Imperial Valley press., 1939-04-18
Is Europe Any
OF Our Business?
By CHARLES P. STEWART

It's all very we'll to argue, as
such statesmen as Senator's VIII
liam E. Borah, Hiram w. Johnson,
Gerald P. Nye and Bennett Champ
Clark do, that Europes land
Asia'sD recent gyrations are none
of our American business. The fact
remains that our business is just
what they 40 in effect. Since his
return to Washington from his
Warm Springs vacation, President
Roosevelt mas conferred lengthily
with his most trusted advisers, and
they agree that the United States
should be we'll on its way toward
a general commercial upward move
ment If it weren't for the rest of
the worlds uncertainties. They
make a pretty strong case, too. Ad-
ministrationists never have con-
tended that huge governmental
spending is anything but a shot III
the arm. to stimulate private capt.
tails activities. And that, preslden-
tial counselorS assert, Is what 1t
was beginning to do and would
have finished doing if Hitler's. Mus
sClini's and Japan's performances
had not counteracted the natural
trend here at home.
Suppose another big war starts
Suppose also that we keep out Of
it. Well get a lot of the backwash.
nevertheless. A prospective lunatic
asylum next door is a bad neighbor
even though we may not enlist
among the bugs. Consequently our
sane investors are hesitant to take
risks, however reasonable. OF course
that puts the extinguisher upon
any hum of industry.
An Isolationist Policy
It's suggested that we might build
a wall around ourselves-prosper
internally and let other nations go
hang.
once asked Senaor M. M Logan
how he thought this would work.
The Kentucky solon practically
is free trader. Yet, he said 1T
wouldn't De ideal, or desirable. Still
it would give us chance TO regu-
late our own economy, which we
can't do with open doors. 1t might
be a last resort
Then I asked Secretary of State
Cordell Hull then a SENATOR.
Considering. I said, "hoW near
ly self-sufficient We are, couldn't
we get along pretty comfortably,
independent of the rest of the
earth?'
I'D say" replied the Tennes-
scean. that We could get along
very uncomtortably."
Well that's the difference between
statesmen.
Old time Republican protection is
one thing. Bar everything from
competition with our infant indus
tries. That's extinct, for VIC haven't
any infant industries any more.
They're adult and well able to
take care of themselves, here and
abroad.
Isolation, as proposed by Senator
Logan, is another proposition.
Secretary Hull submits that nc
country ca nbe prosperous unless
all are. That's the basis of his re-
ciprocal trade treaties. He's made
progress with his agreements be-
tween the United States and the
civilized nations. but the Nazis anc
Fascists are turning him down.
Hull an Economist
Secretary Hull, as a representa-
tive and a senator, essentially wa
an economist.
I thought he was queer selectiof
for appointment to the secretary
ship of state. 1t seemed to mt
that the Secretaryship of the treas
ury would have been far more ap'
propriate for him
But, since his incumbency in th'
state Secrctaryship, he has said tt
me, Il think that all internationa
considerationships revert back tx
economic considerations
So, economic and military consid
erations aren't entirely Independent
of each other.