DANGER OF TARIFF WALL

Hawera Star, Volume L, 29 November 1930, Page 5

DANGER OF TARIFF WALL

ISOLATION OF UNITED STATES “Cause of World Depression.” MR BROOKES’ PARTING ADVICE. (United press Association —By Electric Telegraph Copyright.) NEW YORK, Nov. 28. “Though Australia cannot afford the luxury of a Commissioner-General the retiring incumbent of that office finds he cannot leave America without indulging in the luxury of a few homely observations of what it is that draws the British Empire and the United States closer together in love, peace and cultural interests yet pulls them apart in the conflict of viewpoints on international, economic and political co-operation,” said Mr H. E. Brookes in a farewell message in the “New York Times.”

“Mv wife and I are not likely to forget' the friends we have made in the United States. We understand and love the spirit of America, and while being deeply loyal to the Empire 'and the Throne we consider the United Stats our spiritual home. For this' reason we consider every manifestation unworthy of America as' not American and long for the day when she will bold true leadership in the world —a leadership that will ease the burdens of the world. There is talk of a policy of trying to extricate yourselves bv becoming more self-contained than ever and retaining the high standards of the past by living on your own kidney fat. Snell is the advice of some politicians. “Australia is undergoing probably the most serious depression in the country’s history. We are suffering and are to suffer more, but I cannot stress too much the fact that the seriousness is for the Australian people themselves, not for those who have invested in the country’s future by purchasing Government securities. Australia will carry on.” Mr Brookes warned the readers of news reports from Australia that the affairs depicted therein were family disputes, not an indication of the depletion of the country’s resources. He asserted that Australians would build for the future on an ideal plan. “Shall I tell you what is wrong with Australian and American affairs and American and British affairs?” asked Mr Brookes. “There is first in America the political isolationist force, which is nationally minded and exclusionist. There is the other force which is internationally minded and inclusionist. The .first builds America’s- tariffs and hems her in on all sides by barriers seeking to make her too narrowly selfcontained. The other group finds itself restricted and held hack by the first. It is the ‘little’ American who, by means -of internal inflation and the dosing of American markets to foreign goods, is in considerable degree responsible for the conditions of the present world-wide depression. “We in Australia should he the last to throw stones since our house is built in great measure of brittle glass. We lifted prices in the -same way and maintained prices by means of borrowed capital. For 12 years both countries staved off the inevitable, but now Australia for some time has been reaping the whirlwind. The United States is reallv only beginning to feel the effects of ihev violations of the economic laws.”