Evening star., 1944-05-07

!. bO1 LEN. IaCtuTeQ goods, III
all parts of the world. But these oppor-
tunities can only be created by a free
flow both of capital and goods through
the worlds economic arteries.
To bring that about Is one OF the
aims of the Atlantic Charter and OF the
mutual-aid agreement. BY Article VII
of the latter the United States and
Great Britain and number OF other
countries pledged themselves to joint
action "open to participation OF all other
countries of like mind, directed to the
expansion by appropriate international
and domestic measures of production,
employment and the exchange and con-
sumption of goods which are the ma
terial foundations OF the liberty and
welfare of all peoples"
II those objects can be attained we
shall have no fear for the future OF
British trade. The achievements OF
British industry during the war have
been remarkable In themselves, and
they have brought with them great
advances in production methods and in
labor skill. AS the development Of radar
and penicillin and the production of
aircraft such as the Spitfire and the
Lancaster show. our scientists, engineers
and mechanics are well capable of hold
ing their own when the competition Of
peacetime is resumed.
All Must Cooperate.
But how is the expansion Of world
trade to be brought about? OF course.
it cannot be done by Britain or the
British Commonwealth alone. 1t de-
pends on large measure Of inter-
national cooperation. One of its aims
must be to promote freer interchange
of goods, to reduce discriminatory treat
ment of all kinds and to lower the bar
riers in the path of commerce. Another
aim is to prevent disastrous booms and
slumps and to insure as far as possible
that the farmer and the producer Of
raw materials should get fair and steady
prices. Thirdly, there must be an
orderly system of foreign exchange, so
that the value of currencies is not ex-
posed to violent ups and downs, and,
lastly, some joint effort is needed to
steer investment toward the develop
ment of the worlds immense untapped
resources.
Some steps have already been taken
in these directions. A large number Of
countries have already undertaken by
the mutual-aid agreement to work for
the general expansion of trade and the
af To- &c oth
barriers. The food conference at Hot
Springs recommended, among other
things, that international commodity
arrangements should be SO designed
to promote the expansion of an orderly
world economy, and that an inter-
national organization should be created
at an early date to promote and guide
the negotiation of such arrangements
between various governments.
The interests of the consumer should
be protected just as much as those Of
the producer. All such commodity
agreements should be inspired not with
a spirit of restriction, but with one of
orderly development. Their objective
should not be to protect the high-cost,
LlcIuCleIlt pIoQuCeT, DuG 10 SCInuldL6
production in those areas where it can
be most economically carried out. AS
Mr. Dalton, president of the Board Of
Trade, said last February: THE watch
word for the postwar period should be
expansion, rather than restriction; ex-
pansion, not imitation; stability of
prices, not stagnation; order in our
schemes, but not undue rigidity"
Want Monetary Stability.
AS regards an international monetary
system 1t is we'll known that talks have
been going on between experts of the
United Nations for the establishment
of some arrangement which may insure
that postwar trade is not handicapped
by the instability of exchange. The
basic aim is to get rid of the compIi-
Gated devices for regulating currencies
and restricting trade, which before the
war many countries were forced to
adopt to their own detriment and to the
detriment of the world at large.
AS far as Britain Is concerned, our
natural inclination is to do everything
in our power to promote an expanding
world economy and a steadily rising
level of general prosperity. Before the
war there was a general trend in the
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