At the request of the American Chamber, of Commerce in Berlin, Herr Brinkmann, Secretary of State in the Reich Ministry for Economic Affairs, addressed the meeting on the subject of conditions and possibilities for a German-American Trade Understanding which Germany so ardently desires.
If mutual trade had been on the decline for the past few years, he said, this was obviously and unfortunately due to a measure of misunderstanding. The Americans suspected discrimination in the German policy of settling foreign liabilities. But Germany herself had the greatest interest in carrying out her debt service regularly and reliably. How, through no fault of her own, she came by her shortage of foreign exchange Was by now common knowledge. A country which desired to cash in interest and amortization must give its debtors a chance to earn the necessary funds.
Herr Brinkmann parried the po: charge of dumping by stating that Other countries, without regard for the needs of world markets, upset ihe whole price trend overnight, as it were, by as much as 20, 30 and even more per cent. by resorting to currency depreciation.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.