Evening star., 1934-03-11
BY WILLIAM HARD.

r HAPPILY calculate that there is
going to be plenty of comedy in
the course of the Development of
L the Presidents new tariff policy,
and nobody will laugh at it all
more heartily than the President HIM
self
He will have a grand time explain
ing why it is that he now enthusi-
astiCally advocates proposition which
during his campaign for the presi-
dency he enthusiastically and ardently
opposed, The fact is that he was
then taking the stock standard
progressive" position against eXecu-
tive "autocracy" i'll the fixing of tariff
duties. Now he is taking the con
servatiye,' or Tory" position so long
and so brilliantly preached and prac-
ticed in international trade by that
hTOry, the British minister OF
agriculture, Walter Elliot.
Believe in Manipulation.
For quite a while now Mr.. Elliot,
IN the course Of his almost irresistible
progress toward becoming the next
Conservative British prime minister
has been negotiating reciprocal trade
treaties" which he puts into instant
operation without allowing the House
Of Commons to do much more about
1t than to utter a few subdued Hear
hears" The economic philosophy of
virtually all Of the bright young
bloOdS in the British Conservative
party is totally in that sort Of di-
rectlOn. The Young Tories" of Brit
ain all believe in a strong national
governmental leadership of industry
and in strong, swift executive
manipulation Of tariff duties and Of
all other arrangements having to do
with exports and imports.
This glorifcation of governmental
economic executive power is 'reac-
ton over there and the new deal"
over here. The name makes no diff
ference. The important point is the
thing itself, and the thing itself, un-
der whatever name. is worldwide
and apparently inescapab!e at the
moment One by one the nations of
the world plunge into the waters of
1t and start swimming in a competi-
tive cOmbatiVe trado-ueaty tank.
which is now so full of struggling
swimmers that it is getting rcugher
than water polo,
Two Reasons for Opposition.
Naturally the American progress
siyeS' and liberals hated the very
thought Of it because, in their view
it involved two extremely horrid
things. One was international eco
nomic warfare The other was eXceS-
slve arbitrary presidential authority
which, of course, every devoted friend
Of liberty would resist.
Senator Pat Harrison of Mississippi
was one of the most fearless of those
friends. That is, he was absolutely
fearless in resisting all approaches by
President Hoover to the executive
tariff authority now sought by Presl-
dent Roosevelt. He made a tremendous
speech about it in the Senate on
May %, 1880, when the last tarIH
bill was about to be passed with a
provision in it allowing President
Hoover TO move tariff duties so per
cent up or so per cent down after
inquiries and reports by the Tarih
Commission.
proposition and the present Roosevelt
proposition is simply this:
Hoover, not having grasped the no.
tion that the people wanted leader
ship" proposed to act only after there
had been public hearings and public
recommendations by the Tariff Com
mission members and experts. Thus
the electorate, through reading the
data provided by the Tariff Commls-
sion, could sometimes think that they
saw that the President was making
a mistake. The Roosevelt proposition
avoids that danger. 1t empowers the
President to raise and lower tariff
duties without the publication Of any
supporting data from any source.
Harrison About Faces.
This must be peculiarly abhorrent
to Senator Harrison, who is now
chairman of the Senate's Finance
Committee, which has charge of tariff
legislation. Senator Harrison, on
May 90, 1880. was appalled, by Presl-
dent HOOverS thirst for tyrannlcal
prerogatives. He said that President
Hoover was engaged in "usurplng the
undeniable constitutional rights OF the
plain American citizen and in de
molishing the traditions Of our Gov
ernment." He exclaimed:
mo doubt President Hoover is
happy today! No wonder we read in
the papers that he is going to make
a weekend trip into Pennsylvania.
His heart is light He is joyous now.
He was hungry for more authority.
He will have it now under this fleX-
ible tariff provision.
Some people thought that Senator
Harrison, being a Democratic SEN
ator engaged in talking about Re
publican President. was playing pol
itics. That was an absurd suspicion,
Senator Harrison was announcing his
undertaking attachment to an i'm
mortal principle irrespective of lapse
Of time or of changes of political cir
cumstances. He specifically said:
1T is all wrong that such an op-
portunity as resides in this flexible
tariff provision should be afforded to
any President of the United States.
That statement applies, of course, to
a Democratic President"
Will Get Good Laugh.
Senator Harrison and President
Roosevelt will have good time to-
gether now over that remark. The
President will read it to the Senator,
and then the Senator will regale the
President by reading to him charm
ing extract from a speech made by
the Democratic candidate for the
presidency on July 30, 1882. In that
speech the Democratic candidate dis
cussed tariff duty fixing and said:
ut is a difficult and highly technl-
cal matter to determine costs of pro-
duction abroad and at home. A COM
mission of experts can be trusted to
find such facts. Then the facts should
be left to speak for themselves. Tree
from presidential interference
That doctrine was then the doc
trine of ali true-blue or true-red
"progressives' and of all loyal jeff
ersonian libertarian Democrats.
roll call had been taken on it in the