Evening star., 1933-07-27
The Political Mill
BY G. Gould Lincoln.

Tne operation OF the industrial re.
covery plan, with It's increased wages
and shorter hours Of labor, means
necessarily increases In costs of pro-
duction. II the plan becomes fully e.
fectve. the Republican tariff rates ct
which the Democrats scofYed during
the year 1882 may be found to be too
creased costs Of production In this
country, goods made In European and
other foreign nations might easily pay
the tari6 duties and come into the
United States and undersen the Amer
tcan-made articles. This Is something
that the administration Is watching
carefully. It Is also something that
the free traders and low tarih sdvo-
Gates Will have to sit up nights worry
ing about.
The recovery plan for the United
States. as 1t u now working out, looks
to big drive on the part Of Uncle Sam
to pull himself out Of the depression
perhaps alone and unassisted. There Is
no desire to prevent other nations from
following the example set here Indeed,
the administration would be well pleased
to see wages and hours of labor An
creased and shortened, respectively, In
other countries. But the apparent In
tention here now Is to get the United
States up on its feet, with industry
humming and employment on q large
scale, no matter what may happen else
where. II that Is the case, then the
Government must frst of all protect
the American market against foreign
It may not seem like the old Democratic
party, but lot Of the things which are
being done under the new deal" and in
its name have little to do with the old
policies Of the Democratic party. But
that is no reason why they should not
prove successful or why they should not
be put through.
There is not the slightest use estab-
fishing codes Of fair competition, with
higher wages and shorter hours of
work, for industries In this country If
similar industries in foreign countries
are to be allowed to take aYsy the
American market from the American
producers. It looks as though the
Democratic administration was getting
into q position where it would have to
support as strongly Is any Republican
administration the principle Of the pro-
that its Secretary Of State, Cordell Hull,
Is striving to bring about lowering of
the trade barriers the world over. It
looks more and more as though the
Democrats who believe In reducing the
tariffs will have to come to some under
standing with the Democrats who real
ize that under the industrial recovery
act 1t can't be done. Gen Hugh 8.
johnson, administrator Of the recovery
act. says fatty that the tariff situation
Is being watched carefully.
The London Conference on Economic
and Monetary Problems Is adjourning,
or recessing, today. This conference,
which few short months ago was de-
clared to be the hope of the world. has
failed to achieve greatly. There Is talk
about its having been held too early
that had it not convened until August
or even In the Fall. things would have
moved more smoothly. This idea is
advanced on the theory that the United
States had first to work out its own
inf1ationary program and industrial re-
covery plan before it could join with
the other nations successfully in agree
ments to stabilize the dollar, the pound,
the franc, etc. International confer
ences have in a measure lost favor in
the United States. The present failure
to get to agreements is regarded by
some Americans Is q success. To put
it badly, they feared that II agree
ments were made, the United States
would get the short end of the stick
The determination of President Roose-
welt not to yield to the foreign govern
ments in their demands for immediate
stabilization Of the dollar Is far more
applauded than condemned.
Never did an international conference
get mo-es glowing advance notices. It
was preceded by visits Of the British
prime minister to Washington, and Of
the representatives of many other gov
ernments. At these conversations the
q general way 1t appeared that the
Forces have been moving fast In the
last couple of months, however, par
ticularly in the United States. But
even II major agreements have not
been brought about in London, there
has been a discussion Of the problems
of International trade and exchange
that should bear fruit and give all the
nations a better understanding Of these
problems. The American delegation is
coming home certainly without having
lost anything to the United States. The
difficulty has been in the past inter-
national conferences that the Americans
have been the people who were ex-
pected to give up something. While
it may be admitted that success should
be attained at international confer
ences through mutual concessions by
the nations, it is equally true that one
nation should not be expected con
tinually to play the part Of Santa
Hlo1yQ fn the rAcf Nf fI1n uor1d Ay1erico
under the leadership OF President
Roosevelt, Is today bent on repairing
its own fences, building up again its
own industry. Whether 1t can do so
will depend very largely upon Amer
leans themselves.
The contrast between the deluge of
statements handed out from political
headquarters year ago and the pres
ent somnolescence Of the political press
agent is at least indicative of the fact
that partisan politics are temporarily
in abeyance in this country. Scores Of
statements were issued each week last
year from the Democratic and Repub-
lican headquarters here. Now weeks pass
with only an innocuous statement now
and then from one or the other Of these
hotbeds OF political discussion. The
40Se Va Vic AldttCI Id IkldG UOGll olQCS dIC
marking time. The Democrats figure
that President Roosevelt is doing more
for their party at present, with the hold
he has today on the Imagination OF the
American people, than they could pos
stbly do with a lot Of statements and
propaganda. The Republicans, on the
other hand, have come to the wise con-
clusion that this is no time to try to
throw monkey wrenches into the ma
chinery. So they. too, are laying on
the rough stuff: II the Roosevelt pro-
criticism at this time would be utterly
ineffective and would be used against
the Republicans in the future II the
+ E~osevelt program does not succeed,
then the issues of the next campaign,
that for the election of members of
Congress next year, will be readymade
for the @. o. p. anyway.
x X
Politics have been put on the shelf
u