Evening star., 1933-02-12

same time are governed D.
conflicting national regula
tions, loss and friction are inevitable
So many activities are now OF thi
character that the question is natural.
asked whether we must not abollsf
national sovereignty and substitute I
supreme world authority If we are II
preserve good international relations
and peace.
(All industries, for example, which
sell their goods abroad are affected b.
the laws and regulations not only o.
their own country, but those of otherS)
The difference which scientific inven
tion has made in the period of com
munications in the last century is alst
so fundamental that we must not only
know it as a fact; we must use oul
dmaginations to make all that it mean!
real to u.s. When Napoleon wanted II
send a letter from Rome to Paris j
took him as long as it did Julius Caesar
1890 years before.
When Pitt sent instructions from
london to his agent, Wickham, al
Geneva, he had to allow about a fort.
night and wait further fortnight fol
n reply. 1t is the fact that minister
can now go himself in 13 hours BY
train or 6 hours by air, or have full
discussion by telephone without any
loss of time at all, that makes League
Of Nations materially possible today.
Now, this modern ease and rapidity
of communication might, of course, be
expected to correct and compensate fol
local disturbances and miSfortuneS, anc
SO to bring a steadying element into
the life of the world. So it should, and
to some extent it does. If there are
bad harvests in one continent there may
Ia sra
country needs capital for which its own
savings are not enough, it may utilize
those of richer countries. This is true
But it is also true that when there are
grave defects in the general system the
range of the evil consequences is enor-
mously increased. When a wave of
folly seizes any considerable section OF
the worlds population, the effects OF
their folly will be multiplied.
But we must never forget that our
miraculous mechanism of rapid COM
municationS is at the service of wisdom
as well as folly. 1t is at the service
of those who are trying to regulate and
control as well as those whose indi-
vidual activities are creating new prob
1erls for government. I remember going
into the Office of the governor of the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York in
June, 1881, when the great financial
crisis was imminent. The immediate
point of danger was Austria AS en-
tered his room the governor was turn
ing alternately to a telephone on his
right and his left. He said as came
in, 1.-THE position in Vienna is grave. I
am talking to Montagu Norman in Lon
don and the people in Chicago to see
what can be done about it."
Subject to Different Laws.
A large part of industry now pro-
duces for world markets. When indus
try and trade have range that is wider
than national sovereignties they are
subject to different and, it may be, con-
ficting laws. Unless great loss and in
convenience are to be caused some
agreement is necessary among the va
rious lawmaking authorities. This
creates problem of world government.
If this were only matter of co-ordi-
mating the laws against theft and fraud
which constitute the framework within
which all competition takes place, it
would be comparatively simple matter
But governments are not content with
this negative role. They use their pow
er principally by way of the imposition
OF customs duties to give an advantage
w cCiCNSCo 14dt4OAdl llloUSIIl6S. 1IllS
practice causes the clash and conflict
between world trade and national
frontiers
I cannot, of course, touch here on
I the controversial aspects of tariff policy.
Some people consider that a country
loses by pursuing a liberal policy in a
world which, as a whole, is highly pro-
tectionist; others hold the contrary
view. shall now express no opinion.
But II we consider world policy as a
whole, several things may be usefuIIy
said that are not contested or contro-
versial. In the world as a whole the
normal effect of high tariffs is quite
simple. They are like the natural i'm
pediments to transport of mountain
ranges and so on-that is, they dimin-
lsh the extent and increase the cost Of
the interchange of products between
one region and another. Thus there is
a continual race between improvements
In the means of transport which over
come these natural impediments and
trade barriers which put others in their
place.
Tariffs, however, if they are reason
ably stable and uniform. are at least
no worse than natural obstacles. In
dustry and trade can be adjusted to
them. 1t is their instability and un-
certainty that make them not only in
curious but destructive. They are, then,
not like an ordinary mountain range,
but a volcanic range, liable to rise and
subside at any moment-across which,
OF course, no railway could be built.
The first necessity for industrial or
ganization is that the conditions to
which it has to adapt itself should be
reasonably stable. And this requires a
common basis of world commercial
policy
All that have said so far would have
been equally true last century. But
the clash between frontiers and trade
has become much greater in recent
years because of the way in which
modern industry is developing. More
and more the basic industries are find
ing that the most economical produc-
tion requires large-scale organization
But in any but the greatest countries
like the United States Of America, this
organization Is possible only if there
Is secure entry into much larger mar
kets than are comprised within national
frontiers.
This means that if tariffs are not
only high but liable to sudden increase
as tariffs now are. smaller countries
are under hopeless handicap as COM
pared with larger ones. This is tht
principal cause of the greater norma
prosperity of the United States o
America, where theIe is an area O
complete and secure free trade which
comprises 120,000,000 consumers. T,
secure a world economic policy which
gives a reasonably stable foundation TO
world trade is perhaps the most in
tricate and the most difficult task o
world government.
TIL about the fourteenth centur'
mems most passionate loyalties wer
both wider and narrower than the ma
ton. They thought of themselves
? members of the Catholic Church, o.
the one hand, and devoted to a par
ticular city or territorial chief,\o tn
other. Public authority correshQnde'
with these loyalties. The CatSoli
Church was more powerful than na
tional sovereigns. The Duke Of Bur
gundy enjoyed more power and coul