Evening star., 1939-11-28

Of long g-deferred wants, q temporary
boom. The task Of craftsmanship
will be to endeavor so to guide
affairs as to promote the re-estab-
nshment Of trade on q sound basis,
and to avoid those mistaken and
short-sighted policies which will
lead from temporary postwar stim-
ulation into renewed economic de-
preston. We must keep our trade
agreements program in the fullest
possible effective operation, as an
essential aid to this future task
Of craftsmanship.
Our trade with the neutral coun-
tires will also be subject to modi-
fication because of the war. Many
neutral countries, including those in
Latin America, may turn to us for
supplies previously purchased from
other sources. but now no longer
available from them. The degree in
which our exports t. these neutral
countries will expand in consequence
Of these changes will depend in large
measure upon their ability to sell
their products to us in increased
quantities. 1t is for this reason
that no opportunity should be lost
to provide improved opportunity for
such increased exchange of goods
through the negotiation of new
trade agreements.
Moreover, the extent to which any
increase in our trade with neutral
countries may be based upon a
sound and mutually profitable in
crease in reciprocal trade, will serve
to diminish the dangers and extent
Of later readjustments which must
follow unsound and uneconomic
wartime trade developments
Trade Peace Factor.
The end Of a major war brings
with it complicated chain of prob
lens of economic readaptation. In
part, but only in part, it leaves a
need for the restoration of previous
channels of trade. In part it le-
quires an adaptation of the eco
nomic system to conditions which
are entirely new.
This need for reconstruction and
readaptation will not be confined
to the belligerents. It will affect
American industry and American
agriculture
No approach to a satisfactory and
permanent peace after the war has
ended can be made without regard
to the economic factors which gov
ern the relations of countries to
each other. Economic relations
must be adjusted to insure friendly
and cooperative relations among
all nations. Economic and CONNER
cial warfare is constant menace to
peace. The raising of trade barriers
and the giving and seeking of pref
erential advantages in commercial
relations is in effect form of con-
f1ict. 1t repudiates the concept of
mutually of interest among nations
and substitutes that of struggle. 1t
is aggression and aggression is the
logical antecedent of military action
Every country must be able to fee
that its interests are associated with
cooperating, peaceful world
that the functioning of a sound
wholesome international trade is
vital to its well-being and security
In word, an international economic
and political system to which every
country owes allegiance is the only
alternative to world confusion and
disorder. By system" I mean ar
informal but nonetheless real associ-
alton based on accepted rules of con.
duct both political and economic
for the perfection and advantage ot
all. This means the inviolabilitv OF
treaties and the outlawing of any
practices whether economic or DO.
htical by which one country injuries
another. Commercial policies which
prejudice the rights of other coun.
tries to carry on legitimate trade
come in this class.
A stable world order must be based
upon a cooperative attitude in the
relations of nations to each other
To this end the whole network OF
excessive and preferential tariffs
OF restrictive quotas, of exchange
manipulation, of government-con
trolled foreign-trad monopolies
must be replaced by an orderly sys-
tenn Of international economic re-
lations in order that the capitalist
system may survive and the whole
world may prosper and advance.