Evening star., 1933-05-22
The Political Mill
By C.. Could lincoln.

President Roosevelt and SecretGry
Hull of the Department Of State have
laid great stress upon the value to the
world and to the United States which
| may accrue at the coming London
Monetary and Economic Conference.
| The radio address of the Assistant Sec
| retary of Stats, Raymond Eo!ey. on
Saturday night. W which Ae paZned
the country thst 1t must not expec.
the London conference TO cure oil tha
Ills of the world, comes as q surprise.
| to say the least. Mr.. Moley may have
had In mind building up cushion on
which the administration could fall
back In the event that no great ac-
complishments flow from this London
conference Indeed, unless the Assist
ant Secretary Of State is entirely out
OF line with Secretary Hull on this
subject, that seems to be the only ex-
planation for this radio address. Mr..
Hull has emphasized from the time he
went into Office as head OF the State
Department the need Of breaking down
intsrna tional trade barriers and Thereby
permitting the freer flow OF commerce
as q major step toward world recovery.
The removal of these trade barriers he
has insisted, Is sine qua non.
X x
Now Mr.. Moley comes forward with
! the assertion that the domestic policy
OF the United States is of paramount
importance to the people OF this coun-
try And. further he advances the sug-
gestiou that the failure OF interna-
tional conferences arises from two mis-
takes, the first Of which Is that tine
general public Is led to expect too much
from such international action, aud the
second is that the participants in ths
conference. through enthusiasm, bits
Off more than they chew. These warn
| ings may BE- timely, but at time when
the London conference Is about to get
under way. lot Of people are going
to wonder just why the Assistant Secre-
tary Of State aired these views. 1t Is
possible that Mr. Moley did not intend
to have. his address interpreted as
throwing cold water on this projected
conference. into which the President
and Mr. Hull have thrown themselves
with 50 much enthusiasm.
\ X X
President Roosevelt apparently Is 60
ing along with Mr.. Hull to the utmost
in the matter of bringing world trade
back to the fore. Democratic leaders
expect to receive from the President
within the week a special message ask
| ing for powers to enter into reciprocal
agreements with other nations looking
to lowering of tariffs or removing tariff
barriers Undoubtedly the inter1ection
+, of this question into Congress is likely
to stir up the tariff question. 1t prob
ably will lead to some political debate.
The tariff has been essentially po-
litical question, with the Republican
party taking one side and the Demo-
cratic party the other, despite the fact
| that more and more Democrats have
in recent years leaped on the protective
tariff wagon.
! Mr.. Moley In his address Saturday
took SHIT at the Republican campaign
talk to the effect that the depression
in this country is part OF world de-
preston. He said in this connection:
TT is Overwhelmingly clear that a
good part Of the ills of each country
is domestic. The action Of an inter-
national conference which attempted
to bring about cures for these DIM
culties solely by concerted international
measures would necessarily END IN
failure In large part the cures 1or
our difficulties lie within ourselves.
order and a meeting of representatives
! OF all of the nations Is useful In large
part only to coordinate in some
measure these national activities. Be-
yond this there are relatively few reme-
| dies which might be called international
remedies"
While it Is true that Mr.. Moley said
that some good may flow from this Lon
don conference, the note Of pessimism
in his speech seems rather remarkable.
MIR. Moley SO far has not been desla-
mated as delegate to the London con-
ference, although his chief, Secretary
Hull, is to head the delegation. In some
quarters it is reported that Mr.. Molsy
does not, he will be In Washington. and
in a position to interpret. perhaps. the
happenings Of the conference as 1t
proceeds.
The new administration public works
and industries bill which Is soon to be
reported by the Ways and Means Com
mittee of the House for action IN that
body, has been considered more recently
from the point of view of the new taxes
which the President insists must be
levied to finance the public works pro-
gram. AS a matter of fact, the tax
features of the bill are probably the
least important, although they will be
felt by the people once they are i'm
posed George H. Hull, jr., Of New
York. an economist who has given much
study to the problem Of economic re-
covery in this country, appeared Satur-
day before the Ways and Means Com
mittee and was permitted to place IN
the record of the hearings statement
In which he attacked with vigor the
proposals contained In the administra-
ton bill. Mr. Hull's whole theory Is
that the production Of goods IN this
country should be increased, not cur
tailed, and that there should be mass
distribution and mass consumption, as
we'll as mass production. He CONTENDS
that 1t is stupid to curtail production IN
the hope of bringing back better times.
He has a plan of his own for the dis
tribution of products through a system
Of production warrants" distributed to
the workers and to holders Of stock In
corporations.
Discussing the administration bill in
his statement to the committee, Mr.
Hull said, In part:
The funds are to be devoted prac-
tically in their entirety to public
| works. Construction enterprises OF
| that nature are neither self-liquidat-
ing nor f-supporting nor sef-per-
petuating This means that the Gov
ernment borrows $4,000, 600 900 of the
peoples money through the sale OF
Government bonds and although this
money could be put into enterprises vi
a nature that would be self -liquidating,
self-Supporting and -perpetuating,
thus enabling the Government to pay
off It's bonds and to pay the interest
on its bonds out Of the proceeds of said
construction enterprises, the admins
tration bill deliberately cuts itself OIL
from the opportunity of investing all
or any substantial part of this money
in such productive self-supporting en-
terpriseS.
Public works construction does not
raise the living standards of the people.
Slum clearance and the rebuilding OF
dilapidated quarters into modern, sani-