Evening star., 1936-03-11
BY BLAIR MOODY.
-HE world, shaken by the suffer-
ing of jobless millions and the
thunder of armies on the move,
Il has but one alternative to the

-HE world, shaken by the suffer.
ing of jobless millions and the
thunder of armies on the move,
Il has but one alternative to the
Impending tragedy Of general war:
A restoration of natural trade among
nations.
That is the belief of Cordell Hull,
the tall, gray, practical idealist, who, as
President RooSevelt's Secretary Of
State, directs the policies of America
in the courts of international amity;
who has proposed and is seeking to
carry out the most ambitious program
for international peace and prosperity
Of his generation.
When Hull came up to the House Of
Representatives from Tennessee some
80 years ago, he began at once to
fight among the high protectionists
rampant on Capitol Hill for a sane
exchange of goods in a friendly world
He carried this ideal through his ca
reer in the Senate and now, as rank
ing member of the cabinet. he Is put
ting these ideas into effect-and
making a life dream come true.
AS father of the United States pro-
gram Of lowering trade barriers
through reciprocal treaties, Secretary
Hull firmly believes that great deal
more hangs on its success than mere
business profits, though those promise
to be great; more, even, than the mill
lions of jobs he hopes rising exports
and imports will open for the un-
employed of this country.
Bacon or Bayonets.
There will be jobs for men in the
fields and factories-or in the armies, -
Mr.. Hull says.
It's clear alternative: Bacon or
bayonets; business or bullets.
Secretary Hull defines his reciprocal
trade program as the removal Of
artificial trade barriers so that each
country can continue producing sur
pluses both in raw and finished ma
terials, which it produces best, and sell
them to some other country for a
product produced there much more
cheaply or efficiently. In other words
"a mutually profitable exchange of
goods.
Demolition of artificial trade bar
riers which cut the international flow
Of goods and money by IS per cent,
Hull declares, "offers the one solid
foundation on which to rebuild the
processes of peace"
Restoration of normal international
economic relations is the one Way the
present unemployment problem can be
solved, not only in this country, but
IN other countries" the Secretary
continued.
1T will mean employment for twelve
to fourteen million men In Great
Britain, Germany, Italy and this
country. 1t will put these men to
work making and selling things that
can be used to increase the worlds
happiness-and take them from the
business OF war, which can only in
crease its suffering
Trouble Goal of Isolation.
''For several years, the important
nations have been following the hal
lucination of economic nationalism,
seeking to avoid contacts, stunning
each other to the point of boycotts.
They have tried everything in the way
OF isolation and aloofness and arbi-
trsry, artificial practice in commerce
that could be devised and have found
that all lead in the same direction
toward trouble.
"The things that make war are in
adequate living standards, breeding
political discomfort; and inability to
obtain the raw materials needed to.
sustain national economy, breeding
conquest.
IF the undertakings of the millions
of men now functioning as soldiers
abroad today can be turned into the
path of peaceful, industrial produc-
tion, then and only then can armies
begin to disband.
To-day we find some European ma
tionS, militarEtically powerful, suffo-
eating for law materials and foods.
while the British Empire and the
United States normally have such sur
pluseS OF both that the domestic price
structure is threatened unless artificial
price-pegging devices of various kinds
are resorted to.
I'VE find those suffocated nations
crying for colonies, not because they
want to colonize them, but because
they must find some path to the raw
materials they need to sustain growing
nations
Fair Exchange Held Cure.
THE way to end the cry for colonies
is to give these nations what they
must have without making them
fight for it-not as a donation, but in
a fair exchange-the products they
want for the products they have to
sell.
THE one thing that can better
living conditions on all sides of all
borders Is quickened exchange of
goods, better markets for the products
of labor, and fair retail prices that
will enable workmen really to live on
their wages.
There is no nation, and particu-
aarly not the nations now threatening
the peace, who can achieve that state
while hobbled by maze Of false trade
barriers. They are not self-sufficient
and never can be. BY following the
path Of trade restriction, they may pull
down their own economic structure
about their ears-and the structures
Of neighboring nations. The last ex-
perience should be sufficient lesson to
establish that war does not pay.
But blind nationalism, knowing It
Is not now satisfied and must do
something to improve the status of its
people. takes the suicidal path of war
because It sees no way out.
The trade policy of this Govern