BANKERS' MANIFESTO

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 38, 13 August 1930, Page 14

BANKERS' MANIFESTO

TAEIFFf? STOP TKADE

TAUGHT BY BITTER EXPERIENCE

"Evening lost," 13th August

Brief tabled moution was made in these columns, early last month to the-now celebrated. Bankers' Manifesto on the re-j etnetidns imposed by foreign countries on British trade, and the use of the free British markets' by such foreign countries^ Fuller particulars have now been received by mail, including the test of the., resolution, which was as follows:— • •■"•■'lt is resolved that urgent measures '•' for the promotion of. .inter-Imperial ' trade are needed to secure and extend '.' the market for British products, both at ', Home and through the export trade. ' Bitter experience has taught Great '~' .'Britain that the hopes expressed four ■' years ago in a plea for the removal of ',: restrictions upon European trade have ! failed to be realised. The restrictions'have boon materially ; increased, and the sale of surplus for- , eiyn products in the British markets i has .steadily.grown. While we-retain . the. hope of an ultimate extension'of the V area of' Free Trade : throughout.'.the '•. world.•■ we believe- that the . immediate ; step.iqr securing and extending the marj k.et • British goods lies in reciprocal trade 'agreements between the nations constituting the British Empire. . ■ 'As .a 'condition of securing these " agreements, Great Britain must retain : her- tipen- market fov: all .Empire pro-f-ducts-while /being' prepared to impose : <luties> on' all' imports from all other } countries. ■' ' - ' . ■': -Without •".specifically mentioning, the fairies of all', the 'signatories to , the resolution,' ■ :and' their' qualifications, it may >W explained that the' chairman of the (meeting: was Sir Eric Hambro, of G. 'J. Hamb'ro :and Co., who is also sub-Gov-ernor of the Royal Exchange Assurance <00. and director of the L.N.E. Railway Co: Others were 'Mr. Wigham, of the IBank of England Board; Lord Glenconiier, Sir Herbert Lawrence,' Lord Bearstead (Shell Company), ' Mr. Reginald M'Kenna (Midland Bank), Sir George.May (Prudential Assurance), Mr. Robert Tennan't (Westminster Bank), Sir Allen Anderson (Bank of England), Mr. Beaumont Pease (Lloyd's Bank-), Mr. F. C. Goodenough (Barclay's Bank). It was agreed that the resolution should he forwarded to the leaders of all the ;threu political parties. Mr. M'Kenna and Mr. Beaumont Pease w.ere also signatories, to the :manifesto nntitlcd "A plea for the removal of restrictions upon European trade," which was issued by a large aiumber of European and American bankers and business men in October, 1926, when attention, was drawn to the extent to which tariff barriers, special licences, and prohibitions since the war had bee:* allowed to interfere with international trade and to prevent it from flowing in its natural channels. The signatories placed on record their conviction that the establishment of economic freedom was the best, hope of restoring the commerce and the'credit of the world. The new manifesto indicates that the hope-of an ultimate extension of the area of Free Trade has not been abandoned, but that tho. immediate step'for .securing and. extending the market for British goods lies in reciprocal trade agreements between .the nations constituting the British Empire., ...•: ■ REVERSED OPINION. "Financial Times": "The import of. the bankers' resolution has been avidly discussed in the city. Those dissenting from the views expressed were in a marked minority. There was a tendency to view the statement as a confirmation of policy related but vital. Certainly it was -insistently urged that banking interests had, within recent months, completely revised their view of tariff problems. The declaration, giiised as a personal expression o£ belief,, is viewed as a direct reversal of banking opinion." SERVICE." "The Times": "The bankers' manifesto completes the successipn of unanimous and enlightened judgments that have issued from the councils.of those who manage, opcratu,: and finance British industry. The last of them, is also-the last which could bo accused of. a. parochial outlook. The city',js, better instructed than any city in. the-economic way of the world. It will'b'e for others to secure the acceptance ot these considered conclusions. And it is iieai-er certainty, than ever that, properly presented without the hindrance of meaningless contention and contradiction arapjig their advocates, they will be accepted in time. Whatever else comes of the great, controversy ahead, it cannot toucli-the impartial quality of the bankers' fiudings." .' . .. "A SEVERE LESSON." "Morning' Post.": "We. need not speculate on the particular reasons which have brought about, tjjis change of heart furtherthan to say that the banks have now to carry on their shoulders many great .manufactures which were creditor concerns before the war. By competition and ■ heavy taxation these enterprises have been forced to. draw upon their, reserves and to borrow from, the .ba«ks, until at last the bankers have found themselves sleep;ing partners in-or-real owners of British ;industries. Thus our bankers have had a •severe practical lesson in the working of our industrial system. . . . The bankers . —noue better —know the dangers of the .case. They know the growing difficulty of maintaining rates of exchange in a .country which gives less and less to, and takes more and more from, the rest of the world." "TRADE IS NOT WAR." "Daily Telegraph": "Of the many nails hammered into the coffin of Free Trade of late, this is the largest. ... It is mot that the bankers have changed their views on principles. As bankers they necessarily desire the freest interchange of goods between this country and the rest of the world; The larger the volume the larger their - business profit. What they subscribed to in the international manifesto in 1920 they would subscribe to today—viz., that 'trade is not war1 but. the prdcess of exchange.' But tho faith to which they then clung, that opinion in all countries was awaking to the dangers ahead has unhappily not been justified." IMPERIAL COOPERATION. Lord Melchett, president of the Empire Economic Union: "Industrial opinion has long ago moved to the conclusion embod-ied--in the resolution, and it is gratifying nowvto-find-financial opinion moving in' the same' way. Surely there cau be no doubt whatever that the most thoughtful and best informed and economically most educated opinion in this country to-day tihould definitely and deliberately come to the conclusion that the Free Trade system of Great Britain can no longer be maintained in view of present world economic conditions, and that the future hope for Britain' and the Empire lies in the closest possible financial, industrial, agricultural, and commercial co-operation."