324 
INTERNATIONAL TRADE 
726 millions; in 1923 it was 387 millions; in 1924 it was 1006 
millions; in 1925 again 700 millions. The figures are compara- 
ble with those of pre-war times. The money sums, to be sure, are 
larger than they were in the pre-war period. But prices being 50 
or 60 per cent higher, an export excess of 726 millions, such as 
appeared in 1922, meant no more than one of 500 millions in 1912. 
The figures might reasonably be interpreted as showing that, as 
something like the normal conditions of peaceful trade was 
restored, something like the normal relation between the money 
value of exports and imports also was re-established. Interna- 
tional trade apparently was again in its former grooves, function- 
ing in a normal way. 
This approach to equalization was accompanied by a similar 
equalization between the several invisible items. Here we find 
some old items, but also some new; and there is occasion for 
comment. 
Among the old and familiar items, that of longest standing and 
steadiest character was the tourist expenditure. Not only did it 
persist ; it became larger year by year. The growth in numbers of 
the well-to-do pleasure seekers caused this debit charge to grow, and 
to grow with much steadiness. True, in these later days there was 
a countercharge, also growing, because of the increasing expendi- 
tures by European travellers in the United States. None the less, 
the net debit against the United States remained large and tended 
to become steadily larger. Its tendency to rise is to be contrasted 
with a different tendency as regards the other debit item just 
mentioned : immigrant and charity remittances. Here we might 
expect a declining tendency, somewhat abrupt for the charity dona- 
tions of emergency character, more gradual for those made by the 
immigrants. Yet up to 1925 there appeared no marked change. 
Taking all these items together, their total remained large and 
tended to swell rather than shrink. 
Earnings from shipping now presented features quite different 
from those of the pre-war period. Before the war this item also 
had been almost entirely on the debit side of the account ; but now 
it stood on the credit side as well. Ocean transportation, formerly