ROOSEVELT'S WAY

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 70, 24 March 1933, Page 7

ROOSEVELT'S WAY

POWER TO NEGOTIATE

TREATIES AND AGREEMENTS

REQUEST TO CONGRESS

United Press Association—By Electric Tele-

graph—Copyright.

NEW YOEK, March 22,

"An announcement by the State Department today that the Administration would request from Congress a definition of certain limits within which it can effectively negotiate reciprocal commercial agreements and other treaties is characterised by observers as a definite end of what Europe calls 'Pig-in-a-poke' treaty-making, which has been the outstanding characteristic of American foreign policy since the Versailles Treaty fiasco," the "New York Times" Washington correspondent says. "As to the forthcoming negotiations respecting the tariff, war debts, trade concessions, and other matters, the President will merely get advance advice' from Congress telling him how far he can go, which in effect will pledge Congress to ratify a treaty after the President and his advisers have completed their negotiations," the correspondent continues. "It is recalled that Mr. Boosevelt was a member of Woodrow Wilson's administration ana has closely observed why the Versailles Treaty failed to pass the Senate at that time. "Foreign observers were astounded at the fact that President Wilson's signature to the Treaty did not mean ratification. Since then they have been suspicious of American treatymaking. " PERMISSION IN ADVANCE. "Mr. Eoosevelt intends to obviate the vagaries of the Senate by the expedient of getting permission in advance. "Mr. Roosevelt's problem will be to form treaties in exact accordance with the permission of Congress, otherwise it could refuse its sanction, but with the co-operation of an advisory commission it is believed he can effect agreements calculated to stand this tost. "Today the Secretary of State, Mr. C. Hull, admitted that conversations had ■ been conducted with foreign envoys which were 'preliminary exploratory, and even desultory," • but they may be followed soon by bilateral discussions with Britain concerning the war debts, this depending upon when Britain comes forward with definite proposals. "Mr. Hull is tending to subordinate the debts to general economic matters, and will not inject them into the Economic Conference as the debtors are relatively few compared with over fifty prospective participants in the conference. "The .Administration is represented as being convinced that unless the nations awake to the dislocated conditions of exchange and. currency and the other obstructions to trade, the return to better international finance and commerce conditions will be delayed. "