Evening star., 1940-01-09

GIVES REVIEW OF CONGREs
Indiana, who spoke last night
their own vessels, doctrine which
we approved in the last special
session.
If we want to stay out of war, we
must not take punitive measures
against one side engaged in war, or
throw our material aid to the side
of one combatant against another,
however much we may sympathize
with one side or the other.
Embargo on Japan and aid to
Finland appeal to our sense of right
and wrong. I am willing to join
the other nations in an organization
for collective security and to try
by united effort with all other ma
tions to establish law and order and
redress wrong and promote right,
but I am not ready for us to UNDER
take the Job alone. This Congress
must be extremely careful Of how
it proceeds lest we take some action
that might draw us into war.
In making provision for our ma
tional defense and foreign policy,
political parties will lay aside parti-
sanship, but here, fear, the truce
ends. This being an election year,
this will be an election Congress.
BY that I mean that much that is
done will be with an eye to the
political implications. The Repub-
lican party has been wandering in
the wilderness for almost eight
years, and there is nothing more
politically desperate than a hungry
Republican Office seeker. You must,
therefore, be prepared for all man.
ner Of charges and countercharges.
The Republicans have nothing to
offer except their plea that they
could do better job. Well, they
had their chance.
Could Have Advised Hoover.
If they knew how to balance
the budget. Why didn't they tell
Hoover? He didn't know. If they
knew how to keep every man en-
ployed in private business. why
didn't they do 1t, instead Of wreck
ing the economy Of the Nation and
throwing 10000 men out of en-
ployment? If they knew how to keep
business prosperous. why didn't they
put their program into effect under
Hoover and save the collapse of
banking and industry? If they knew
what to do for the farmer. why
didn't they do it. instead of letting
the prices Of farm products slip
to the lowest level ever known and
the farmers to face bankruptcy and
ruin at the end of the Hoover ad-
ministration? If they knew how to
write tariff law, why didn't they
do it. instead of writing the Smoot-
Hawley Act that destroyed our
foreign trade.
I remind you Of these failures Of
the Republican party because this
Is an election year and they'll be
back with all their quack remedies.
All ask you to do, in order to
appreciate Roosevelt, Is Just to re-
member Hoover.
Let me warn the farmers espe-
cially of an attack that will be made
IN their name by the Republican
party this season upon the recipro-
cal trade agreements. You will re-
call that Congress used to make all
changes in the tariff schedules by
an act of Congress, and, of course,
this always led to the consideration
and passage of general tariff law.
The writing of a tariff law by the
Congress became so complicated and
the log rolling so Scandalous that
the Smoot- t-Hawley tariff bill, signed
by Mr.. Hoover and condemned by
thousand economists. and the sub
sequent events of its own operation
led Congress to provide by law in
1884 for trade agreements negotiated
after hearings with the aid of ex-
perts, including the Tariff Commits
sion. In other words, under this
law, Congress provided for the SCI
entific adjustment of tariff rates
by experts, such adjustment to be
made only pursuant to an agreement
with some foreign nation that would
bring concessions from such foreign
nation for the expectation of our
products.
Agreements Spur Exports.
Trade agreements have been nego-
tiated with 81 countriesy Between
1885 and 1898 our exports to all of
these trade agreement countries in
creased materially. while our ex-
ports to nations with whom we had
no agreements showed no such in
crease. During these years our ex-
ports of farm products to the trade
agreement countries increased by so
per cent and the exports to countries
with whom we had no trade agree
ments actually declined. Thus, we
see that the export Of farm and
other products in larger volume was
made possible by the trade agree
ments. We must find q foreign
market for the surplus we produce
in the factory and on the farm.
This we have been doing under the
trade agreements. NotwithstAnd-
ing the fact that we have increased
enormously our exports Of farm
products under the trade agree
ments, the Congressmen are ganging
up on the trade agreements law and
advocating its repeal and a return
to the old log-rolling methods of
tariff making. where one Congress
man, in order to get protection
for some commodity in his State,
traded his vote to some other Con-
gresham for his vote, In order to
get protection for something in his
community.
In order to fool the fcrmer espe-
cially, the Republicans nave been
filling the Congressional Record and
the partisan press with phony sta.
tistics about big imports Of agricul-
tlral products to this country. They