Evening star., 1932-02-09
EverybOdy's
Business
Lively Tariff Debate Ant,;c;-
bated When New Men,
bers of Board Come ub
for Senate Confirmation.
BY DIR. MAX WINKLER.

NEW YORK, February (NANA).
When the names of Robert Lincoln
OBrien and Ira NJ. Ornburn later this
week come up in the United States
Senate for confirmation as chairman
and member of the Tariff Commission,
respectively, lively tariff debate
doubtless will ensue One is likely to
hear a good deal about the Democratic
amendment to the tariff act of 1880,
now on the Senate calendar. calling
upon the President to inaugurate In
ternational conferences looking toward
reciprocal trade agreements through
mutual tariff concessions.
Although passage of the amendment
by the Senate is reasonably assured,
the presidential veto equally may be
regarded as q foregone conclusion. In
other words. good deal will be said,
but little or nothing will be done about it.
Regardless of ones personal views on
this problem, it Is manifest that tariff
changes prompted by political consid-
erations, but which are not justified
from the viewpoint of sound economics,
are invariably fraught with danger 1t
is perhaps worth bearing in mind that
while protection employed with mod
Grafton may prove beneficial, extreme
protective measures have rarely, If ever,
helped solve grave economic problems.
Nor do they appear wholly or largely
to have been responsible for the marked
industrial expansion of nations. Is it
not true that the reduction of duties,
effected by Germany in 1892, conceded
with the beginning OF Germany's in
dustrieS assuming greater prominence
than before, and is it not equally true
that Frances industrial expansion did
not progress in proportion to the pro-
tective measures which she had adopted
for that very purpose? Is not the
United States subject to the same
economic laws?
Americas position Is even more seri-
ously aggravated by the fact that she
is today the worlds most powerful
creditor nation, with the rest of the
world owing her, as of January /, 1882,
close to $4,000, 600, 900, exclusive of So
called political obligations of foreign
governments held by the United States
Treasury. Those among American in
vestors who not merely purchase foreign
loans, but go SO far as to read loan con-
tracts. will find invariably clause to
the effect that principal and interest
are payable in United States cold coin
OF the present weight and fineness
Subsequent to the granting of the loan,
most of, the gold held by the debtor,
but does nothing about changing the
provisions of the loan contract. The
borrower simply must discharge his OBJ
legations through medium which he
does not possess. A very curious situ-
alton indeed
One Of the most interesting examples
Is afforded by Americas next-door
nelghbOr. the Republic of Cuba. Her
stake exceeds American investments in
any other Latin American republic. At
the beginning of the current year,
United States investments in Cuba
were estimated at $1,227,615,000, of
which over a billion is represented by
so-called direct investments-that is,
plants and properties in Cuba owned
by American interests. The bulk of
this amount is invested in sugar,
Cuba's principal product.
The Hawley-Smoot tariff bill i'm
posed q duty on sugar amounting to
more than 200 per cent on the present
price Of the commodity-a rate difficult