Payments Problem: Agriculture Helps To Restore A Balance American agriculture has been helping to right the balance of payments. Last year, at a time when commercial exports of oth er commodities lagged behind (he value of imports, and the out flow of dollars accelerated, agri cultural trade brought nearly $1 billion into the United States. Money on the Move Farm trade is not the only ac tivity affecting the payments balance. The balance of payments is an accounting of all money entering or leaving the country for any reason: money paid for imports, foreign spending by U.S. firms, tourists, or the government and investment abroad: money re ceived for our exports, or for Joan repayments from tourists visiting America, or from foreign investment here. There are thus many reasons why dollars change hands internationally out side off the customary commod ity trading channels. When dollar income exceeds •utflow, the balance is deemed favorable. When the reverse is true, as in recent years, the bal HORSES NEED MINERALS, TOO! Red Rose Free-Choice Mineral provides the opportunity for horses to take phosphorus, salt, calcium and trace minerals according to individual needs. Horses need minerals for good iiorse-health. Don’t forget them! Waiter Binkley & Son Brown & Rea, Inc. Elverson Supply Co. Henry E. Garber R. D. 1, Elizabethtown, Pa. L. T. Geib Estate I. B. Gray bill & Son Refton Strasburg E. Musser Heisey & Son R. D. #2, Mt. Joy, Pa. ance is in the favor of foreign holders who can demand gold or build up future claims on our goods. * The balance-of-payments defi cit, which had been diminishing gradually for several years, .lumped again last year to the highest level since 1960. This turnaround caused widespread concern because it came at a time when other currencies were being devalued. The deficit last year more than doubled from the 1966 level and amounted to $3.6 billion. But without the net contribution of agricultural trade, including dol lar returns on Government pro gram (noncommercial) exports, the deficit would have mounted to $4.6 billion. Where did the billion-dollar ag ricultural contribution come from? To answer that, it’s neces sary to distinguish agricultural trade from nonagricultural, and commercial exports from those financed by the Government. Commercial Trade Last year, the value of all ex For Red Rose Horse Feeds and all your feed needs call us. Lititz Atglen Elverson Manheim ports sold commercially was $26,999 million. This was a slim $l9 million more than what we paid for imported goods. So our net commercial trade added $l9 million to the plus side of the payments account. But exports of commodities other than farm goods ran behind what we paid ior similar type imports. All of the net dollar income from our tri.de thus came from agricul ture. In 1960, the commercial agri cultural trade balance was a def icit. In that year, there was a total of $435 million on the minus side. By 1963 exports and im ports were about equal. The bal ance then became favorable and peaked at $984 million in 1966. In 1967, it was favorable by $660 million. On the nonagncultural side, imported goods have become in creasingly attractive to Ameri cans. In 1960 we paid nearly $ll billion for nonagncultural im ports, but by last year, our im port bill hit $22.5 billion. Up to 1965, other countries Red Rose has a complete line of horse feeds Equinader . . . Super Horse . . . Classic . . . and Com plete Pellets. Ask us about them. Heistond Bros. Elizabethtown A. L. Herr & Bro. Quavryville David B. Hurst Bowuiansville Martin's Feed Mill, Inc. E. D. 3, Ephrata, Pa. Mountville Feed Service Mountville Musser Farms, Inc. Columbia S BBT hr the fOAl? Red Rose has the answer! It's Red Rose Foal Feed. Now, after two years of inten sive research and field testing RED ROSE FOAL FEED was formulated specifically to meet the critical growth and requirements of foals and weanlings. Red Rose Foal Feed encourages early, rapid growth of bone and muscle, and stimulates early maturity. It contains high est quality protein, calcium, phosphorus, and vitamins D and E. Red Rose HORSE FEEDS Chos. E. Souder & Sons H. M. Stauffer & Sons, were buying substantially more of our non-agricultural goods than we were buying of theirs. Between 1960 and 1964, for ex ample. the balance of nonagri cultural trade was favorable, earning $2 billion or better each year. By 1965, however, the mar gin slipped to $1 billion. And for the past 2 years the balance be tween exports and imports was negative. The deficit in 1967 to taled $641 million. Thus, the $660 million favor able balance of commercial ag ricultural trade last year was just large enough to offset losses from other trade and leave a surplus of $l9 million. Public Law 480 Programs Pay Money earned last year from Public Law 480 dollar credit sales and sales for foreign cur rencies also contributed favor ably to the balance of payments They affected the balance two ways: —Countries who bought our food on credit in earlier years agreed to pay us in annual dol lar installments. Last year these countries paid $59 million prin cipal and interest on earlier credit sales. —Exports paid for in local cur lencies don’t help our balance of payments, since we cannot con- Musser's Mill The Buck Terre Hill Ammon E. Shelly Lititz L. M. Snavely Lititz E. P. Spotts, Inc. Honey Brook Inc. Witmer Lancaster Farming, Saturday. May 18,1968 vert the currencies into dollars. However, each year our Govern ment can draw on this reseive when it needs to spend money abroad, avoiding an outlay of dollars. In 1907, Government agencies abroad spent $222 mil lion worth of local currencies, reducing the dollar drain by that amount. In addition to these souices our Government's Export Import Bank, which also extends credit 10 finance farm product exports, received $47 million interest and principal repayments on agricul tural commodity loans. All these items amounted to a total contribution of $328 million in money earned or saved as a result of noncommercial com modity exports. Added to the $660 million fa vorable commercial agricultural trade balance, farming’s net contribution to the plus side of the payments balance totaled S9BB million in 1967. Poultry Committee Meets June 18-19 ' In Washington The 22-member Poultry Advis ory Committee named recently to counsel with the Packers and Stockyards Administration (’P& SA) will hold its first meeting June 18-19 in Washington, the U. S Department of Agriculture said today Donald A. Campbell, P&SA Administrator, said meetings Mill begin at 9 15 a m in Room 218 A. USDA Administration Building ‘We are anticipating a pio dteme session in discussing the complicated pioblcms of the poultiy industry with these in dustry leadeis,’ Campbell said. Committee members lepresent ing every segment of the indus try will provide valuable scope and experience to our discus sions ” USDA officials said the com mittee is needed to help meet the extensive marketing struc ture changes which have taken place in the poultry industry duung recent years Policyholder Questions Answered by the Health Insurance Institute 277 Park Ave., N, Y„ N. Y., 10017 Q. I just had my eyes checked by a doctor and luckily I don’t need glasses. The doctor said' however that it is possible that in a few years I may have to start wearing them. Is there any kind of health insurance that I can buy which will help me pay for eye examination and glasses when I need them? , A. Probably not, There are some group insurance programs which provide some benefits to*,' ward vision care, but this type of’ coverage as such is not general. 1 Insurance companies have been experimenting with vision care coverage. Until sufficient experi ence in this area of insurance is gathered by insurers, it isn’t like ly that it will be generally availa ble. Q. Do you have any informa tion on how many people have to enter a hospital in a year’s time? A. In 1966, the figure was about 27 million patients. That means that during the year an average of 73,694 persons en tered the nation’s non-federal, short-termgeneral hospitals daily. The 27-million figure represents an increase of about 500,000 admissions over 1965. •FjouitULy FINANCIAL PROTECTION 27 MIIIION PATIENTS 7 /S f
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers