The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1939-01-05

uIllcSS IllSIc IS UIllOUhSu-IOI OppOSlClOIl
in the Forthcoming Congress-has
started to fight the dictator nations
with their own weapons Of govern
|ment-subsidized trade and financial
credits to needy friendly nations.
That, in the view of political ex-
|perts, is the only deduction that can
be made from two remarkable events
which occurred during the week end
ing December 18th.
First, in cautiously worded an
!nouncement, Secretary Morgenthau
said that the Treasury was studying
la plan to use Federal funds to help
finance trade with South America.
Coming on the heels of the Lima con-
ference, in which the American dele
gates tried, with moderate success, to
cement cracked Pan-American re-
lations, the meaning of this is appar-
ent. We have been steadily losing
ground in South America. Germany,
with her blocked-mark barter system,
has been steadily gaining, as has Italy
to a lesser degree. With foreign trade
in it's present state of doldrums, pri-
vate capital is not in any position to
fight a trade war in which the "en-
emy" has behind it the resources Of
a powerful government. Therefore,
it is argued, this government must
help American business in a way very
similar to the way the Fascist and
Nazi governments help their busi-
neSseS.
Second, there was announced an ex-
tremely complicated plan which will
give the hard-pressed Chinese natl
onal government sizable U. S. Treas
ury credit. AS Washington CORES
pondents Alsop and Kintner write,
"The highly involved form of the
Chinese credit all but obscures the
vital fact that it will bring desperately
needed supplies to the tattered armies
of Chang Kai-Shek. But, however
complex the method, supplying the
Chinese patriots is an assault on the
Japanese"
There is moral issue in all this
our government definitely dislikes the
dictators, and various surveys have
shown the American people to be al
most solidly behind the Administra-
tion in it's attack on totalitarian
states and methods At the same
time, there is also very practical,
dollars -and-cents issue involved in our
giving support to China, as well as in
our trying to regain lost South
business. At the beginning
of the undeclared Sino-Japanese war,
the representatives of the aggressive
little Eastern empire were extremely
vocal in assuring interested foreign
powers that, whatever came to pass,
the traditional "open door" theory of
China trade wCc!I be maintained.
Since then, much has happened
the creation of the Rome
Berlin-Tokyo axis, which makes ia
pan an ally of Germany and Italy,
both in commerce and in potential
war And Japan has gradually
changed her tune in talking to us, the
French and the British. In Japanese
seized China ports and commercial
centers, U. S., French and English
businessmen are being politely but
squeezed out. And few
months ago came an official Nippon
ese announcement which, though it
was framed in the careful diplomatic
language in which the Japanese states
men excel, made it perfectly clear that
the "open door" policy was to be much
modified-even to the extent that the
Chinese trade of other powers would
be stopped, or subjected to ruinous
economic burdens, if the government
of the Son of Heaven so desires.
Thus Japanese victory in China
would mean, in all probability, the
loss of hundreds Of millions of doll
ars in trade to American industry
and, at the same time, would immense
ly increase the economic resources of
an empire which our military leaders
view as a potential enemy in Pa
cifc war. The Chinese armies have
been steadily losing, due in large part
to lack of money and supplies, and it
seems inevitable that an ultimate
Japanese victory is a certainty unless
Chang Kai-Shek is given what he
needs. The Treasury credit is appar-
emily designed to help him solve that
vital problem. The new international
technique is to fight wars with the
weapon of trade, before resorting to
the weapons of physical violence. And
it seems that the relentless press of
events has at last forced us to adopt
that course Of action, if only to a linn
tied extent, as yet.