The CHAIRMAN. May we assume, Mr. Secretary, that it is a fact that the United States, so far, has been for one vote in the Executive Committee and in the Conference? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir; that is right. Mr. CHAIRMAN. May we assume, for the purposes of this inquiry, that that will continue to be a fact? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir, Senator; I think we ought to do it that way. Mr. WILCOX. There is a third possibility, Senator, of weighted voting on particular problems in the organization rather than weighted voting on every problem which would be a compromise between the two. The CHAIRMAN. Has the formula been evolved? Mr. WILCOX. It has been explored, but there is no final position on it. The CHAIRMAN. Is it on paper? Mr. WILCOX. We do have something on paper. The CHAIRMAN. Is it secret? Mr. WILCOX. We will make it available to you, Senator. The CHAIRMAN. Will you bring it along? Senator HAWKES. Mr. Chairman, has it been discussed with any of the nations that are going to this meeting in Geneva, this problem that you are talking about? Mr. WILCOX. Yes. Senator HAWKES. All of them or just some? Mr. WILCOX. All of them. Senator HAWKES. Do you care to tell us the reaction in that discussion? Mr. WILCOX. Most of the other nations are not enthusiastic about a system of weighted voting that would give the United States a much heavier vote than the others. (The United States formula for weighted voting appears as exhibit XVI.) Senator HAWKES. That is what I would assume, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Secretary, what percentage of world trade is now covered by existing trade agreements? Mr. CLAYTON. I believe that on the basis of prewar trade that about 65 percent of our exports went to countries with which we had agreements, trade agreements, and something like 67 percent of our imports came from countries with which we had trade agreements. I do not know what the figures would be on last year's. The CHAIRMAN. If and when you complete the new crop of agreements, what will be the percentage of world trade covered by agreements to which we are parties? Mr. CLAYTON. That would be difficult to tell. With a number of these countries we already have agreements. As you know, we have with Great Britain an agreement, with France, and with a number of countries that we are negotiating with at Geneva, we already have agreements. The CHAIRMAN. Give me an estimate of what percentage would be completed by agreement. Mr. CLAYTON. Senator, that would be impossible to tell. There is no certainty that we are going to make agreements. The CHAIRMAN. I am assuming that we do. Can we say it this way? By all odds, the great part of world trade would be covered by those agreements? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir. If we make agreements with these 18 countries, the greater proportion of world trade would be covered. The CHAIRMAN. Why then can we not cover the objectives of this charter in our reciprocal trade agreements rather than by this added. mechanism? Mr. CLAYTON. Well, we think we need the charter. There are so many things involved here besides reduction of tariffs because you have the arrangement for intergovernmental commodity agreements, you have the cartel arrangement, and you create there, as I said in this statement, a forum before which nations can come and discuss and consult regarding their international problems. I think that is highly important. We have a forum that nations can go to and discuss their political problems, their political and military problems in the United States, and I think it is just as important that we have such a forum for economic problems, so I think that this has a much greater significance than just simply the trade agreements aspect of it. The CHAIRMAN. I asked a question of Dr. Wilcox as to those parts of the Charter which will be included as a matter of course in our trade agreements. Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir. He is getting that up. The CHAIRMAN. That will probably give the answer to the question I asked you. Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. In other words, that part of the proposed charter which you believe can be taken care of by the medium of trade agreements will be included in the trade agreements? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. We will explore that fully with Dr. Wilcox. Who is the spiritual father of this Charter? In whose head did it first blossom? Mr. CLAYTON. It is one of those things that it is difficult to say just who was the first man that ever though of it. The CHAIRMAN. Spontaneous combustion? Mr. CLAYTON. I feel sure, Senator Millikin, that while Mr. Hull devoted his attention, during all the time that he was in office, to this trade agreements matter, that he must have had in mind that at sometime an international trade organization was necessary. The CHAIRMAN. You think the first gleam was in his eye? You have a good daddy for it. Mr. CLAYTON. I would think so. The CHAIRMAN. Who have been the subsequent formulators of it, aside from Dr. Wilcox? Mr. CLAYTON. Well, we have, of course, in the economic section of the State Department quite a few very able fellows. Harry Hawkins, who was Mr. Hull's right-hand man for years on economic matters and on trade agreement matters has had a great deal to do with the creation of this Charter and the formulation of it, and the negotiations. He was in attendance with Mr. Wilcox throughout the London meeting and he is going to be with us at Geneva, and I suppose next to Mr. Wilcox he had more to do with it than anybody. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Secretary, I understand that tomorrow you will not be available; will you be available off and on next week?. Mr. CLAYTON. Senator Millikin, I think that I am going before the House Foreign Affairs Committee and I have promised Mr. Knutson that I would go before his committee on Monday on the hearings on the trade agreements program, but I was told today that they will probably be held only during the morning, and I could come here in the afternoon if you wish me to do so. The CHAIRMAN. Then we may feel at liberty to recall you if there is need? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir; I promised Mr. Knutson sometime ago that' I would be available if necessary, for several days starting Monday, but, as I say, I think that is only for morning sessions. The CHAIRMAN. Any questions? Senator CONNALLY. No questions. Senator GEORGE. I have nothing. The CHAIRMAN. We will start at 10:30 tomorrow morning, Dr. Wilcox. (Thereupon, at 5: 12 p. m., the committee adjourned until 10:30 a. m. of the following day, Friday, March 21, 1947.) INTERNATIONAL TRADE ORGANIZATION FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1947 UNITED STATES SENATE, The committee met at 10:30 a. m., pursuant to adjournment, in room 310 of the Senate Office Building, Hon. Eugene D. Millikin (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Millikin (chairman), Brewster, Hawkes, George, Johnson of Colorado, and Lucas. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. Dr. Wilcox, please. STATEMENT OF CLAIR WILCOX, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE POLICY, DEPARTMENT OF STATE The CHAIRMAN. Doctor, will you state your full name and give us a pretty good briefing on yourself? Mr. WILCOX. My name is Clair Wilcox, and I am Director of the Office of International Trade Policy of the Department of State. Do you wish a statement on my past positions and experience? The CHAIRMAN. We would like to know your qualifications and your history during your mature life. Mr. WILCOX. I did my undergraduate work at the University of Pennsylvania, I took my master's degree at Ohio State University, I took my doctor's degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1927. I have taught economics at Lafayette College, Ohio Wesleyan University, the University of Pensylvania, and Swarthmore College. I have at various times been active in journalism. I wrote editorials for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch between 1930 and 1935. I was on the editorial staff of Fortune Magazine in the summer of 1934. Between 1943 and 1945 I wrote special economic articles for the Sunday magazine of the New York Times. At various times I have held positions in State and Federal Governments. I was secretary of the Pennsylvania State Parole Commission in 1926-27; that was the joint commission of the Pennsylvania, State Legislature on the parole problem. My first position in Washington was under the Hoover administration when I was Director of Research for the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement, better known as the Wickersham Commission. I was a member of the Advisory Council of the National Recovery Administration, the NRA. I was consulting economist to the Social Security Board in 1936. I had the designation of economic expert with the Temporary National Economic Committee in 1939-40. I wrote one of the monographs of that committee on competition and monoply in American industry. The CHAIRMAN. What was the name of that committee? Mr. WILCOX. The Temporary National Economic Committee, Senator O'Mahoney's committee. The CHAIRMAN. Oh, yes. Mr. WILCOX. I was director of the Industrial Materials Division in the Office of Price Administration in 1942 and 1943. I have been chairman of the Conference on Price Research of the National Bureau of Economic Research. I am a member of the executive committee of the American Economic Association. I came to the State Department 2 years ago in March 1945 and have held my present position since July 1, 1945. The CHAIRMAN. Have you had any business experience? Mr. WILCOX. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Do you wish to make a general statement before we get into the details of the proposed charter? Mr. WILCOX. I should like, if it pleases the committee, to speak briefly on the historical background of this project and then if it would be helpful to indicate what appear to me to be the central provisions of the charter and the relationship of the other provisions to them. The CHAIRMAN. Go ahead, sir. Mr. WILCOX. Mr. Chairman, in your questioning of Mr. Clayton yesterday afternoon, you asked as to the origin of this program. The CHAIRMAN. Can you hear back there now? If you could pick up your voice, please. Mr. WILCOX. In your questioning of Mr. Clayton yesterday afternoon you asked who was the spiritual father of the International Trade Organization. I should like to submit for the record certain statements that have been made by Mr. Cordell Hull. The first appears in the Congressional Record for February 21, 1919, and in that statement in the House the then Congressman Hull said that since February 1916 he had been urging the establishment of a permanent international trade agreement congress, and I quote as follows: * for the purpose of establishing a permanent international trade agreement congress, the function of which should comprise the consideration of all international trade methods, practices, and policies of an unfair, unequal, and objectionable nature, and to formulate agreements eliminating and avoiding such methods and policies in the future. The CHAIRMAN. The British have a Trade Commission, do they not? Mr. WILCOX. Well, the British have a Board of Trade which is similar to our Department of Commerce in its functions. The CHAIRMAN. Does it not have a larger function than the Department of Commerce? Mr. WILCOX. I think that it carries some functions that go beyond our Department of Commerce. It is concerned with both domestic and foreign commerce. The CHAIRMAN. I see. Proceed, sir. |