Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-12-26
Hull Welcomes
Trade Inquiry;
Hits High Tariff
Secretary BIomes
HowIey-Smoot Act for
Pre-New Deal Ills
BY BLAIR BOLLES.

In strong language secretary OF
State Hull, announcing he well
coined public investigation of
the reciprocal trade agreements pro-
gram, today launched an attack on
the Hawley-Smoot tariff of 1880 and
the advocates of a high protection
policy.
In his commensurate on the
trade agreement opponents Mr.. Hull
at his press conference said he
wished it recalled for the people
of the United States "the sorry
mess" into which the Hawley -Smoot
Act plunged the economy Of this
country He attributed to that nine
year-old tariff bill most of the ills
which were besetting the United
States when the Roosevelt admins
tration came into power in 1888.
Mr.. Hull made his statement less
than an hour after he returned from
the White House, where he and As
sistant Secretary of State Grady
conferred with President Roosevelt
on developments in the negotiations
for reciprocal agreement with Ar
gentina. Mr. Hull was unwilling to
discuss the exact nature of the
White House talk. The Argentine
negotiations have been proceeding
much slower than the administra-
ton expected when the hearings
began here in October.
Authority Expires in June.
The vigorous opposition to the
trade agreements program first be-
came publicly apparent during the
Argentine hearings, when a number
of members of Congress gave warm
ing that they would oppose an ex-
tension Of the administrations au-
thority to make these agreements.
The authority expires in June, 1910.
Senator Vandenberg. Republican, of
Michigan, one of the most vocal of
the agreements opponents. said
Sunday that he felt the Senate
Finance Committee, of which he is
a member, should investigate the
program.
Until today. Secretary Hull, who
used the Vandenberg suggestion as
a springboard for his counterattack,
had beer content to argue the case
for the agreements on what he con-
sidered their own merits. However,
TO-DAY he said:
THE press of yesterday quotes a
leading legislator as insisting upon
an exhaustive investigation Of the
Governments reciprocal trade
agreements policy.
Wants Fair Inquiry.
'The more comprehensive and
searching an examination is made.
the more pleasing it will be to the
friends and supporters of this pro-
gram of restoration of our agricul-
ture, commerce and industry-pro-
vided it is undertaken in an earnest
desire to secure information.
1T would hardly be useful, how
ever, to entrust this investigation
exclusively to those who supported
and voted for the Hawley- Smoot
embargo policy as a sure road to
permanent prosperity to all-in-
stead of which, as we all know, uni
versal depression promptly over
whelmed all of business, agriculture
and labor.
The groups responsible for this
failure may we'll be asked for more
convincing qualifications before they
are considered as fitted to criticize.
much less to obstruct, those who are
now seeking to restore the Nation
from the sorry mess into which
the embargo tariff policy chiefly
plunged it,"
Senator Vandenberg is one of the
few remaining Senators who voted
for Smoot-Hawley tariff.
Meanwhile, Senator Clark, Demo-
crat, of Missouri announced he would
give "wholehearted support" to adj
ministration efforts to renew the
Reciprocal Trade Treaty Act.
Senator Clark, who often has been
(See TRADE, Page AID