Evening star., 1933-04-10
A Change in Tariff Policy.

by President Roosevelt to heads OF
eleven foreign governments to confer
with him regarding the World Eco
nomic Conference, Secretary Hull has
simultaneously proclaimed a funda-
mental change in the American point
of view toward international trade.
The Roosevelt administration, the Sec
retary of State declares, is prepared
to turn away from the economic ma
tionalism" of the past twelve years.
The present regime at Washington Is
ready to meet other nations on plane
required by what it considers new
age. Corresponding proposals will be
submitted by the United States during
the e-conference conversations with
European, North American, Asiatic and
South American statesmen at the White
House, beginning with the arrival Of
Prime Minister Macdonald later this
month.
What is thus foreshadowed is nothing
less than abandonment of the uncom-
promisingly high protective tariff sys-
tenn which has walled this country be-
hind ramparts found impossible Of
scaling by the other trading countries
of the world. The mere decision to in
vite consideration of tariffs at the
London conference marks a wide de-
parture from the attitude Of the Hoo
yer administration when it accepted an
invitation to participate. Then the
United States expressed willingness to
join in the conference only If tariffs
were excluded from its agenda. Now,
the inclusion of tariffs is made vir-
tually the primary reason for our tax
ing part at all.
The new decision is sound one. To
say that is not to accept the view that
the protective system has outlived its
usefulness for the United States and
can safely be scrapped for outright free
trade No one, not even Democrats Of
the Hull fiscal school, advocates that.
The desire of the American Govern
ment to make tariffs the basis Of dis
cussion at London is based on the no
torious fact that the world today is en-
tangled in an almost inextricable mesh
of rival tariff systems which are mainly,
If not entirely, responsible for tmped-
ing the natural flow of commodities
among the producing peoples Of the
earth. Until these artificial barriers
are drastically minimized, If not de-
stroyed, economic restoration on
worldwide scale is impossible.
Secretary Hull is within the simple
truth when he says that the United
States has been lone of the leaders in
economic nationalism in recent years."
A low-tariff Democrat like himself can
be pardoned, under the circumstances,
for thus thrusting at such legislative
products as the Fordney- -McCumber and
Hawley-Smoot acts, for the State De-
partment, over which the Tennessee
statesman now presides, is crammed
with international protests against the
inequities which our overseas friends
allege Uncle Sam has Systematically
imposed upon them. The burden of
their plants is that the United States
can hardly expect them to pay what
they owe over here If our tariff laws
make it increasingly difficult for them
to pay, in part at least. in goods sold
In the American market.
The Chamber Of Commerce Of the
United States today makes timely
contribution to the discussion. The ma
tional business body, bipartisan and
non-partisan on all occasions, pleads
for the elimination Of tariffs from poll
tics. 1t recommends changes in the
American position looking to reason
able protection" for our industries. This
can be assured, the chamber points
out, through adequate provisions for
meeting unfair competition, such as
dumping, convict labor and deprecated
expert adjustment Of customs rates such
as would tend to remove tariffs from
the plane Of purely political consid-
erations."
That program will strike most Amer
leans as an up-to-date conception Of
the tariff. 1t rests on the theory that
in universe Of closely interlocking in
terests no nation nowadays can expect
to enjoy the self-contained life Of a
hermit Nor can any nation hope to
monopolize the benefits Of commercial
intercourse. To live and prosper under
modern conditions, a nation must give
as well as take. That. evidently, is to
be the keynote of American policy for