Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, MONDAY, FEB. 3, 1930 BRITAIN AND UNITED STATES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17174, 3 February 1930, Page 6

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, MONDAY, FEB. 3, 1930 BRITAIN AND UNITED STATES

One of the aspects of the situation that should not bcjlost sight of while the Naval Conference is in session is that so far as Britain and the United States are concerned, it is more than a mere matter of the balancing of naval power; important as that is. A well-known and influential American weekly has recently pointed out in a manner.that compels attention, that Ihc most serious difficulties are as yet intangible; they lie in the future and they may be to some extent predicted because of the diverging .national policies of the two great Powers. The views alluded to were published on the eve of the Conference and inspired by its possibilities. The following considerations are worthy of careful note. , There can be no doubt that the United States constitutes Britain's most formidable challenger in the markets of the world to-day, occupy ing in this regard the position which was occupied by Germany during the years preceding 1014. American exports, according to the published lists »of figures, have been increasing of late years not only steadily but with great rapidity, so that they are practically on a par with those of Great Britain. Foreign investments show the same unparalleled expansion. The fact that the United States maintains a much larger population than that of Britain has meant that a greater demand has emerged for raw materials from every available part of the world. In the case of petroleum alone, it is evident that Britain and the United States are the two chief competitors for supplying the world; and it is also evident that the world supply itself is dwindling. Such a fact means the ultimate emergence of real differences that cannot in the nature of things be defined at. present -—differences which, save for the mitigating influences that may bo discovered as the result of the Conference now; being held, might lead to troubles of a more serious and farreaching nature. Another instance might be found in the United States' policy of subsidising a merchant marine, which will automatically, in the course of a generation or so, give that country a great advantage so far as the carrying trade of the world is concerned. What is here being attempted to indicate is that, short of the preliminary settlement of graver matters such as refer to cruisers and battleships, the other subsidiary causes of difference might easily assume such importance as to cause international disruption. More is at stake in London at the present time than the •settlement of sea policies. It may be useful to glance at the foreign interests that have been, during the years since tho' war, undertaken by the United States. Foreign investments and commercial enterprise have certainly been held as desirable for a long time by tho -American people, but have never been regarded as a vital necessity. The difference in attitude is at once evident when we'consider the case of Great Britain, whose agricultural resources, for example, even if they were organised and utilised in the most export manner, could never do more than meet the needs of about one half of the population. The needs of tho other half remain, and will remain. They can be mot only insofar as Britain is able to give manufactured goods of such commodities as coal in exchange for the foodstuffs which she must havo. Anything, , therefore, in the nature of a serious setback to British foreign trade would bo no mere loss of an attractive and profitable enterprise, but. would contain all the elements of -tragedy- and utter catastrophe. To a degree that is admittedly a very great deal less, something of the same kind may be said of tho United States, whose population is steadily increasing and slowly hut surely gaining on the production of food. It is calculated that within two decades tho United States will have ceased to export more foodstuffs than she imports, and that from then on, in order to keep nlivo, she will have to sell an increasing amount of manufactured goods to countries overseas.

In such a case/it is held, both Great Britain and the United States will then be seeking feverishly to sell abroad in the face of a world market which, as tilings are going now, will be steadily diminishing in size. Even although it he assumed that, in the backward regions of the world there will lie a constant rise in the scale of living, it must on the same grounds be assumed that there will be an increasing ability in such regions to meet their own manufacturing needs. It is not, therefore, a certainty that however willing they might be, it will be given to Britain and the United States to compete in the world markets for the control of raw material's. But nevertheless every single thing that will help in the formation of a final understanding between the two peoples must be carefully regarded and developed. Although we happen to belong to the race concerned, it is nevertheless a justifiable proposition that the world is likely to go further forward on the basis-of Anglo-Saxon civilisation than on any other, and that the Englishspeaking peoples of the world, without, any cheap-jack jingoism or lust for domination or conquest, have reason to believe that they have a unique contribution to make for tho good of the whole world. For that reason \vc may hope that, as the result of the Naval Conference, whether France and Italy, can agree between themselves or with any other State or not, a firm and enduring understanding may be built up between Britain and the United States that will ensure the unity of aim and purpose of all those who own the common speech of their British ancestors.