.

We now come to another interesting phase of this war supply business,
namely, how some persons thought these war orders could be secured and
how they are actually being placed. Almost immediately after the
declaration of war, most of the belligerent Governments dispatched
"commissions" to the United States. Some had orders to buy, and
others were authorized to get prices and submit samples. In an
incredibly short period of time it became generally known that foreign
Governments were shopping and buying in our markets. The knowledge of
this fact brought about a condition unique in our business life.

Men in all walks of life, from porters, barbers, clerks in offices, to
doctors, lawyers, real estate agents, merchants, Wall Street brokers
and bankers, seemed suddenly imbued with the idea of securing or
bringing about the placing of a war order. Self-appointed agents,
middlemen and brokers sprang up over night like mushrooms, each and
every one claiming he had an order or could get an order for war
supplies; or, as the case might be, he personally knew some
manufacturer, or he knew a friend who had a friend who knew a
manufacturer, who in turn wished to secure a contract. An official in
one of our large steel companies told me some weeks ago that among
others who had called at his company's offices, asking prices on
shrapnel, was an undertaker.

In most instances the lack of salesmanship experience, to say nothing
of any knowledge of the business and how the particular articles are
manufactured, was of no consequence to the self-appointed agent in his
mad desire for business.

The lobbies of our New York hotels were filled with horsemen and
would-be horsemen, some months ago, almost every State being
represented as far west as California; also with manufacturers and
manufacturers' agents, all eage