Evening star., 1932-09-30

| 2.400 900 families, while its increase in
| the last seven years has interpreted
itself into livelihood for 100000 addi-
t;onal families in the United States"
| Confronted by the difficult question
as to how foreign nations would pay
their debts to us, and pay also for the
increasing surplus he proposed to sell
to them. when by almost prohibitive
| tariffs he would interfere with world
! commerce in goods. he ventured the
astounding suggestion that We should
finance our exports by loans to back
ward and crippled countries" and cou-
pied with that the statement that high
! tariffs would not interfere with the re-
payment of such loans
i OstenSibly for the purpose OF enact
ing legislation for the relief of agricul-
| ture, Congress was, pursuant to the In
sistence Of Senator Borah, called in
special session. The disastrous fruit Of
that session was the notorious and in
defensible GrundySmoot-H -Hawley tar
if. The net result was barbed-wire
ENHANCEMENT against our economic
| contact with the world at large.
AS to the much -heralded purpose Of
that special session for the relief of
| agriculture, the result was a CHASTITY
Jest. The principal cash crops Of our
| farms are produced much in excess Of
our domestic requirements. We know,
Of course, that no tariff on surplus
crop, no matter how high the wall has
| the slightest effect to raise the domestic
price of that crop. The producers OF
all these crops are as effectively thrust
outside the protection of our tariff
walls as If there were no tariff at all.
But we still know that the tariff does
protect the price Of industrial products
! L rfa nc
} the farmer with increasing bitterness
! free-trade basis; he buys In protected
market The higher industrial tariffs
go, the greater is the farmers burden.
The first effect of the Grundy tariff
was to increase or sustain the cost Of
| all that agriculture buys, but the harm
to our whole farm population did not
stop there.
Farmer Hit Both Ways.
Under recent world conditions the
Grundy tariff. by gradually impairing
the export markets for our farm surplus,
has resulted in tremendous decrease
in the price of all the farmer sells. The
| results of both of these forces have
practically cut in half the pre-war pur-
chasing power of American agriculture.
The things the farmer buys. as point
ed out in my Topeka speech. now cost
! 8 per cent above pre-war prices: the
/ things that the farmer sells. 43 per
! per cent below pre-war prices. The
| fact is that the farmer is hit both ways
| in consequence of the tariff. 1t in
creases the price CT what he buys, and
by restricting his foreign market that
controls the price Of his products, re-
duces his returns from what he sells.
The destructive effect of the Grundy
/ tariff On export markets has not been
! confined to agriculture. 1t has ruined
| our export trade in industrial products
as well. Industry. with its foreign ira de
| cut off. naturally began to look to the
! home market-a market supplied for
! the greater part by farm families. But
! for reasons have just explained. when
| industry turned its eye to the American
market, it found that the Grundy tariff
had reduced the buying power OF the
farmer
Deprived Of any American market,
the other industrial nations, in order
to support their own industries and
take care of their oTn employment
problem. had to find new outlets. In
this quest they took to trade agree
ments with other countries than our
selves and also to the preservation Of
portations bv trade restrictions OF all
kinds. An almost frantic movement to-
ward self contained nationalism began.
The direct result was series OF retalla-
tory and defensive measures in the
shape of tariffs, embargoeS. import
quotas and international arrangements.
Almost Immediately international COM
merce began to languish, and especially
the export markets for our industrial
and agricultural surpiuses began to dis
appear. The Grundy bill was passed in
June. 1890 In that month our exports
were 294.000,000 and our imports $3.50
600 900. In an almost uninterrupted
decline. this foreign trade has dropped
away so that two years later. in June
| Of this year, our exports were Sllo,-
900 900 and our imports s78.0oO,0Oo.
These facts speak for themselves.
Program Of Retaliation.
In the year 1929, year before the
enactment of the Gruady tariff, We ex-
ported 548 per cent of all the cotton
/ produced in the United States, more
than one-half This means. h1r. Cot
ton Grower, that in 1929 every other
row of cotton you grew was sold abroad
And you the grower of wheat. YOU ex-
ported l79 per cent Of your wheat. but
your great foreign market was largely
sacrificed and SO with the grower ol
rye. who was able to dispose OF 209
per cent of his crop to foreign mar
kets: the grower of leaf tobacco had
stake of 4l.2 per cent of his income
overseas. One third of the lard pro-
duction in this country was exported IN
that year This concerns the corn
grower. You know. if others do not
| that corn is exported in the form OF
lard.
How were your interests taken care
of? Oh, they gave you a tariff on corn
chicken feed, literally and figura-
lively. These figures show how vltally
you are interested in the preservation
of our export trade.
The ink on the Hawley-Smoot-
Grundy bill was not dry before foreign
nations commenced their program OF
retaliation. Brick for brick they built
their walls against us. They learned
the lesson from us. The vil,any you
teach me I shall practice"
The administration had reason to
know that this would happen. 1t was
warned. While the HaWley-Smoot bill
was before Congress. our State Depart
msnt received 160 protests from 33 ma
tions. many of whom after the passage
of the bill erected their own tariff walls
to the detrinent or destruction OF much
of our export trade.
What is the result? In two years,
from 1880 to May. 1892, American man
ufacturers have established in foreign
countries. to escape the penalty on the
! introduction Of American n-made goods,
258 factories: 43 in Europe. II in Latin
America, % in the Far East and II In
Canada. Every week of 1882 has seen
| fo optn l.
ada. Premier Bennett is reported to
have said in a recent speech that a
factory is moving every day of the year
from the United States into Canada,
and he assured those at the recent
conferences at Ottawa that by the ar
rangements made there Great Britain
and her colonies would take from Can
ada s25o,OOO,OCO of trade which would
otherwise 60 to the United States. This
you see, put more men on the street
here who had been employed In the
-