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Show Tariffs Hove Their Geneva Trade Agreements To Affect World Commerce By BAUKIIAGE Stwi Analyst and Commentator. WASHINGTON. Recently there have been rumblings from congress reminiscent of the old.Smooth-Hawley days. It was the warning from Senator Milliken (Rep., Colo.) and Representative Knutsen (Rep., Minn.) that the reciprocal trade agreements act would have a lot of strings attached to it when it comes up for renewal next year. If that meant that tariff! are raised again, history wOI be repeating itself. As the amusing Illustration in this column reveals, the gentlemen have been busy building up and tearing down the tariff wall ever since 1913. What will the next section of the wall built after 1940 look like? The reciprocal trade agreements drawn up at the recent Geneva con- fnrenra which re- suited in a num-I num-I " ber of slashes in I imnortant duties and inspired the Knutsen and Mil likin statements f ' ' T' I 1 brought forth an L even louder blast from the American Ameri-can Tariff league. At the present writing, however, there does not appear to be anywhere any-where near the strength of sentiment senti-ment in favor of S -i. ft", j Baukhage building up the tariff wall that there was whea the Smoot-Hawley act raised it to an all-time high (47 per cent) in 1930. From the time of the Civil war the tariff wall had grown almost every time congress acted. Then came Woodrow Wilson who demanded that the country be set free from conditions he thought "made monopoly not only possible, but easy and natural." The Underwood Under-wood law which brought the Import duties down from 37 per cent to 27 per cent, was his answer, binder Harding they went up about 35 per cent, reaching an all-time high under un-der Hoover. It has been an exciting contest. con-test. Although Cordell Hull as secretary of state managf-d, with Roosevelt prestige, to pull them down again, they were still 1 per cent higher than the Ford-ney-McCumber act raised them under Harding. Under the agreements agree-ments negotiated by Secretary Hull, our exports increased, but foreign competition for various reasons did not take advantage of the situation to any great extent. ex-tent. There was no avalanche of "cheap foreign goods" to can-tend can-tend with. The Democrats in the pre-Wilson era always were banging away on this issue and there were many colorful debates. The low tariff advocates ad-vocates had to resort to all sorts of means to get a hearing because they were backed by no special Interests. Their "client" was the vague and anonymous American consumer. The high-tariff pleaders were able to present their cases armed with the best legal talent available, whole libraries of statistics and a thorough knowledge of the particular industries indus-tries they represented. And they had another great advantage In the number and geographically diverse industries fighting for protection for their particular product Enough special interests needed enough help from other special interests in-terests so that log rolling was easy-there easy-there was usually a majority for everybody'! gismo. That is why the only practical way trade agreements agree-ments can be reached at all is to have them negotiated like any other International agreement, through the state department, which has ne regional strings to tie It down. Right now the consumer is being heard from in no uncertain terms, and any argument for lower prices wins a hearing. That is evidenced by the speed with which congress tackled the anti-inflation suggestions presented both by the President in his message mes-sage of November 17 calling for a 10-point program and those offered by Senator Flanders of Vermont and Other Republicans. Despite . considerable influential opposition, the Democrats took for granted that at least four out of the President's ten points had a good chance to be adopted. In fact one, authority to ration certain foods, already al-ready had been suggested by a Republican Re-publican Senator Flanders. None of these points Involves tariff cats, however, and those cuts already made mniet the Geneva agreement are still largely academic because most foreign countries aren't In st position now to produce for export ex-port to any great extent. Next session we can expect them to be debated. So far there have been almost as many complaints from supporters of the reciprocal trade agreements act as from its opponents. Its most enthusiastic backers charged that It had not been pushed bard enough, th?t the state department had not used all of the power which it had fur fear of arousing the animosity which would cause its repeal. At present, those favoring a freer torn of trade are in a better position to urge their cause because it is evident evi-dent that we cannot continue to give i supplies to Europe under a relief program or to lend money tor the purchase of our goods unless we encourage en-courage Europeans to sell to us. Otherwise, they'll land right back where they are now. Even if they build up their Industries so they are able to produce goods, unless they can sell some of those goods they won't have the dollars to pay back what they owe and buy our goods. That is why warnings that strings may be attached to the act have an ominous sound. "Strings' would mean either limitation on the amounts by which tariffs can be lowered through reciprocal trade agreements, or removal of authority author-ity to make reductions without the approval of congress of the particular particu-lar item involved. That would start log rolling again, put an end to our foreign trade and have us back taking tak-ing in each other's washing for a living. World' Prosperity Hangs in Balance What happens to the as-yet-unbuilt section of the wall of the drawing draw-ing will affect the entire set-up of world trade. It can make all the work of the International conference on world trade and employment go for nothing and destroy any benefits derived from a successful European relief plan. The 62 nations now gathered at the trade conference in Cuba represent countries doing about 95 per cent of the world's trade, and the interesting thing is that although Russia and most of her satellites refused to attend, two of the countries under the influence influ-ence of Moscow Finland and ' Czechoslovakia did turn up. Thereby hangs a ,tale. It is be lieved by some keen observers that despite ail efforts to kill the European Euro-pean recovery plan, the Soviet Union Un-ion knows very well that, if it works, it may be to her selfish interests to get on the bandwagon, at least to the extent of lifting the iron curtain high enough to get some of the much-needed goods from Western Europe under it. And the way that could be managed would be to have some of the Soviet's "friendly countries" coun-tries" in on any advantageous trade deals that might be made. Western Europeans say that this would be the most effective way to break down the Communist grip on these countries. Meanwhile H la realized In Washington that this country cannot carry out Its far-flung foreign policy unless that policy Is sold harder than Communist propaganda Is selling Its brand of bortsch. Good salesmanship begins at home. And a lot of salesmanship is needed right here. I rode down on the trolley with a very intelligent secretary to a congressman who said to me: "I wish I knew what the Marshall plan was all about" President Urges Savings Bonds Speaking of salesmanship, the President is believed to have given the green light on an intensified sale of one of the Important anti-Inflation measures recommended in his speech when he said: "Another effective weapon against inflation la Increased savings by the public. Every dollar that Is saved Instead of spent Is a dollar fighting against Inflation. In order to encourage additional savings, the government govern-ment should Intensify Its vigorous vigor-ous efforts to sell savings bonds." WORKIN' ON THE Car Shortage Passes Peak About the only good thing that can be said concerning the railroad freight car shortage is that the worst is probably over, but the present pres-ent Inadequacy will hang on for a long time. Despite investigations, programs and promises for several years, there are actually about 41,000 fewer freight cars now than ther, were at the end of the war. Attempts to place the blame for the situation seem to be futile. American railroads have had 1 00.000 cars on order for some time. Car builders have declared that steel was not available. A program formulated formu-lated In February of this year called for an output of 7,000 new cars Ups and in : -r. A .. : ' ' ' -V , - Tin- r1.,....'., - - -in inn '" '" """ BARRING THE WAY . . . The observation tower of the Empire State building will not be used henceforth as a point of departure for the hereafter by people who want to leave this vale of tears. Workmen are shown installing a $10,000 stainless steel parapet fence about the 86th floor tower. NEWS REVIEW Laborites Keep Power; Ask Oil, Coal Ration LABOR TEST: Clean Slate In Great Britain the Labor party had been worried over the outcome of the by-election in the southern town of Gravesend. Richard Acland, a rich baronet, was carrying the Labor party's banner against Frank Taylor, an ex-furnace ex-furnace stoker, the Conservative candidate. A seat In parliament was not the only thing at stake. The election was of major importance as a test of strength between the two parties. It was a hard fought battle, and Acland, the Laborite, was elected to Parliament by a majority of 1,675 votes-a clear cut defeat for the Conservatives. The British people, the Labor party announced, retained their confidence in their government. Nevertheless, the 1,675-vote margin mar-gin of victory was considerably smaller than the 7,056-vote Labor party margin that had been piled up in the same district in 1945. Labor was still in the driver's seat but clearly had lost something of its original strength. However, the party had kept its slate clean; it had not lost a single by-election since it first was swept into power. Perhaps one reason for the Labor party's continued popularity was that despite all else, it was doing a good job of distributing equally what food and other goods were available in Britain. The food rations ra-tions of the poorer people were approximately ap-proximately the same as those of the rich, and that fact continued to carry a lot of weight with the mass of voters. OIL RATION: Anti-Inflation When President Truman, in his celebrated "10 points against Inflation" Infla-tion" address to congress, asked for limited authority to impose ration and price controls on basic commodities, com-modities, it was taken for granted that they were food commodities alone. First indication that this might not be a correct interpretation of Mr. Truman's proposal came when the department of interior asked congress for power to fix price controls con-trols and rationing on coal and oil as part of the anti-inflation program. pro-gram. Oscar L. Chapman, undersecretary undersecre-tary of the interior, told the house banking and currency committee that grave shortages and price advances ad-vances were threatened in the two basic fuels. There was no way of telling, ho said, whether such controls actually would have to be imposed, but he insisted that the government should have authority to do so, just in case. It is not probable that congress will give the government power to control oil and coaL but the incident inci-dent serves to reflect the current point of view of the administration that a return to wartime rationing and price controls is the quickest and most effective way to buck inflation. in-flation. President Truman disclosed the policy first in his speech at the opening open-ing of the special session of congress. con-gress. The interior department's request re-quest for control of coal and oil probably was a planned follow-up. RAILROAD monthly by June and 10,000 by September. Sep-tember. The quota was not met; and, at though the steel industry says that lt has supplied the necessary steel, car builders contend that the shortage short-age still has not been completely cured. There was one sign, however, that might indicate a turning of the tide. In September the railroads reported 7,182 new installations, which was 668 more cars than were retired during that month. Small as it was, lt was the first net gain in 25 months. CoL J. Monroe Johnson, director of the office of defense transportation, transporta-tion, said he Is proceeding under a TOE LEni SUN. LEHI. UTAII Downs ? Current Events ? Tb following fivt questions wtrt rejected by 32 radio quit shows b-cause b-cause tbey didn't have enough refrigerators re-frigerators to go around. If you can answer them, take the correct answers, an-swers, plus $550, to your nearest electrical appliance dealer and vou will receive a brand-new refrigerator. refrigera-tor. 1. It was clearly a case of "They went thataway" when the above pictured horse opera hero and his leading lady announced that they would be married New Tear's eve. Who are they? 2. Within the space of one week crisis-ridden France had three different premiers. Their names? 3. What three titles did King George of England confer upon Lt. Philip Mountbatten before his marriage to Princess Elizabeth? 4. Gen. Omar Bradley will replace re-place Gen. Dwight Elsenhower as army chief of staff. Who will replace General Bradley as bead of Veterans' administration? 5. At a recent meeting in New York the subject of oneology was discussed. Would yon say oncology oncol-ogy is the study of (a) shells, (b) tumors, (c) fossils, (d) snails? ANSWERS 1. Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. 2. Paul Ramadier, Leon Blum, Robert Rob-ert Schuman. 3. Dukt of Edinburgh. Earl of Merioneth, Merio-neth, Baron Greenwich. 4. Carl R. Gray, vice president at the Chicago and Northwestern railway. 5. (b) Tumors. POSTMASTER: Hannegan Out Robert E. Hannegan hat easea himself out of the public political ye. Little more than a month after he had quit his job as Democratic national na-tional chairman because of ill health he turned in bis resignation as postmaster generaL To replace Hannegan as head of the nation's post office. President Truman named 63-year-old Jesse M. Donaldson, first assistant as-sistant postmaster general, who has had 42 years in the postal service. It was the first time a president ever had dipped into the ranks of postal 'career men" to fill the top job in the department Donaldson Donaldson is one of the men who came up the hard way. His career with the service began be-gan with his appointment as a city letter carrier in Shelbyville, DL. in 1908. Hannegan, meanwhile, had no intentions in-tentions of going into retirement He has purchased a substantial Interest in the St Louis Cardinals. White House directive to obtain a rate of 15,000 cars monthly by July, 1948, almost double the present output out-put He said he had commitments from the Iron and Steel institute for a 22 per cent increase in steel allotments allot-ments for new car production. The car shortage has slowed down the country's economy. At the peak of loadings In October the average daily shortage was 39.430 cars. Currently Cur-rently it is about 33.000. Despite these shortages, the railroads rail-roads are handling more carloads of revenue freight than they have since August 1930, when the number oi available cars was 500,000 greater than now. I " ' - y I V - $"7 f; i ' J ' u P ' iMMJii An iii.nnniminllfi vail" -jZSjSi.-i .,7m i ni hi i iii i" T)TiF.W PEARSON Emergency Housing Aid Urged niG.burSsen.Jo.M U religion, lie nas reviseu u needs, congresSonal athome tJdelve one croup, dominated by McCartny, sxayeu Their totogAmePrica'S No. 1 probkm-the housmg Jre ta findings will jolt some of neitefflterprlse. a hurry to turn wartime economy bacKwpnyaw to Witfiout mincing word, the joun com - bii for private enter-congress enter-congress that the housing problem has proved too big tor pnva Basic cause, for the housing shortage, th. committee found, are. 1. The population Jumped 13 mlHlon daring ."5 the populaUon increased, war priorities kept homebnilding almost at a standstill. t. The real estate trad, is not building for the rental markei-wher. markei-wher. the most critical Lwd'dtgT.r the average renter has more money to spena, more space. . 3. Contraction costs are high, caused by shortage, of m aerials ae-rials and skilled labor. The chief bottlenecks are casWrom soli pipe, nails and lumber. WALTER WINCHELL From the Late Publishers of the Times and Herald Her-ald Tribune met recently. Up in arm. over methods used on the loyalty loy-alty check. .Will combat any star-chamber star-chamber proceedings. . . . The goof who ha. been sending Lana Turner those enormous and expensive boxes of candy doesn't know she rarely touches the stuff. She gives them to hotel maids. . . . Item to find out if the proofreaders (and telegraphers) are earning their salaries: sal-aries: Page 701 of the Manhattan (New York) phone tome (second listing from bottom of fourth column) col-umn) lists phone subscriber: Kon-inklijke Kon-inklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij. (We have more fun!) World War HI should solve the housing problem. There'll be plenty of caves for everybody. WALTER SHEAD Farm Blocs Wait at Trough THE Marshall plan for stop-gap aid to Europe, which seem, certain of passage in some form in the special session, calls for peak production of almost all agricultural crops. So the farm commodity blocs are mobilizing; mobiliz-ing; as a matter of fact, they began work before the special session convened, con-vened, to get a finger in the pie. There's a lot of money to be spent on this interim aid to Europe and, despite the fact that the administration is definitely opposed to earmarking any funds for special item, in the legislation itself, the pressure groups are at the trough waiting. For instance, the cotton boys want promises of enough money for possibly a million and a half bales of this year's crop and, if tobacco can be classified as essential aid, the tobacco boys want to be in on the take. Big pressure is on to include canned goods in the aid program. Then there are the big wheat growers, like the Montana man who is holding 600,000 bushels for a higher price. Soybean, peanut and cotton seed oils and many other specific blocs are trying to get airtight promise, for big money for their groups. H. L PHILLIPS Lexicon of Global Diplomacy Aggressor. A fellow who thinks three years long enough to wait for peace. Unity. Any man using a mirror to establish a quorum of two necessary neces-sary for an agreement on something. some-thing. Satellite. A man with .a foot on his neck trying to act as if he liked it.. Fascist. Anybody who opposes Communism. Economic Imperialist. A guy who keeps books, knows where he stands and likes to plan for tomorrow. tomor-row. Appeaser. Any man who before going over Niagara Falls in a barrel wants to see if it has a top and bottom. bot-tom. Collaboration. The act of almost agreeing on a point at which neither will yield. WESTBROOKPEGLER It Depends on Who Says It TN THE general public discussion of Communists in the movie Indus A try someone made the mistake of proposing the repeal S one of tte ?.X?h" tpatriot recaUed movies in which th. toericw snow. This was held to be ! iSZS olLT It cans, intended to undermine confidence in the 1 Actually, this is just a familiar working of the fatal attrl tlon of the plug hat for the snowball n. . 1 attrao- Horatio Alger was no seditionist but in JpH r deal, we shrug and wish it Jew B I ive Indian awful before American, should y Lt Ve 8et " er' n Wal quest repudiation of treaties and genocide ' tl "ample con-termination con-termination of a race-we want to hf new fr - of a more plausible excuse Dg fr and are glad WRIGHT PATTF.nN Union Tactics Slow Housing A G.L or any other irnHh. x is entitled to the opportunity of buying a home for his family The vast majority cannot pay $10,000 and up for a house which could have been bought in prewar days for some $3,000. If he attempts to pay today', price he knows he will loSe-will loSe-will not be able to pay out A ver Watch WasbingtongueMggrt butztng that a cabinet member and his wife are en the verge of making t Renofficiat. That they've "put up s front" at the urging of Mr. President, who fears a divorce scandal might hurt the administration. admin-istration. It didn't hurt FDR's four-base four-base wallops. Mr. and Mrs. America will be saddened sad-dened to learn that FDR's pet pooch, Fala, is not very well. . . . Harry's plenty miffed at Dee, who (despite bis official chief of staff capacity) keeps bobbing up at affairs having a political tinge. Happy Tinge, Ike! . . . Karen St. John is checking hats at the Singapore to pay off debts (sponsoring a summer thitter) at Greenwich last year., . . . There are more than 10,000 divorce cases pending in New Jersey', chancery court The Communists of Russia r celebrating the 30th anniversary of their founding. It seem, to the rest of the world that it has been under denunciation twice that long. A yearling trotter brought $42,000 at a sale in Harrisburg recently. Some fellow is convinced that gas rationing is coming back. Christmas shopping this year Is going to bring back tender memories of the days when yon could get something for somebody some-body for less than $25. Half those dizzy spells these days may be caused by watching the newsreel photos of football games. considerable part of that difference ta pnee is occasioned by the feaSer slowd ana p g Junctional rules of the buUd hS? th0usands families to live m inadequate housing. Some Helpful Ideas For Homemade iuwii una vy? uuttaiNu ior a hnhh. ... winter? Why not take UV " '"Kens making. It'i one of the tooy; warding things you c; without costly equipme: or Rati noAii tn hnvA crra m-t;...- . 71 Anvone even htirtnn. make a lovely rug at home." There are many types to eh,., i Hooked, braided, knitted, erwX d, woven. 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