Bay of Plenty Times. THURSDAY, APRIL 20th., 1933. AMERICA THINKS DIFFERENTLY.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LX, Issue 11094, 20 April 1933, Page 2

Bay of Plenty Times. THURSDAY, APRIL 20th., 1933. AMERICA THINKS DIFFERENTLY.

| The Hoover Administration was so cemented to a high tariff that it was impossible to make the United States realise that a creditor position and a high prohibitive tariff could not be reconciled. President Hoover in his campaign speeches insisted upon the necessity of a high tariff barrier for his country. Since then the I United States has been through the i hottest fire of the slump, and has been so severely scorched that a little cold sense has penetrated the brains of the people. The Roosevelt Administration is facing the position and President Franklyn D. Roosevelt will go down in the history of his country as one of the strongest and most able of Presidents. He appears to have made a singularly happy choice in appointing Mr Cordell Hull, as Secretary of State. He is a moderate tariff advocate and soon after taking office he got to work discussing matters with various foreign Ambassadors in Washington. Mr Hull held a conference with press men last week and propounded the policy of the Administration. This method of publicity is commendable, and the reports and opinions percolate through every strata of American Society, and thus the people are prepared in advance for the changes intended to be inaugurated. For the past twelve years;, or ever since President Wilson was defeated by Harding, America has clung to ' the policy of economic nationalism, which

is now to be abandoned for economic Internationalism. Mr Hull rightly diagnosed the present state of mind of the nations when he said he believed that the nations had tried out experiment in their domestic policies long enough, and had been stafved down sufficiently and so would be in a state of mind to listen to new proposals. The most remarkable and most pleasing change is that America has decided to drop economic nationalism. And the Roosevelt Administration is proceeding on sound lines to obtain the best results. The representatives of eleven countries have been invited to formal conversations with the President, but those who will and must eventually decide matters are the representatives of Britain, France and the United States. Britain is to be represented by the Prime Minister and France by M. Herriot, a very happy combination. It must be kept in mind that Mr Ramsay MacDonald and M. Herriot were mainly responsible for the Lausanne agreement whereby £2,000 million under the Young Plan was written down to £150,000,000, and Germany is relieved of all payments for a period of three years. These two European statesmen will be able to furnish President Roosevelt with some very startling facts. M. Herriot, when Premier of France, wanted his country to pay the instalment of war debt on December 15 last, but the Chamber of Deputies voted against payment and Herriot resigned. By the end of the month the informal Conferences in Washington should end,and the scene for definite action will be in London, at the World Economic Conference, which will most likely be staged next month. With the decisive action taken by America the economic outlook has improved vastly. Confidence is strongly reviving and even ship owners, who have been very great sufferers, admit that trade is improving. What is likely to happen is that there will be a. lowering of tariffs, a big cut in war debts, and a general return to the gold standard, and that would be the end of the slump.