Page 20 Advertisements Column 1

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19669, 12 July 1929, Page 20

AUCTIONS. H. MATSON AND CO. HMATSON ud CO, HAVE CBEAT • PLEASURE IN CALLING THE ATTENTION UF ALL MEN ON THE LAND ®0 THE UNDERMENTIONED: - AUSTRALIA'S IDEA. AMERICAN TARIFF REVISION. "Graiietn" Review," Juno ICth, 1929.) > Mi F. U. Tout, president oi the Grasiers Association, oani, on May 'Jth, that the projx»a«d incroitted of liie American tariff oil wool and meat were most eerious from the viewpoint ol Australian graiiers, and l»a trusted that the Federal Government would km fit to make further representations to "Washington. „ "The proposed additional duty on wool, Mr Tout stated, "would make lor a further decline of the American purchases of Australian wool. Evidently the United Status Government has developed, or is developing, the idea that America can do without our •wool, and is determined to foster its own industry at all costs—to the American consumer*. Just when wo were beginning to visualise a big trade in Australian meat with America an additional duty of three cents per lb :a proposed. Meat trade authorities are agreed that the American production of meat is falling short of local requirements, and that in the natural course of •vents America must import larce and larger <{uanti(ies of meat. Thi~> is «h»ra Australia hope* to oomo in. If, however, the proposed inereasi in the duty on imported meat is imposed it will be much more difficult for tie to develop this orospectivo trade. The »ew American tariff as proposed is, however, * distinct setback." Mr Tout recalled tho fact that the recent annual conference of the Graziers' Association oarried ihe following resolution:—"That M the United States cf America has an almost prohibitive import duty on Australian ■wool, butter, and meat, th<i Commonwealth Government l>o urged to place a prohibitive duty on the importation of cars, films, etc. (but excluding tractor* and farm machinery) imported from America until such time as the American tariff is reduced or the trade ■between the two countries approximately ■balances."" BRITAIN'S IDEA: JOHN BULL AMI THE YANKEE FARMER. •The outstanding fact which is illuminated by this survey is that we cannot maintain our economic advantage, or hope fully to realise on our economic future, unless •we consciously accnpt. the principle of equilibrium, and anply it skilfullv in every economic relation."--Pre«ident_ Hoover, in A Reoort upon TJeoeuf Ec .n- mic.i! Changes m United States. {Significant indeed is thi3 declaration of policy that has bean gradually evolved in the U.S. of America. "Unbalanced growth between one industry and another has led to tho development of inequalities in opportunities with consequential differences in results which haw b dceme so pronounced as to create I ft serious disparity between the industrialists on the one hand and the agriculturists on the other. Equilibrium » not possible under the present conditions. That is exactly what happened in this country after tha adoption ot Free Trade, interpreted in the British Isles to mean free imports. Here the tariff •ystem ot Protection was tabooed, but in the States it was hailed ft* the remedy for the ilia of trado and adopted. The end result fa much the same in tho two countries, namely, the mir. of agriculture. FOOD IN EXCESS IN U.S.A. In the British Isles food cannot be produced in sumeient quantities to leeti .ma people adequately; in ttio states more than enough ran Da grown. Vet tho end result u the •am* a* it ia hero. Agriculture is in * plight in the titatee of America as well aa in thus country, the like oi which has never twior* been known. For the ordinary farmer, not the upocid.!, uharp and clever, nor he who does dealing in a small or large way, and has a farm a# a basis from which to work, the bueinws of farming is unprofitable; nay, more, it is ruinous because the receipt* from sales cannot pay for the necessary labour, together with the incidental oaponaea. The farmer in tho U.S.A., if ho bo old enough to recall tho evil# ho helped to produce, or is acquainted with the story of British agriculture during the past sixty rears, must now begin to realise what hit bpottusr on this side o£ tho water fait, in oonaequenoe of tho cheap food produced and sent over here in tho 70's and ftO's of the last century. Ho is now, in turn, being ruined by the tariff system of self-protection in trade just M» his brother here was and ie by tho tree import eyetem—Free Trade. CONTRAST PROTECTION AND FREE TRADE. Strange it must «eem that these two diametrically opposed systems of trading exist •id® by side and oanh ha* brought, after a period of years, ruin to agriculture in States s4t far apart as the wide Atlantic Ocean can make them. Thia result cannot but make the thoughtful wonder if man is not mistaken about these two systems in trading; and that, after all, neither the aystem of Protection nor that of Free Trade ja tho true cause of this disastrous cif act. tireat Britain and Northern Ireland have stood together for free imports, the States oi America, oa the contrary, for Protection of everything that can be produced within thein, and yet each is in ,the like position to^ay. THIS PRINCIPLE Off EQUAL TREATMENT. The declaration of principle enunciated by lim recent Economic Committee presided over by President Hoover, and quoted at the beginning, clearly visualises the cause of the plight of agriculture in each country. That cause is neither Protection nor Free Trade, but a lack of equilibrium in the balance when agriculture Is on one side and other Industries on the other. Adjust the balance and it will not matter whether Protective or Free Trade measures been forced, for equilibrium between the two groups of industries will lead to all being well again. In the States an attempt will be made, now that* In addition to the British Islee, European countries *r« importers ot food material*, to adjust the balance at the expens* of the exporters, and to do so indirect means will hare to, and maybe must, be adopted. A NEW EDUCATION. There is a new factor in the situation, which is tha existence of abundance of food •applies in Canada, in Australia, other parts •f our F,mpire, in the Argentine, and elsei where, and in consequence competition of a keen order will be aroused. It is only by nnderselling that the States of America can to day dispose of their surplus wheat and *ther products; and as the world market jrtea it already too small, underselling is out of th« question except oil one condition. That condition, simply stated, is unloading tfeo pan of the scales which is well over•ei(tb!.'<!, and adding vvhut is taken SWay from it to the lighter and opposite pan. The other industries, if that were done, would necessarily be compelled to disgorge, directly or indirectly, in favour of the hungry agricultural industry. Accordingly a* profit to the agriculturists •f the States can how only be obtained through » subsidy on export, and one of nmcient substance to give the farmer a margin of profit in the conduct of his busiMm, a margin more or less equal to that attainable isi other industries. In fact the need to strike the balance is the demand #t the moment. In thia country the scales, •inula! '> ever*eighted on one side for a long period, have been inspected, looked at ever and over again, carefully pondered miter, and, from time to time, most timid attempts havo been made in adjustment to gain equilibrium. Tha process of disgorging was tried here a few year* ago, and Drtimptlf riven up for economie reasons which are Ilfßeult to fathom. To-day an indirect relisf ts being tried, and, if carried <>ni boldly, the new venture is not unlikely to succeed, ending in tho establishment of the long-looked-for equilibrium. IX TENS lON OF WORLD PRODUCTION. With world production of food materials •steading in the new countries, and with tko marvellous Inventions which go- to reduce the cost of transport on the seas, it is more than probable that the initial subsidy to agriculture in the States will prove to be just the foundation of a system that will lav* to 1m added to as the difference in weights of the two pans ot tho scale inereaaM. ACTION UNDER NEW CONDITIONS. Whether tb* States will make a point of Maintaining an equilibrium between agriculture and other industries or not is a matter of groat Interest to other countries. The British Isle* have, It is believed, settled dfewn to tho work of relieving, stop by step, agriculture of its bur.:... and so reducing Indirectly the cost of production of food materials, and, at tho same time, are making all possible eßorts to do tho like in regard to tho «ost of transport overseas and by rail. A new raeo between us and the U.S.A. 1§ about to bogin, and shall we end in tho position each of u* is in to-day, prosperous In all Industries except agriculture! If the States adhere to the principle, so forcibly enunciated by the recent Economic Committee, and this country does the same, each adopting different Moans In accordance with their world position, where shall the industries ho in the two countries at the end of the next two or three decodes? The aim is the same In each country, but the method of attaining will, It seetns, he very different. Wf»M B. XATSOM awl 00.