Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

away from economic nationalism and attempts to lower trade barriers contributes to peace. Besides this general effect, there is also a more definite way in which the continuation of the trade-agreements program will help bring about the peace of justice and sanity that the world so sorely needs.

While the war is still going on, we can do something with this program to help preserve what freedom of trade still exists. We can keep alive the principle of free exchange of goods, which has been denied everywhere by totalitarian governments. The idea of autarchy-that is, national self-sufficiency-is first and foremost based on the idea of the nation as an armed camp and peace as merely the interval between wars. Even the most so-called self-sufficient nations have to import some articles, and what foreign trade they have is carried on under barter arrangements that put the trade of other countries also into a strait jacket. With the reciprocal trade-agreements program we can help lessen the strait jackets by making these other countries less dependent on the totalitarian states for their markets.

When the wars now raging in various parts of the world are over, we will find that autarchy has already been so firmly established in many regions that it will be impossible to lower trade barriers everywhere immediately without causing tremendous hardships. Here is where the slow, careful, thoroug method of the reciprocal trade program comes in. Step by step, commodity by commodity, country by country, restrictions can be given up, excessive tariffs lowered, new markets developed, and the internal economies of the nations rearranged on the basis of a sane, free, constructive exchange of goods among free people. Over and over again the President and Secretary of State have declared that the United States is ready to contribute to the establishment of a sound international economic system as a foundation of enduring peace. The reciprocal tradeagreements program will be our best contribution to this end.

GENERAL FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S CLUBS, 1938-41

To the Senate Finance Committee:

The Reciprocal Trade Agreements program was endorsed in principle by the General Federation of Women's Clubs at its triennial convention held in Kansas City, Mo., May 1938. The adoption of the resolution followed several years of study. Resolutions adopted by the federation are considered active and continue to control the policies of our organization for 6 years. Notwithstanding this fact, and because of changed conditions under which international trade and commerce must be carried on in a world at war, it was thought advisable to clarify further our position.

Consequently, the attached statement, "Reasons why the reciprocal tradeagreements program should be continued in its present form" was presented to the board of directors of our organization at its annual meeting in January. The statement was unanimously endorsed in a motion which called upon our State organizations to give it the widest possible publicity so that intelligent and widespread support might be givne to our resolution taken in 1938. Carrying out the purpose of this motion, the statement is being disseminated to our 15,000 clubs by publication in our national magazine and various State organs.

The General Federation of Women's Clubs is not a pressure group. We seek to place before our membership unassailable facts so that sound opinions may be formed. Our membership of more than 2,000,000 women constitutes the largest consumers' group of the country. A cross section would reveal the widest possible scope of interests. In our own various capacities we represent the interests of industry, agriculture, labor, and business. In our ranks are to be found the wives of miners, farmers, laborers, industrialists, white-collar workers, educators, bankers, and businessmen. Our organization is peculiarly able therefore to place the good of the entire country above the special interest of sections or groups.

We consider the flexibility of the present method to be of absolutely vital importance in dealing with other nations whose totalitarian policies are apt to change from day to day. We do not agree that tariff is a purely domestic matter. It affects our relations with every nation with whom we trade. It carries political implications of which only the executive branch of the Government may be aware. Negotiation of tariff agreements by the executive branch of the Government but within the broad principles laid down by the Congress is entirely in accord with constitutional provisions.

We believe that the reciprocal trade-agreements program, as put into effect by Secretary Hull, has been largely successful and that it is an honest and sincere attempt to determine tariff negotiations which are designed to promote the welfare of the entire country in a scientific and democratic way.

Respectfully submitted.

Mrs. FREDERIC BEGGS,
Chairman, Department of International Relations,

(Attachment.)

General Federation of Women's Clubs.

REASONS WHY THE RECIPROCAL TRADE-AGREEMENTS PROGRAM SHOULD BE CONTINUED IN ITS PRESENT FORM

Endorsed by the General Federation of Women's Clubs in May 1938, the act authorizing the negotiation and conclusion of trade agreements based on the principle of reciprocal nondiscriminatory treatment will lapse in June.

The following statement prepared by Mrs. Frederic Beggs, chairman of international relations, elations, was endorsed unanimously by the board of directors, at its annual meeting, January 19, 1940.

1. The reciprocal trade-agreements program should not be a partisan issue as it puts into effect a tariff policy advocated by both parties. The reciprocal principle in tariff making was first tried by President McKinley. The mostfavored-nation clause was first declared to be the policy of the United States by Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes when he was Secretary of State in the Harding administration. Included in the Republican Party platform the following year, it was carried through until 1932.

2. The reciprocal trade agreements program provides a scientific and democratic method of determining tariff regulations which are designed to promote the welfare of the entire country.

This

3. The rules and restrictions under which our trade and commerce are carried on must be adaptable to the constantly changing conditions of a world at war. is why it is not desirable to confer upon the trade agreements the dignity of "treaties," which depend upon the slow and uncertain processes of legislative action.

4. The abrogation of the reciprocal trade agreements program would be interpreted by other nations as a major reversal of our foreign policy.

5. If the act authorizing the reciprocal trade agreements program is allowed to lapse, it will damage the efforts of the Pan-American nations to achieve continental solidarity and stability, thus jeopardizing the economic and political reconstruction which will have to be undertaken on a world-wide scale when the present tragic war is over.

6. If we abandon the Hull reciprocal trade program, it will mean that we must try to become more economically self-sufficient. This will involve a greater amount of Government control of business, industry and agriculture agriculture thus imperiling our democratic institutions. This is especially true of agriculture.

7. The reciprocal trade agreements program was designed to expand the home market, and increase the purchasing power of the American consumer by loosening the restrictions on foreign trade and opening world markets for the surplus products of both our agriculture and industry. That it has been largely successful, is borne out by statistics available at the United States Department of Commerce. Abandonment of the program would create a period of great uncertainty and would not contribute to national prosperity.

THE NATIONAL BOARD OF THE YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN
ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Hon. PAT HARRISON,

February 27, 1940.

Senate Finance Committee, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. С. DEAR SIR: For 15 years the Young Women's Christian Association has worked intensively in the cause of peace.

Because of the nature of our membership comprising as it does many thousands of young women working either in business or industry, we have long been aware of acute economic distress among many of their number. We have studied the causes of this distress and worked for its alleviation to the extent of our ability.

We know that many of our fellow citizens, including some of the members of our own organization, have lost their jobs because of trade barriers which have stifled international trade. We watched, for example, the loss of $80,000,000 between 1929 and 1932 to Massachusetts' trade through drastic reduction in export of shoes, leather, textile, rubber tires, safety razor blades, and forestry products. We saw $111,000,000 worth of exports lost to Wisconsin during the same period owing to a decline in exports of lard and other meat products, tractors, automobiles, electrical and mining machinery. We saw this loss of trade reflected in loss of jobs in the community affected. Because our manufacturers could not sell abroad, the needs of citizens could not be supplied at home. We watched the ranks of the unemployed swell; we saw standards of living decline in our own and other countries.

We believe that the orderly processes of trade between nations are necessary for a stable economy and the alleviation of unemployment, not only for the United States but for the whole world. The Young Women's Christian Association, therefore, has for the last 6 years supported the reciprocal trade agreements program and conducted among its members an intensive educational program regarding the agreements.

The economic organization of the world is based increasingly upon specialization and division of labor. No nation, not even the United States, has within its borders all the resources essential to modern life and modern production. Almost every country in the world produces more of certain products than it can consume. The United States raises more cotton, more tobacco, more hogs, more fruits than it can consume, and manufactures many articles which under the present economic system it cannot use. It sells these surpluses, or would like to sell them, abroad and obtains other commodities which it lacks either wholly or in part. The same, of course, is true usually to a more striking degree in other countries. This mutually profitable and necessary exchange is frequently prevented by the existence of excessive trade barriers. The domestic economy of practically every country of the world either has been or still is dislocated by such barriers.

In some countries we have seen acute poverty cause politica political unrest during recent years and economic needs made an excuse for wars of conquest and national aggrandizement.

Because bitter strife among nations will continue and peace will neither be promoted nor maintained unless trade barriers are lowered the Young Women's Christain Association supports the trade agreements program and hopes that the authority for its contiunance will be renewed, believing it one way by which the cause of of peace may be aided. Therefore because we believe that the trade agreements would relieve unemployment in the long run and supply markets for American surpluses, help prevent acute poverty which might cause political unrest, and would serve to bring about peace between nations, we support the extension of the Trade Agreements Act.

Respectfully yours,

Mrs. JOHN FRENCH, President.

STATEMENT OF MRS. ARTHUR BRIN, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN The National Council of Jewish Women, an organization of 65,000 women with branches in 200 cities in the United States has given careful study and consideration to the provisions and effects of the trade program of our great country based on the Trade Agreements Act of 1934.

Our organization has continuously supported this act and will continue to do so. We favor it for many reasons. We are impressed with the fact that although our foreign trade dropped off between 1929 and 1932 by two-thirds and our national income by one-half, that since 1934 when the Trade Agreements Act was passed both the foreign trade and the national income were increased by one-fourth. We believe that the threat to discontinue the act will be a threat to our national prosperity.

We believe that the Trade Agreements Act protects the interests of consumers and the general public; that it is a fair measure because local and special interests do not supersede the interests and needs of the country as a whole. We believe that this act provides a more scientific, more equitable and more practical method of adjusting tariffs than any previously employed. After Congress has established the broad basis of the program the many technical agreements are left for formulation to experts in various fields of agriculture, commerce, industry, labor, and finance. We believe this method to be a great advance over the method used in writing the Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930, which is generally considered unsatisfactory.

We hope that the principle of reciprocal tariff pacts first endorsed by the Republican can administration ion and the policy of the most-favored-nation accepted by the Republican an Party in its platform of 1922, both of which formed the basis of the Trade Agreements Act of 1934, will receive recognition as a bi-partisan policy. We fear a return to the tariff policy followed by our Nation in 1930, when the high tariffs we imposed evoked retaliation of other countries. We believe that a high tariff policy makes foreign markets and raw materials increasingly inaccessible and leads many nations to seek to increase and extend their boundaries. We hold that lowering the tariff reduces international friction and leads to better international economic relations. We believe that whereas war in Europe and Asia may block further extension of this program in those countries it becomes more important to further this program of reciprocal trade agreements with South American republics.

Because we believe that the Trade Agreements Act of 1934 has extended our foreign trade, increased our national prosperity, improved our relations with those countries with whom we have signed agreements, we shall continue to support this trade program and work for its extension beyond June 12 of this year and we hope for your favorable action on this measure.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS,
Washington, D. C., March 2, 1940.

To: Senate Committee on Finance.
From: National League of Women Voters,

IN SUPPORT OF THE RECIPROCAL TRADE AGREEMENT PROGRAM

The National League of Women Voters urges reenactment of the Reciprocat Trade Agreements Act, as provided in House Joint Resolution 407. In 1924 the League of Women Voters took up the study of the tar ff. During the 12 years between 1924 and 1936-league members all over the country searched for a solution of the tariff problem. They organized study groups; they published leaflets and pamphlets and widely distributed them; they participated in local meetings and arranged for radio programs; and they constantly related local tariff problems to national tariff making.

League members came to the conclusion that our tariff was too high and that a downward revision would be helpful to the consuming public, to American economy as a whole, and to the elimination of much international friction.

After the passage of the Trade Agreements Act in 1934 the league promoted study of this new method of tariff adjustment. At the Biennial Convention in 1936, after 12 years' search, the delegates from all the State leagues voted to support "downward revision of tariffs through reciprocal trade agreements." Study of the operation of the trade agreements program since 1936 by 550 local league has resulted in increased understanding and appreciation of the program, and interest in its continuation.

Tariff a national policy. - The League of Women Voters reached the conclusion that the tariff must be a truly national policy not an aggregation of local interests. In determining a tariff policy or in making a tariff schedule various domestic factors must be given proper weight. The degree to which the prosperity of farmers and of automobile workers, for example, is interdependent must be taken into account. The relation of raw materials, semimanufactured, and manufactured goods must be considered. General commercial, financial, and transportation conditions must be examined.

Foreign as well as domestic factors must be considered since foreign markets for certain United States products are basic to our national well-being. If foreign markets are lost, depression results not only for the enterprises dependent on disposal of surpluses abroad, but for other related ones. If workers in export industries are unemployed, they cannot buy the goods produced by other workers for the home market. If we are to promote a tariff policy for our Nation's good, the two-way character of foreign trade cannot be overlooked.

Difficulties of congressional tariff making. -Congress is, of course, responsible for determining our trade and tariff policy. For years, however, Congress has recognized the difficulties of legislating tariff schedules. It has set up from time to time various administrative methods of assisting with different parts of the problem. The inevitable log rolling of congressional tariff making has resulted in patchwork-quilt tariff schedules which may or may not be in the national interest.

Need for constant revision. The problem is further complicated by constant change in the domestic and foreign factors affecting American production which tends to make a new tariff act obsolete almost before it is enacted. Thus flexibility in the making of tariffs becomes necessary. Congress recognized this need when it wrote the flexible tariff provision into the 1922 and 1930 tariff laws. Eighteen years' experience with the flexible provision, however, indicates that it is not adequate. Since 1930 when the last major tariff act was passed by Congress, rates have been changed on about 58 items. This proportionately small adjustment during the last 10 years can hardly have been enough to protect our trade interests in view of the tremendous changes that have taken place in our internal as well as in the world's economy. This failure of the flexible tariff provision is due to the "cost of production" formula. This formula provides too limited a basis for tariff adjustments, even if it were possible to determine with accuracy the difference in costs of production among the many countries.

Unilateral action not enough. Any kind of unilateral modification of United States tariff rates meets only part of the problem. It in no way modifies those foreign trade developments which may adversely affect our domestic economy. Therefore, it is necessary to find a method whereby the United States can work to remove foreign trade barriers. Under the Constitution the power to negotiate with other nations resides solely in the executive branch of the Government. Hence, power to bargain for modification of foreign trade barriers must be given in some form by Congress to the Executive.

Requirements of tariff-making.- The League of Women Voters believes that it is the function of Congress to determine the trade and general tariff policy of the United States and to lay down the rules for its implementation by the executive branch of the Government. We believe that Congress should after determining the general tariff policy

(1) Authorize continuous study by Government experts of all facts related to trade and tariffs including testimony of interested persons, and that these facts should be made generally available;

(2) Direct the Executive to modify within specified limits United States tariff rates whenever expert study indicates the advisability of doing so;

(3) Authorize the Executive to bargain with foreign countries for mutually advantageous tariff adjustments.

Trade agreements program meets need. - The League of Women Voters believes that the reciprocal trade agreements program is a major advance in the development of a scientific method of tariff-making. In this program Congress has provided for international action in the tariff field and has broadened the base for making tariff adjustments. It has retained its constitutional authority for establishing the tariff policy of the United States. It has given to the Executive branch of the Government specific instructions for carrying out the policy by defining the limits of change in the congressionally adopted tariff schedule, ule, by requiring constant study by Government experts, and by requiring that opportunity be given interested persons to present their views. By enacting the Trade Act for limited periods, Congress has accepted the responsibility for regular review of achievements under it.

The trade program should be continued. The League of Women Voters maintains that the reciprocal trade program has been successful and should be continued; that increasing national prosperity has been due in part to the foreign trade promoted by trade agreements; that our national economy will be best served by retaining the trade program as an instrument to protect our foreign trade in a world at war; and that the best interests of the United States will be served by keeping the program as a means of promoting sane international trade relations when wars abroad end.

Mrs. HARRIS T. BALDWIN,

First Vice President.

« AnteriorContinuar »