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CHAPTER 12The Drive for ExportsExceeded only by the pathological dread of imports that affects allnations is a pathological yearning for exports. Logically, it is true,nothing could be more inconsistent. In the long run imports andexports must equal each other (considering both in the broadest sense,which includes such “invisible” items as tourist expenditures and oceanfreight charges). It is exports that pay for imports, and vice versa. Thegreater exports we have, the greater imports we must have, if we everexpect to get paid. The smaller imports we have, the smaller exportswe can have. Without imports we can have no exports, for foreignerswill have no funds with which to buy our goods. When we decide tocut down our imports, we are in effect deciding also to cut down ourexports. When we decide to increase our exports, we are in effectdeciding also to increase our imports.The reason for this is elementary. An American exporter sells hisgoods to a British importer and is paid in British pounds sterling. Buthe cannot use British pounds to pay the wages of his workers, to buyhis wife’s clothes, or to buy theater tickets. For all these purposes heneeds American dollars. Therefore his British pounds are of no use tohim unless he either uses them himself to buy British goods or sellsthem to some American importer who wishes to use them to buyBritish goods. Whichever he does, the transaction cannot be completed69