Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-04
C. Of c. TO CONSIDER
|. FIVE EXTRA TOPICS
Russian Situation to Be
Aired at International
Session Here.
BY CONSTANTINE BROWN.


and silver, will transcend the ofacial
agenda Of the Sixth Congress Of the
International Chamber Of Commerce
which opened here today.
Listed for discussion on the agenda
are economic relations between the
United States and Europe, the agri-
cultural crisis, the movement towards
European economic union, the silver
problem and its effects in the Far East
economic crises and recovery from de-
preston and other such topics.
But there are five really important
matters not on the agenda, and which
will demand most attention from the
delegates. These are:
l. The Russian question.
2. Preparations.
3. The most favored nation clause.
4. Gold.
5. The silver question from its.politi-
cal angle.
Exhaustive Discussion Likely.
The Russian problem will be aired
from all its aspects. 1t is expected that
the delegates will hold the most ex-
haustive discussion, from the business
mans point of view, that has ever taken
place. Every side of the Soviet economic
situation will be scrutiniZed, especially
the question of dumping. So far the
various governments have had great
difficulty defining dumping" for prod
uctS coming from Russia. Dumping,
according to international law, means
selling products abroad under the cost
price.
What is the cost price as far as Rus
sia is concerned? ask most business
people. Labor is generally not paid,
transportation involves almost no cost
for the Soviet government, which is ex-
porting its products, and there are no
charges for storage within the country.
Consequently, the cost price, as far as
the Soviet government Is concerned, be-
gins to count only from the moment
the products reach the border. All
these matters will be discussed in great
detail, and it is hoped that a resolution
will be passed here and adopted by most
governments to form the basis of per-
tinent legislation.
Preparations German Issue.
The German delegates are expected
to raise the reparation question. Their
theory Is that the reparationS Germany
has to pay must be revised downward
in accordance with the decline of
prices which has occurred in most
countries in Europe since adoption of
the Young plan.
The Austrian and Norwegian dele
gates are expected to raise the queS-
ton Of the most favored nations clause,
which they consider as a serious handi-
cap to international trade. The most
favored nation clause means that the
country which decides to reduce the
export duty on g. certain type of prod
ucts to another country must give a
similar treatment to a nation with
which 1t has signed a treaty OF COM
merce containing this clause.
The faults of this system have been
exemplhed in the present AuStro-Ger-
man tariff union, the American Gov
eminent claiming the right to export
all its manufactured products to Ger
many on the same basis as the Aus
trians-that is to say, duty free-while
the German products have to pay. the
minimum tariff imposed on all goods
entering the United States. This is
obviously a fallacy and the members
Of the International Chamber of Com
merce want the governments to devise
a plan TO substitute this antiquated
system Of tariff relations.
Regional Agreements idea.
It is suggested that the clause should
be replaced by some kind of regional
agreements covering certain types of
goods only. In other words, If France
agrees to accept Danish agricultural
products duty free, and Holland agrees
to accept French silks on the same
terms, the United States should not be
able to claim the right to send agricul-
tural and silk products into Holland
and France on the same basis without
granting q reciprocity to both these
countries
According to some Of the leading ex-
YlpFfG JOTfA ie
due mainly to the fact that most Of the
worlds gold has been concentrated in
the last few years In France and in the
United States. They maintain that
the situation cannot be solved without
f1rSt finding some way of redistributing
the gold throughout the world by means
OF important credits, or possibly reduc-
ton or cancellation of debts. Since
President Hoover has made it clear that
the policy of the present administration
Is not to discuss the debt question, the
economists gathered in Washington will
discuss the question Of gold credits to
help those countries which need them
most.
Silver Political Aspect.
The silver question, which is likely
to be brought up by the Chinese dele
gates, will be debated mostly from the
political aspect. Most economists main
tain that silver is no longer a precious
metal, but has become lately a COM
modify, like cotton or copper. But here
Is q way Of preventing the further de-
probation Of that metal If Great Brit
ain can be induced to stop dumping
silver, as she has done during the last
10 months
These matters affect closely the well
fare OF the world, and 1t is hoped that
the delegates will be able to reach some
definite decision that will help to al
leviate the present world crisis. Al
though resolutions passed at this con-
gress are not binding on the respective
governments, they are important, in
that. being opinions entertained in
leading economic and financial circles
of various countries, they represent a
situation in fact, which no government
can ignore.
(Copyrlght, 1879
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