Evening star., 1934-07-01
BALANCED FOREIGN TRADE
SEEN WAY TO PROSPERITY
United States Must Pursue Policy of
Self-Containment, Says Gerard, Buy
ing Abroad Only With Surpluses.

But there is little point in leaving
American farm prices subject to world
price fluctuations.
A simple plan for helping the
farmer is suggested by Samuel Crow
ther in his recent book, America
Self contained:
Make the import of all agricul-
tural commodities (wheat, cotton,
etc) that come into competition with
our own products discretionary with
the Secretary of Agriculture, the dis
cretion being given so that, in the
case of a crop failure, the consuming
public would not suffer. The Secre-
tary would, for each commodity, then
set a domestic quota.
For instance, if the records showed
that 80 per cent OF a crop were
consumed at home and 20 per cent
exported. the Secretary would set that
quota before planting season. Then
he would Ak minimum price for
domestic sales Of that commodity
this price being roughly the world
price plus the tariff The export sur
plus would go out at world prices
and would not be of great conse-
quence, for, If the American farmer
could get the benefit Of the tariff
for his domestic sales. he would not
have to bother about the price the
surplus brought. 1t would be velvet"
BY assuring the farmer fair prices
for the bulk of his produce in the
greatest market in the world-the
United States-self- -containment can
reduce his reliance on exports, which
are bound to dwindle anyway, due to
the growing self-suficiency of other
nations.
Must Balance Trade.
1t Is by no means desired to abolish
foreign trade completely. But 1t is
imperative that all foreign trans
actions be placed on a strict book
keeping basis. We must not dupli-
cate our disastrous experience of
fostering fiourishing foreign trade
by lending money that may never be
repaid. We must balance our i'm
ports with exports, buying what We
cannot grow or produce ourselves and
paying with our surpluses.
Let us see what will happen If we
refuse to recognize the necessity for
self -containment and again foster a
large export trade. For every dollars
worth of goods We export, We must
accept one dollar in imports. But
this means that If We are to regain
our export trade We must accept at
least one billion more dollars an
nually in imports than We do now.
Il lie l.;
havoc upon our people and our ma
tional economy?
A large export trade will throw
open to the products of cheaper
foreign labor, our home markets,
which now consume almost 90 per
cent OF the production of our more
highly paid workers. There can be
but two results. We either lose our
home markets or ruthlessly slash the
wages of American workmen in at
tempting to meet such competition.
Either case spells ruin.
Such policy will force US to de-
stroy some of our major industries
If these extra imports are mostly in
manufactured goods, the blow dealt
industry will strike back at agricul-
ture. And if these extra imports are
in foodstuffs it is needless to mention
the effects they will have on our
farmers and, in turn, on industry.
Approves Roosevelt Power.
Our foreign trade must be put on
sound bookkeeping baSis-a fair
return for a fair product basis. 1t is
wise, therefore, to concur In the
action of Congress in granting the
President authority to deal with other
nations and to effect an exchange of
commodities by means of changes in
the tariff. For with the high tariffs
and embargoes imposed by other
countries today, the situation is such
that only through this policy can We
sensibly extend our foreign trade.
We must recognize that there must
be a continual balance between farm
and factory. for they rise and fall
hand in hand and, with them, the
whole Nation. This balance Is what
must be considered in choosing an
economic policy for America. Only
through elf-containment can we OBJ
tain it. And the only way to main
tain the balance in the interest Of
national security and prosperity Is
through a policy of economic inde-
pendence.
(Copyright. 1894, by the North American
Newspaper Alliance. 1nc)