Evening star., 1921-12-06
(continued from First Page.)

trade are outgoing. rather thah IN
coming.
It is not my thought to lay the
problem In detail before you to-
day. II Is desired only to say to
you that the executive branch OF
the government. uninfluenced by
the protest of any nation, tor
none has been made, is well con-
WINGED that your proposal, highly
intended and heartily supported
here, is so fraught with difficulties
and so marked by tendencies 10
discourage trade expansion that
I invite your tolerance of nom
compliance for very few weeks
until a plan may be presented
which contemplates no greater
draft upon the public treasury
and which, though yet too crude
to offer it today. gives such prom
ise of expanding our merchant
marine that it will argue its own
approval 1t is enough to say To-
day that we are so possessed or
ships and the American intention
to establish a merchant marine Is
so unalterable. that plan OF
reimbursement, at no other cost
than is contemplated in the exist
ing act, will appeal to the pride
and encourage the hope of all the
American people.
--.0v.L, A,<9nu V'rxed.
There is before you the compile
ton OF the enactment of what mas
been termed n permanent tartH
law, the word permanent" being
used TO distinguish 1t from tne
emergency act which the Congress
expedited carly in the. extraordi-
nary session, and which is the law
today. lean not TOO strongly urge
an early completion Of this nee
.ssary legislation. II Is needed TO
stabilize our industry AT home, IL
is essential to make more definite
our trade relations abroad More.
II is vital to the preservation of
MANY of our own Industries which
contribute so notably to the very
ffeblood of our nation.
There Is now. and taere always
Will be. a storm of conflicting op'n-
ion about any tariff revision We
,anro, 70 far wrong when We base
our tariffs on the policy of preserving
the productive activities which en-
hance employment and add TO our
national prosperity.
Again comes the reminder that We
must not he. unmindful of world con-
dit!ons, that peoples are struggling
fer industrial rehabilitation and that
We cannot dwell In Industrial ana
commercial exclusion and at the
same time do the just thing in aid
Ing world reconstruction and read
iustment. We do not seek a selfish
aloofness, and We could not proht oy
1t, were 1t possible. We recognize
the necessity of buying wherever we
sell. and the permanency Of trade
lies in its acceptable exchanges. In
our pursuit Of markets We must give
rs well as receive. We cannot sell
to others who do not produce, nor
can we buy unless we produce at
home. Sensible of every obligation
of humanity, cou1rerce and finance,
linked as they are in the present
world condition, it is not to be
argued that we need destroy our
selves to be helpful to others. With
all my heart l wish restoration to the
peoples bligated by the awful world
war, but the process of restoration
does not lie in our acceptance of like
conditions. 1t were better to remain
on firm ground, strive for ample en-
ployment and high standards of
wage at home, and point the way to
balanced budgets. rigid economies,
and resolute, efficient work as the
necessary remedies to cure disaster
'Flexibleo Policy Recommended.
Everything relating to trade,
among ourselves and among ma
dons, has been expanded, ex-
cessive, inflated, abnormal, and
there Is a madness in finance
which no American policy alone
will cure. We are a creditor ma
tion, not by normal processes, but
made so by war. 1t Is not an
unworthy selfishness to seek to
save ourselves when the processes
of that salvation are not only not
denied to others but commended
to them. We seek to undermine
for others no industry by which
they subsist; we are obligated to
permit the undermining of mono
of our own which make for en-
ployment and maintained activt-
ties.
Every contemplation, it little
matters in which direction one
turns. magnifies the difficulty of
tariff legislation, but the necessity
of the revision is magnified with
it. Doubtless we are justified In
seeking a more flexible policy
than we have provided heretofore.
make for 1exibility and elasticity,
so that rates may be adjusted to
meet unusual and changing con-
ditions which cannot be accurate
ly anticipated. There are prob
lens Incident to unfair practices,
and to exchanges which madness
In money have made almost un-
solvable. l know Of no manner
in which to effect this nexibility
other than the extension of the
powers Of the Tariff Commission,
40 that 1t can adapt itself to a
scientific and wholly just admin
istration Of the law.
am not unmlndful of the consti-
tutional difficulties. These can be