Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-10-07
DENIES ANY DESIGNS
T ON TRADE OF j. S.
Entente Will Make No Effort to
Discriminate After War,
{ Says Lord Cecil.
ANSWERS AMERICAN CRITIC

LONDON. October 1.-The comment in
the United States concerning the posi-
BILE effect of the commercial measures
contemplated by the recent Paris eco
nomic conference of the entente allies
led Lord Robert Cecil. minister of war
trade, to declare that wholly wrong
conclusions had been drawn from them.
and especially with regard to those
conclusions attributing any attempt
to exclude or discriminate against the
trade of the United States with the
entente allies after the war.
Our relations with the new world
Will always be of vast Importance to
us Lord Robert said to the Associated
Press. and they take a leading place
IN our plans. In answer to the great
calumny so often circulated. and which
we Indignantly repudiate, | want to
say that while We are planning our
measures for peace now. We pledge our
homer that these plans and measures,
which We bound to take against the
neutral trader with our enemies under
the laws of war, have been and will
be kept entirely separate.
Neutrals to Be Exempt.
They are worked out in different
departments They are wholly dis
tinct- We shall never try, what we
know would be fatal to our own in
terests. to use any of on. belligerent
measures to enable us to replace neu-
trail by British trade or stife or i'm
pede the commercial enterprise of neu-
trail nations"
Lord Robert did not mention the
blacklist in this connection. but I'M
questionably he had it in mind.
What one of the districts devas-
tated during the war would wish to
lose the opportunity to take advantage
asked Lord Robert. Suppose, for in
stance. no question of friendship were
involved. Then it resolves itself into
a question of plain, Common-sense bust
ness he added.
Articles in American newspapers
that had been called to his attention,
Lord Robert said, seemed to take the
ground that if the Paris measures were
carried out they would discriminate
against all non-entente allied trade,
and either would force the United
States into preferential trade relations
with Germany or into trouble with
Great Britain.
Weakest to Be Aided.
'All these forecasts said the minis
ter of war trade, ARE examples of in
veterate tendency to draw curious i'm
plications out of perfectly simple pro-
visions The provision as to the pres
ervation of neutral resources during the
period of reconstruction amounts to
provision that those among the allies
who have suffered worst from the war
will have the first call on the resources
of those who are richest and have suf-
fered least In practice. this means
that Belgium. northern France, Poland
and Serbia Will have the first call on
British capital. which has been the
main financial strength of the allies
ammunition and food. and which shall
continue to be at their disposal in the
work of reconstruction.
Throw Pledge in Her Teeth.
And yet, Americans who have been
disposed in the past to question the
efforts of Great Britain in this war ac-
tually now throw this pledge which
she has given her allies in her teeth.
The same kind of considerations applies
in the case of the permanent proposal
concerning the reciprocal exchange of
products after the war. The measures
nation in the world, except this coun-
try, has employed for years to protect
its commerce. We have been alone,
having neither a protective tariff nor a
system OF SODSlCleS- Ell now We ma
ourselves criticised by others who al
ways employed tariffs and other devices
to stimulate their trade. as if there
were some strange departure when we
propose to help our allies increase the
rewards of labor in this and allied
countries after the war
Great Straits Encountered.
I'VE have passed through greater
straits during the last two years than
any other country before in modern
history. We have tremendous problems
to meet. OF course, we are planning
to meet them; of course, we are going
to use government aid in helping to
meet them: of course, we are going to
do what every other nation always has
done. Those who try to spin sus-
picions out of a situation SO simple
surely are not facing business facts
in a business spirit.
Lord Robert said he was convinced
that some ideas had grown up in the
United States regarding the Paris con-
ference that had been deliberately
fostered by the Germans, who would
like to have exclusive trade agreement
with the United States, and in which
case they would be in a much happier
position than at present.