THE H.B. TRIBUNE THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 1933 U.S. TARIFF REFORM.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 80, 16 March 1933, Page 6

THE H.B. TRIBUNE THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 1933 U.S. TARIFF REFORM.

There is something decidedly refreshing and encouraging' in what, according to a Washington overnight message, the new American President’s Secretary of Commerce has had to say on the subject of tariffs. We are told that he has attacked the present system in the United States and has advocated a tariff policy of “common sense and of common decency to other nations.” Perhaps of still greater significance is his expressed conviction that “an overwhelming majority of the American people have unmistakably shown they are tired of a policy that has antagonised every other nation in the world.” These are very strong words, going very much further than any indication in the same direction that was given by Air. Roosevelt during his presidential campaign. No doubt we may fairly assume they were spoken with the President’s previous approval. Possibly, however, they may have been thrown out, as much as anything, by way of test with a view to inducing indications of the public opinion with respect to which Mr. Roper has spoken with such seeming confidence. In any event, while we may welcome this new note in American ministerial circles and entertain some hope of a practical outcome, it may be just as well not to read too many favourable implications into it. Mr. Roosevelt, under most exceptional conditions, has been given a free hand in many ways, but it is not to be expected that he will be allowed to go unchecked for very long. In fact, we have already seen his proposals with regard to the “veterans’ ” bonus halted by the Senate. An American, writing in an English review shortly after Mr, Roosevelt’s election was assured, warned his readers that “no error would invite more disillusionment in judging the outcome of the election than to infer from it a change from the American protectionist creed.” The American nation, he said, had not begun a ■basic transformation of its tariff ideas; all it had done was to choose as President a man for whom tariffs are not so sacrosanct as they were for President Hoover. In this connect ion it is, of course, to be recalled that in his campaign speeches Mr. Roosevelt never went very much further than to suggest that he would make use of tariffs and .war-debts as a basis of bargain-

ing for trade advantages amonj; foreign nations and to secure foreign markets for American products. Beyond this he did not at that time go, while also, indeed, pledging himself to continue the protection of American agricultural products in particular and of American industries in general. As our American writer says, “Mr. Roosevelt knew his America and he wanted to be elected.”

In spite of what the new Minister of Commerce has had to say on the subject, it may well be doubted whether the American people, in the mass, have yet learned the economic truths about tariffs and international payments. It is suggested, indeed, that even Mr. Roosevelt himself had not given them very much thought before he set out on his speech-making journey through his vast electorate. That certainly was some months ago now, and in the interval he may have given them some deeper study that has impressed him with their importance and hence the brave words he has put forth through his ministerial mouthpiece.

We may, however, be a little bit sceptical as to whether any like conversion has yet been worked among the Congressmen

upon whom Mr. Roosevelt will have to rely for the backing necessary for carrying out his own ideas, whatever they may now be. Hitherto the great majority of the American people, and of their politicians in particular, have scouted as absurd the argument that they cannot hope to be at the one time a highly protectionist creditor nation and big exporters to the countries that are in debt to them. It does not seem at all likely that this lesson has been in any way thoroughly learned since Mr. Roosevelt and his fellow Democrats secured such a sweeping victory at the polls. Our American writer was evidently fully conscious of all this when he said that the education of his own followers would be one of Mr. Roosevelt’s most difficult tasks. At the same time, however, he pointed out that the new President was not only well placed for carrying out that process but was himself always willing to learn, being one who “knows what he does not know” and ready to consult experts. Much will, of course, depend upon the measure of early and recognisable success that will attend Mr. Roosevelt’s domestic policy. If that shows itself at all manifestly, then we may hope that he will be able to carry Congress with him in his other proposals.