Evening star., 1948-04-25


nations with varying backgrounds a
meetings OF the planning groups "
Geneva and finally, on March "a of
this year, the United Nations Con-
ference on Trade and Employment,
meeting at Havana, announced that
agreemspt had been reached by del
egates Of all of the So countries in
attendance, except Argentina. After
majority of the countries that met
at Havana have ratified the charter,
the ITO will become q reality.
Now that the charter has reached
the ratification stage one cannot but
wonder whether all of the effort has
been worthwhile. Does the charter
represent, as one enthusiastic dele
gate put it, "the greatest step in
history toward great ex-
pansion in the production. distribu-
tion andS consumption of goods in
the world?" Or, is 1t merely mass
\ Of jargon in which laudible princi-
Piles compete for recognition against
countless excepting" clauses?
Charter Not Self-Enforcing
At this stage no one knows. No
document, no piece of paper con-
tanning declarations of principle, can
be any better than the intentions
and behavior of the people to whom
it applies. If the world economy
stabilizes and if the signatory ma
tions want the charter to work it
will work; If they do not, it will not.
The fact that the Havana docu-
ment fills 10S legal-sized, single
spaced mimeographed pages and
that the nations are far from being
in full agreement as to the manner
of achieving the principles set forth
in the statement of purposes and
detectives.
To appreciate the place Of the
charter in the contemporary scene
it is necessary to retrace bit OF
history, to go back, in fact, to the
10th century, In those days trade
among nations was relatively free.
Free, that is to say, not in the sense
that there were no international
trade restrictions, for there were;
there were tariffs and some of them
were highly restrictive.
But, they were restrictive in what
might be called a general sense,
being imposed primarily for the
purpose of stimulating industry or
agriculture at home and treating
all foreigners alike. There was no
discrimination as among customers
or suppliers.
The currencies of the world were
convertible, either directly or in
directly, into gold, which, in turn
moved freely from country to
country, Price changes within coun-
tries and the free international
movement of gold provided the
world with a multilateral trading
system which worked so we'll that
by the close of the 18th century 1t
was looked upon by almost every
body as natural and permanent.
In the light of the experiences
of the last 30-odd years we how
see that what seemed to be so
natural had a quite hupan base
after all. Two world wars and a
major economic depression have
awakened us to the realization that
in the economic world what often
seems so natural that it can be dis
missed as subject of inquiry is
really the result of circumstance.
Great Britain's Key Position
The automatic" multilateral
trading system of the 10th century
was maintained largely by Great
Britain's position in the world econ
omy. She was the first nation to
experience the industrial revolution
and, through her colonial system,
became the hub of the trading
world. The conyertibility of the
pound sterling and her interna-
tional creditor position made 1t
convenient for traders in every land
to carry on international trade In
that currency. Not By international
agreement, but by the sheer force
of convenience and self-interest
did the pound sterling become the
worlds standard of value.
Under this system the British
f1ourished. Their population grew
far beyond what the physical re-
sources of their own small island
could provide in the way of food anc
raw materials. Britain became the
workshop and trading center of the
world, importing raw materials anc
much of her food supply in exchange
for her finished wares.
Meanwhile, beyond the Atlantic
the New World, and particularly tie
United States, were catching up with
her industrially. One might argue
convincingly that even if there had
been no World Wars the economic
plight of England and Western
Europe generally might, eventually
at least, have been not far different
from what it is.
In any event, the two wars and
the great depression accelerated the
process. European countries, and
especially the United Kingdom. are
now members of the second-string
team. The United States has moved
into first place and we find our
selves, almost In spite of ourselves, a
prosperous people surrounded by
friends and -neighbors who have
while growing old, exhausted them
selves. In order to preserve our
power we need by making military
service more attractive for recruits
| @. How do you do that?
Mr.. Wallace: For one thing, by
shaking up the brass in the War