Show national affairs by ara FRANK K P LITSCHERT we have been hearing more and more of late about our declining foreign markets due to the efforts ot of our american tree free traders to make capital out of the depression by claiming it was a result of 0 the passage of the smoot hawley tariff bill such efforts are ol of course litle more than childish as anyone who will take time to analyze the situation can soon eoon see in the first place our exports were declining before the smoot hawley tariff baa passed and they have continued to decline not because ot of the bill but because ot of worldwide world wide conditions part ot of the decline Is due to the lower values ot of the exported and part Is due to the tact fact that the stagnation ot of world business has made it impossible tor for our customers abroad whether consumers or manufacturers to use as much of our produce as in normal times this has been as true ol of countries in south america against which bellave we have no terms tariffs as in europe where there Is always less demand tor for our finished products than our raw materials nobody has yet been able to make out a good case tor for the theory ot of lowering our tariffs to increase our trade abroad that this Is true can be gathered from the tact fact that in every major campaign lor for a 26 generation in which the tariff has been an all issue the tree free traders have lost it Is difficult to convince the american people most ot of whom are producers that it would be wise visa to open up to cheap land and unfair competition the richest market la in the world in an effort to gain c cross the seas a market which exists 1 principally only in the imaginations ot of the tree free traders themselves americans consume ninety per cent of what they produce and there ts is a reason ison the reason Is the american stan chand ard ot of living which gives every american america lard no matter how humble the right t to expect necessities and semi necessities velch aich would be regarded as only designed I 1 tor for the wealthy in every other country 0 of the world our automobiles automobile tor for all of 1 tho the people our radios our refrigerators and various other household necessities are abundant proof of 0 the foregoing statement in what other nation in th we world Is the ordinary citizen quipped equipped with such modern conveniences as these and as our productive genius improves new sources of demand from ne people come into view there Is no such market in europe S and lid will not be in this generation at least in europe the workers live on a different scale the theory of cheap production still holds because the producer las his eye on the foreign market and has no sympathy with the american ideal ot of 1 a big market at home ile he la 13 always convinced that there Is greener grass in the next pasture and he knows there Is much greener grass in the united states if he could only invade it with his cheap commodities produced at something a little more than starvation wages it Is true that european nations have tariffs but these are tariffs enacted principally in an effort to get the better of the other tellow fellow in the matter of foreign trade they have little or no conception ot of the american idea which because of our high standard ot of living Is to equa equalize equall lide de the cost ot of production at home and abroad i I 1 uncle sam will recover from the present depression not because santa clauff brings him a miraculous fat foreign mar ket but because he la IS tightening up JILS his belt and preparing to look after his own children first and when uncle sam once gets on his bis feet things will begin to brighten lor for the rest ot of the world nothing would so help world confidence as definite indications that business was on oni I 1 the upgrade in the united states I 1 I 1 |