| Show tariffs have 70 hes r ups and owns geneva trade agreements T to 0 affect world commerce by BAUKHAGE news A analyst and commentator washington recently recently y there here t have been rumblings gs 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 recipe oc a trade agreements act would have a lot of strings attached to it when it comes up for renewal next year if that means that tariffs are raised again history will be repeating itself As the amusing illustration in ID 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 arau built after 1940 look like the reciprocal trade agreements drawn up at the recent geneva conference which re r suited in a num 1 her ber ot of slashes lo in important duties and inspired the knutsen and millikin statements brought orth forth an even louder blast from the american tariff league at the present writing however there does not appear to be any 1 where near the baukhage strength of senti ment in favor of building up the tariff wall that there was when the smoot I 1 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 tree from conditions he be thought made monopoly not only possible but easy and natural the underwood law which brought the import duties down from 37 per cent to 27 per cent was his bis answer under harding they went up about 35 per cent reaching an all time high under hoover it has been an exciting contest although cordell llull hull ai secretary of state managed with roosevelt prestige to pull them down again they were still 1 per cent higher than the ford ney mccamber act raised them hem under harding under the he agreements negotiated by secretary hull our exports increased hut but foreign competition for various reasons did not take advantage of the situation to any great extent there was no DO avalanche of cheap foreign goods to contend 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 had to resort to all sorts of means to get a hearing bearing because they were backed by no special interests their client was the vague and anonymous american consumer the high tariff pleaders plea ders 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 they represented and they had bad another great advantage in the number and geographically diverse industries fighting tor for protection for their particular product enough special interests needed enough help from other special interests so that log rolling was easy there was usually a majority tor for gismo dismo that is 13 why the only practical way trade agreements can be reached at all is to have them negotiated like any other international agreement through the state department which has no regional strings to tie it down right now the consumer is being heard beard from in no uncertain terms and any argument for lower prices wms wins a hearing bearing that is evidenced by the speed with which congress tackled the anti inflation suggestions presented both by the president in his bis message ot of november 17 calling tor for a 10 point program and those offered by senator flanders of vermont and other republicans despite considerable influential opposition the democrats took tor for granted that at least tour four out of the presidents ten points had a good chance to be adopted in tact fact one authority to ration certain foods already had been suggested by a republican senator flanders none of these points point involves involve tariff cuts cots however and those cuts already made under the geneva agreement are still largely aca academic demlo because most foreign countries arent in a position now to produce for export to any great extent next session we can expect them to be debated so tar 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 bad not been pushed bard enough that the state department had not used all ol of the power which it had lot for fear ear ol of arousing the animosity which would cause its repeal at present those favoring a freer flow of trade are in a better position to urge their cause because it Ls is evident that we cannot continue to give supplies to europe under a relief program or to lend money tor for the purchase of our goods unless we encourage cou rage europeans to sell to us otherwise 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 wont 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 au authority thor to make reductions without the approval of congress of the particular item involved that would start log rolling again put an end to our foreign trade and have us back taking in each others washing tor for a living worlds prosperity hangs in balance what happens to the as yet un built section of the wall of the dra drawing w will affect the entire setup set up of world trade it can make all the work of the international conference on world trade and employment go for or 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 he worlds trade and the interesting thing Is that although russia and most of her satellites refused to attend two of the countries und under erthe the influence of moscow finland and czechoslovakia did turn up thereby hangs a tale it is believed by some keen observers that despite all efforts to kill the european recovery plan the soviet union 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 soviets friendly countries 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 blean meanwhile while it Is realized la in washington that this country cannot carry out its far ar flung foreign policy unless that policy Is sold harder than communist propaganda Is selling its brand of good salesman salesmanship shili begins at home and a lot of salesmanship Is needed right here I 1 rode down on the trolley with a very intelligent secretary to a congressman who said to me 1 I wish I 1 knew what the marshall plan was all about president urges savings bonds bondi speaking of salesmanship the president is believed to have gi given ven the green light on an intensified sale of one ol of the important anti mation inflation 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 encourage additional savings the government should intensify its vigorous efforts to sell fell savings bonds |
