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Show Tciritftfs Have Tlhieiir Ups amid Oovmis Geneva Trade Agreements To Affect World Commerce By RAUKIIAGE News Anoint 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 meam that tariffs are raised again, history will 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 likeT Hie reciprocal trade agreements! drawn up at the recent Geneva con- 'r--w--- ,erence wnlch re" I. '': I suited In num I ' ; ber of slashes in I 1 f iff $ 1 'rnPoran' duties Akf ;l and Inspired lh ;':;Js fy Knutsen and Mil- kln Btaternenls P-r iT'i brught ,,rth ,n liyt III from the Ameri- J j J j can TnrifT league. :l!tJ&- ff;'i!Ui At thB Present Hjnr&S writin8. however. f .miiTTJ thert does not " ' appear to be any. immmi!ILM where near the Baukhage strength of sentl-ment sentl-ment In favor of building up the tariff wall that there was when 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. Under Harding they went up about 35 per cent, reaching an all-time high under un-der Hoover. It has been an exciting content. con-tent. Although Cordell Hull aecretary of state managed, with Roosevelt prestige, lo pull them down again, they were still 1 per cent higher than the Kurd ney-McCumber art raised them ondrr Harding. Under the agreements agree-ments negotiated by Secretary Hull, our exports Increased hul foreign competition for various reasons did not take advantage f (he situation to any great extent. ex-tent. There was no avalanche of "cheap foreign goods" to contend con-tend with. The Democrats In the pre-Wllson era always were banging away on this Issue and there were many colorful debates. The low tariff ad vocates had to resort to all sorts of means to get hearing because they were backed by no special Interests. Their "client" was the vague end anonymous American consumer. The high-tariff pleaders were abl 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's 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 Iras no regional strings to tie It down. Right now the consumer is being beard 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 Senutor 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 RepublicanSenator Re-publicanSenator Flanders. None of these points Involves tariff cuts, however, anl those cuts already made andor the Geneva agreement are sMU largely acidemia becoe must foreign countries aren't In a pwiitioa aow to produce for export ex-port to any great exteut. Next session we can expect them to be debated. So tar there have been almost as many complaints from supporters of the reciprocal trade agreements act as from its opponents. Its most enthusiastic backers charged Uwl it had not been pushed hard enough, that the state department had not used si) of the power which It had for fear of arousing the animosity which would cause Its repeal At present, those favoring a freer flow of trade are In better position to urge their cause because It is evident evi-dent that we cannot continue to give supplies to Europe under a relief program or to lend money for 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's Proiperity Hang$ 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 alihmiKh Russia and most of her satellites refused to attend, two of the countries under the Influence Influ-ence of . Moscow Finland and Csechoslovakla did turn up. Thereby hangs a tale. It is believed be-lieved by some keen observers that despite all 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 It la realised In Washington that this country cannot carry out Its far-flung foreign policy unless that policy la 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" Pretident Urgea Savings Bond$ Speaking of salesmanship, the President is believed to have given the green tight on an intensified sale of one of the important antl inflution measures recommended in his speech when he said: "Another effective weapon against Inflation Is Increased savings by the public Every dollar that Is saved Instead of spent Is a dollar fighting against Inflation. In order to encoursge additional savings, the government govern-ment should Intensify Its vigorous vigor-ous efforts lo sell savings bonds." |