UNITED STATES POLICY

Wanganui Chronicle, 9 January 1947, Page 4

UNITED STATES POLICY

“IF we can work with other nations earnestly, patiently, and I wisely, we can —granting the will to peace on the part, of our neighbours—make a lasting peace.” So declared President Truman when addressing the joint session of Congress on the State of-tl>e Union.

It must be remembered that Ihe United States is not one man. There was a time when the United States was personified as

“Uncle Sam,” just as the United Kingdom was personified as “John Bull.” These personifications were useful in that they enabled people to visualise nations as individuals* but that was not altogether a gain because it did not take into consideration Ihe fact that just as a nation has no permanent Government, neither has it a permanent policy. Policy does not consist in pursuing one straight line, with each party as it comes into power following along the straight, line of its predecessor. Government policy moves from side to side, but each side inclines to the policy of the other. President Truman represents a political party which has lost its strength and he is booked for the discard at the next Presidential elections that is, if present indications are any criterion. The Democratic Party, however, has sought and achieved a reduction in the tariffs of the United States. The Republican Party is the high tariff party and now it rules in both Senate and House. The President is powerless to dominate Congress.

The tariff will have a great effect upon the foreign policy of the United States in the near future. The tariff in its nature is isolationist, ft seeks to cut off the country’s economy from the rest of the world and this action necessarily engenders an isolationist political attitude. To what extent will this spirit of isolationism be revived? The indieatons are that there wll be an attack upon the exsting tariff of the United States, both' by American and foreign advocates. The objective of American advocates of a lower tariff is the expansion of America’s exports, while representatives of other countries will seek opportunities hitherto denied in the American market. This attack will revive isolationism because this sentiment will be exploited by those whose interests it serves. To what extent then will the United States accept the role of world leadership as it was invited to do by President Truman? The President has declared that the “United States has made it dear that it is not retreating to isolationism’’ and that “the United States would not consent to settlement at the expense of principles vital to a just enduring peace.” “Uncle Sam” has spoken, but with one of his voices. He hgs another voice which will be heard later on in the year when the tariff battle is joined. The test of American policy is 1o be shaped in the lobbies of Washington's Capitol, not in the White House, the residence of the President.