Evening star., 1939-04-04
Hull Flags Nazis'
'Para|yzine' System
OF Barter Trade
Retort to Dr.. Funk BIumes
Germany for Her
Troubles With U.S.
b. the Associa ted Press,

VI oOC POASACS Wy "dlGIlcI IuIlA,
president Of the German Reichs-
bank, Secretary Of State Hull as
serted yesterday that Germany's
system OF barter "paralyzes world
markets"
In a speech last week DR.. Funk
said the world stands at crossroads
and either will surrender to Ameri-
can gold or 1t will accept the new
methods OF young, strong, aspiring
nations"
Secretary Hull, in a statement au-
thorized for direct quotation, said
bluntly that Germany's economic
troubles with the United States were
her own fault.
ANY obstacles which German
trade faces in the United States as
compared with any and every other
country" he said, "are entirely the
result OF German policy and prac-
tices. They are not the result of
any special American laws dealing
with German trade.
Under American laws and regu-
lations, Germany is free to trade
with the United States under the
same set of conditions as can any
other country of the world. The
large trade the United States is now
carrying on with other countries is
going smoothly and with remarkable
absence of dispute"
Play Only by Their Own Rules.
Secretary Hull indicated he held
little hope that Germany and the
United States could come to an eco
nomlc agreement, although he re-
peated that this Government has a
standing invitation to every other
nation Of the world without a single
exception" to join its trade program.
The German authorities" he said
seem to be able to trade only on
their own terms as they dictate
them and by their own methods as
they shape them
In an interview prior to Mr. Hulls
statement, DR.. Hans Thomson,
Charge d'Affaires at the German
Embassy. said Germany still would
be willing to negotiate trade agree
ment with the United States. Ger
manys ideas on trade agreement
were communicated to the State
Department in 1887. DR.. Thomson
said they embraced a gradual transit
ton from controlled trade to a
reciprocity trade agreement.
The countervailing duties of Is
per cent which the United States
has ordered, effective April %, on
German products will render diff
cult, DR.. Thomson said, the compile
ton OF deals now under way for
the exchange of German manu-
factured products for American
farm products.
wont Fit in Nazi Crevices."
Secretary Hull said that in the
past few years Germany had divert
ed much trade from the United
States and that the diversion was
made solely to serve German pur-
poses
The result, he said, was broad
and decisive discrimination against
American exports" which now must
face elaborate controls and compete
with Germany's barter arrangements
with other nations.
American trade" he continued
Cannot satisfactorily fit itself into
the crevices Of German need left by
the barter agreements that Ger
many has already executed with
other countries. It does not have
to. nor would its interest be served
by doing So"
Mr. Hull. who has made more
liberal trade the cornerstone of his
foreign policy in his six years as
Secretary of State, drew a keen
edged contrast between the Ameri-
can and the German systems of
trade. OF the latter. he said:
"A certain amount of interchange
can and does. of course. take place
under the so-called barter agree
ments. but paralyzes world markets
IN the process" He added that this
was especially true in markets for
raw materials, such as cotton.
Debated in House.
In contrast to the smoothly op-
Grating and productive methods of
world trade" he added, barter
agreements involve endless diplo-
matte negotiations. They involve
domination by the government not
only OF commerce but of production:
and they create arbitrary discrimi-
nations"
The question of trade with Ger
many was debated in the House by
Representative Rankin, Democrat,
OF Mississippi and Treadway, Re-
publican, of Massachusetts.
Referring to DR.. Thomsen's con-
tention that the countervailing du-
ties imposed against German goods
were interfering with a deal to ex-
change 100000 bales of cotton.
500 600 tons of wheat and other
American farm products for Ger
man manufactures, Representative
Rankin declared:
This cutting off of our portion of
the foreign trade places a terrible
burden on the American farmer by
leaving on his hands an additional
surplus, which drives the market
down further below the cost of pro-
duction."
He charged that international
bankers, munitions makers and
others were trying to drag the
United States into another world
war.
Mr.. Treadway said Representa-
tive Rankin was looking at the
question from the standpoint Of
his cotton producers, who stand to
benefit by the proposed treaty at the
expense of the rest of the country"