Evening star. [volume], November 18, 1938, Page A-13, Image 13

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
U.S.-Canada
Trade Pact
Is Hailed
May Be First Move
Toward General
Revision Is View
By DAVID LAWRENCE.
• Just as many people were be
ginning to despair of the triumph
of sanity in a world of unrest, Great
Britain and the United States have
together taken the most advanced
step toward breaking down eco
nomic barriers to trade that the
world nas wit
nessed since the
same two na
tions six years
aco turned the
clock back and
helped intensify
the friction of
present day
commerce.
When the
i United States,
over the protest,
though with the
signature of
President
Hoover, adopted
in 1931 the
Hawley-Smoot Tariff Law, the
highest in our history, the British
dominions met at Ottawa in 1932
and put into effect a series of
reprisals which were followed by
other governments, so that in 1933
the total trade of the world fell to
one of the low points of all times.
Today Britain and America, as
well as Canada, have joined in new
reciprocal trade agreements which,
together with 20 other trade agree
ments previously signed, now cover
about 60 per cent of the trade of
the world. This is truly a remark
able achievement for which the
Secretary of State, Cordell Hull,
deserves high praise. Without the
approval of President Roosevelt
these treaties could not have been
consummated so it may well be said
that the present administration
without trying the old method of
general tariff revision has adjusted :
rates throughout the world directly ;
and has affected indirectly the tariff
duties between other nations.
David Lawrence.
Benefits Other Nations.
For the concessions granted by
the United States and Great Britain
to each other in tariff duties mean
k that other nations will receive
1 hose benefits, too. insofar as par
ticular products are affected. But
this is not so important as the in
ability of Britain or Canada to
grant to other nations any lower
rates or better arrangements than
have been granted to the United
«• States.
To make trade agreements with
Canada and the United Kingdom
is to arrange a new system of trade
relationships with our two best cus
tomers. Tire United States supplies
well over half of Canada’s purchases
and buys about 40 per cent of
Canada's products. Also, the United
Kingdom buys more from the
United States than from any other
country in the world and. likewise,
England finds America one of her
largest markets for her own goods.
The two new treaties just signed
account for more than a third of the
international trade of the world and
affect many of the British colonies
as well as the United Kingdom and
Canada.
Downward Revision.
Tn such a background, the whole
world may now see an attempt at
gradual revision downward of tariff
barriers. It involves a maintenance
of the protective principle, to be
sure, but England's high protection
ist policies are modified, just as are
the high tariff duties of the United
States.
What reciprocity aims to do is to
r increase the sum total of trans
actions between countries, recogniz
ing. indeed, that when there are
tariff walls goods do not flow' across
boundaries and there is economic
stagnation and unemployment. Ab
solute protection for all interests on
both sides of the water was obviously
impossible. In a negotiation, lasting
several months as this one did. tne
spirit of give and take requires
mutual concessions. Complaints
doubtless will be heard by individual
industries, but a trade agreement,
like a tariff law, represents a com
promise and an adjustment of con
flicting interests. Rarely can it be
said of a tariff law that every inter
est was satisfied.
The American farmer, of course,
should benefit because of the en
larged market for agriculture made
possible by these treaties and this in
turn should help to develop buying
power at home by the farmers.
What is important is that Britain
and America and Canada were able
to reach an agreement after months
of tedious discussion and that the
example set to other nations is such
as to encourage the reciprocal princi
ple everywhere. The official an
nouncement from the Department
of State emphasizes this point as
follows:
Liberal Spirit.
“Since the trade policies of the
> United States and of the countries
of the British Empire have wide in
fluence in the world, the liberal
The Capital Parade
White House Overtures by Conservatives Reported,
With Rayburn and Clark in Submissive Mood
'
By JOSEPH ALSOP and ROBERT KINTNER.
Many people are whooping with pleasure at the thought of the
President prostrate beneath the heels of conservative Democrats.
The whoopers will be interested by a reliable report that two leading
conservative Democrats have made post-election overtures to the
White House.
The two are House Majority Leader Sam Rayburn of Texas, a
crony of Vice President John N. Garner, and Senator Bennett Champ
Clark of Missouri, who is widely reputed to be Garner’s 1940 presi
dential choice. Rayburn has just left Washington after a call on the
President. Clark'made ms over
ture indirectly. Neither Rayburn
nor Clark has discussed the mat
ter, but White House sources,
which, while interested, are
usually accurate, state that both
men were in rather submissive
mood.
After the voters’ recent
swing at the New Deal, you might
expect men like Clark and Ray
burn to be encouraged in con
\ LET BYGONES
,)»E BYGONES.
Tchiee
servative rebellion. But there are other brutally practical considera
tions to be remembered.
Clark’s case is special. He is now running so hard for the
1940 nomination that, if he were a shorter-winded man, you
could hear his eager puffing from Coast to Coast. His chances
have been handsomely improved by a big home-state majority
on election day, yet he runs the risk of having started the
race too soon to finish. The one thing that can assure him of
the great prize is the President's approval. If the President
should approve Clark, the conservative Democrats would accept
the arrangement with sighs of gratitude, for he is really the
conservatives’ man.
As Clark's obvious play is to court the President, the story of
his overture to the White House has the color of reason. His message
is reported to have been the simple question, “Isn't there any way
we can get together?” While that question remains unanswered,
he is unlikely to attack the White House from the Senate floor.
Of course, the President- and the men around him have long
used the name “Bennett Clark” to sum up everything they don’t
want in the Democracy’s 1940 standard bearer. Unless the President
has an astonishing change of heart, Clark will eventually realize that
there is no way he can "get together” with the White House, short
of surrender of his ambitions and most of his independence. Then
open, violent rebellion probably will terminate his amiability. But
that is the future.
Representative Rayburn, on the other hand, has no need to make
peace with the White House. As House leader, he has gone down the
line for the President, grudgingly sometimes, but with great regularity.
He may be classed as a conservative Democrat, however, because his
private opinions and friendships make him an outstanding member
of the so-called “Texas group” which Vice President Garner leads.
And he is understood to have come to the White House partly as the
Texans’ ambassador. •
The Texans in Congress are fair specimens of the type now
expected to be most troublesome to the President. The South's one
party system makes their congressional seats reasonably secure.
But their fat committee chairmanships, and the comfortable Govern
ment jobs of their supporters and relatives, depend on keeping a
Democrat in the White House. Once a Republican comes in, the
'DEMJ*
Texans' supporters will go
hungry, and they will have to use
their own salaries to feed their
cousins, aunts, sons-in-law and
other relatives. Their prime
interest is to keep a Democrat—
any old Democrat—in the White
House.
Now that the Republicans
have become a real threat, intra
party squabbling may defeat the
Democratic nominee in '40. The
Texans’ impulse to assert their individualities is repressed by their
impulse to save their skins. No wonder Sam Rayburn is said to have
assured the President that his congressional cohorts would be more
united this year than last.
And whether or not the reports of the Rayburn and Clark
overtures are correct, one thing must be remembered. The
orthodox Democrats have much to lose in a row with the Presi
dent. for they need hi* help two years from now. The President,
on the other hand, has enjoyed the conventional term of office.
If he has the gumption, he can w^alk out on his party. When a
man is badly needed and can walk out at will, he retains the whip
hand.
(Copyright. 1P38. by the Nor(h American Newspaper Alliance, Inc )
spirit shown in this trade agreement
should have an important bearing
on the commercial policies of many
other countries, quite apart from the
fact that, under the most-favored
nation practice of both the United
Kingdom and the United States,
most countries will benefit directly
from the concessions provided in
it.”
The experience of the United
States with the first Canadian
agreement was that the total volume
of trade increased materially. As
rates are lowered, the inducement
to move goods arises. When more
goods move, there is more revenue
for steamship companies and for j
railroads, more fees for brokers and j
shippers and maritime insurance
companies. Likewise as factory or
farm production is stimulated as a
consequence of more demand grow
ing out of reduced prices, employ
ment is increased, which tends to
offset losses here and there where
the lowered tariff breaks down a
tariff-supported factory at home and
compels new methods or new ma
chinery to meet the new competition.
The trade treaties have been under
fire for some time by the school of
absolute protectionism and by a
large number of Republican con
servatives, but in the East in the
last few years, especially in seaport
cities dependent on world trade to
fill up empty office buildings and in
crease employment in shipping,
quite a number of supporters of the
trade agreement policies have arisen
in the Republican ranks.
(Copyright, 1838.)
Church to Hold Dinner
St. Mary's Catholic Church at
Barnesville, Md., will hold its an
nual turkey dinner from 2 to 8 pm.
tomorrow at the community hall.
The Rev. Carl Hess, pastor of the
church, is in charge of arrange
' ments.
^FAMOUS
mmkomw
America’s Finest m J
HOME MADE
CANDIES
POUNDS
FOP^
Alway* mold from
dainty ribbon ba*k«t*.
All Fannie May Candies
are made fresh today and
every day at our candy
kitchen. 1010 K 8t. N.W.,
and several times a day de
livered to our 8 branches,
guaranteeing absolute fresh
ness. Be sure you buy Fresh
Homemade Fannie May
Candies.
Candy Mailed Anywhere—lneared Free.
7 FANNIE MAY CANDY SHOPS
1010 E St. N.W. 1406 N. Y. A*«. N.W.
3305 14th St. N.W. 1354 F St. N.W.
1706 Ph. At«. N.W. 1317 E St. N.W.
621 F St. N.W.
Recital to Be Given
Otis Holley, colored soprano, will
be presented in a recital at 8:30 p.m.
tomorrow at the Lincoln Congrega
tional Memorial Temple, Eleventh
and R streets N.W., by the Psi
Gamma Mu Sorority, composed of
business and professional women, j
CTHE opinions ot the writers on this page are their own, not
* necessarily The Star’s. Such opinions are presented in
The Star’s effort to give all sides of questions of interest to its
readers, although such opinions may be contradictory among
themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s.
Washington Observations
Broadcast Emphasizes That Church of Rome Regards
Jewish Oppression as Humanitarian Problem
By FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE.
Wednesday’s broadcast from
Catholic University, wherein ec
clesiastical dignitaries and former
Gov. A1 Smith, speaking for the
laity, protested anti-Semitic “atroci
ties’’ in Germany, emphasizes an
aspect of the situation which is of
paramount; sig
n i f i cance. B y
this impressive
d e m onstration,
the Church of
Rome has shown
that maltreat
ment of the
Jews is not a
Jewish question,
but a humani
tarian problem
that transcends
borders, creeds
and nationali
ties. That the
N a t ion-w i d e
radio denuncia
Frederic William Wile.
tion has Vatican City's sanction is
not to be doubted, nor the probability
that it is a signal to Pope Pius’
350,000,000 followers throughout the
world to join in a mighty chorus of
condemnation of Germany's orgy of
hate and violence.
* * * *
Jewish leaders in the United
States, who are practicing note
worthy restraint of utterance during
the tragedy that has befallen their
co-religionists, seem inclined to look
on It, despite the effects on individu
als, as a blessing in disguise. What
they mean is that, with the lopsided
psychology for which the Nazis
possess a positive genius, the Ger
mans have contrived within a bare
week to mobilize world opinion
against themselves. This is manifest
nowhere more impressively than in
the United States. It is difficult to
recall any comparable emergency,
domestic or foreign, which so spon
taneously aroused the passionate
interest and indignation of men as
widely separated, denominationally
and politically, as Franklin D.
Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Alfred M.
Landon, Thomas E. Dewey, Alfred
E. Smith, John L. Lewis. William
Green, Sinclair Lewis, William Ran
dolph Hearst. Archbishop Curley,
Dr. Daniel Poling. Dr. Ralph Sock
man, Norman Thomas, Senator
King, Bishop Manning and Dr.
Edgar Dewitt Jones, president of the
Federal Council of the Churches of
Christ in America. The list could
be extended without limit, as could
a roster of the newspapers of the
country, which are a unit in holding
up the German regime to American
scorn and fury.
* * * *
American Jews are proud and
grateful that their fellow citizens, as
far as public speech is concerned,!
are doing the crusading for which
the emergency calls. The Jewish
community is certain eventually to ;
find means of expressing adequately
its art>reciation of so unparalleled
a demonstration of this country's
liberalism and sense of right. On
their own part, the Jew$ of the
United States recognize as their
primary duty the provision of ma*
terial relief for their oppressed kith
and kin. They stand ready, within
existent immigration restrictions, or
those which may later be laid down,
to do their full part in facilitating ,
the transfer of their persecuted
people to such parts of the world
as find It possible to give them
asylum.
One of the lighter touches In
a situation otherwise heavily over
shadowed is Mayor La Guardia’s
decision to station an all-Jewish
guard of patrolmen to protect the
German Consulate General in
Battery place, New York City, and
henceforth to assign only Jewish
cops to look after prominent Nazi
visitors to Manhattan Island.
Gotham's “Little Flower” seems to
have taken a leaf out of Col. Theo
dore Roosevelt's book. In T. R.'s
autobiography, he narrates:
“While I was police commis
sioner of New York City, an
anti-Semitic preacher from Ber
lin, Rector Ahlwardt, came to
New York to preach a crusade
against the Jews. Many Jews
were much excited; asked me to
prevent him from speaking and
not to give him police protection.
This, I told them, was impos
sible; and, if possible, would have
been undesirable because it would
make him a martyr. The proper
thing to do was to make him
ridiculous. Accordingly, I sent
a detail of police under a Jewish
sergeant, and the Jew-baiter
made his harangue under the
active protection of some 40
police, every one of them a Jew.”
* * * *
To Melvin H. Dalberg of the
examiners’ division of the Federal
Communications Commission, this
department awards a blue ribbon
for the radio wisecrack of the
season. After hearing the National
Press Cflub's recent reproduction of
Mr. Orson Welles’ rhapsody in
jitters. Judge Dalberg said the
Nation's 23-year-old dramatic genius
ought to be called "Little Boy Boo."
Speaking of blue ribbons, Wash
ington has seldom seen such a rash
of medals, ribbons and other
baubles, as dazzled the eye at the
Cuban Embassy's soiree in honor of
Col. Fulgencio Batista, the Havana
dictator who was in Washington
last week. Ambassador Fraga's in
vitations having requested ‘'decora
tions,'’ they blossomed out with a
vengeance. One expected the
breasts of foreign diplomats and of
our own Army, Navy and Marine
gallants to glitter with the trophies
of valor, garnered at home and
abroad, but where the scores of
American civilians, who turned up
looking like a Tiffany show window
rampant, got their stars, bars,
crowns, unicorns, dragons, eaglets,
rising suns, crescents and what
have-you remains a mystery. One
cynical wag. surveying the kaleido
scopic effects which bedizened
many a democratic shirt-front
risked the guess that decorations,
like dress clothes, can be rented in
Washington. An American mil
lionaire once turned up at the
Kaiser's court in Berlin wearing a
jeweled decoration the diameter of
a teacup. Quoth William II to the
Yankee Ambassador, as he surveyed
the mammoth trinket: "I thought
I was familiar with every order in
the world, but that's a brand-new
one on me." Replied the 100 per
center from the U. S. A., "Oh, Your
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LOOK FOR THE
COLD CLOCK
We, the People
Royalty's Forthcoming Visit Seen as First Hint
Of U. S.-German Duel for Influence Over Britain
By JAY FRANKLIN.
The forthcoming visit of King George and Queen Elizabeth of
England to this country is the first shadow of a dawning diplomatic
duel between Germany and the United States for influence over the
I--U.->
I WWsTT
tuiAKcrll
British Empire.
American success in this duel
will realign British policy with
that of the democratic nations of
the Western World. Failure may
well result in the disguised par
tition of the empire into two
spheres of Influence—with the
self-governing dominions follow
ing the lead of Washington and
relying on America for defense,
and the African and Asiatic
possession* or the British crown drifting under a Joint Anglo-German
hegemony.
The royal visit to Canada was originally undertaken in the
interest of Canada’s internal unity and external solidarity with
the empire. The growth of ‘’Fascism’* and of French-Canadian
nationalism in Eastern Canada had placed a growing strain on
the political life of the Dominion. President Roosevelt's speech
last summer, extending the self-defense features of the Monroe
Doctrine to Canada, further weakened what Kipling called “the
bonds of common funk’’ which link Ottawa to London. So Lord
Tweedsmuir and the responsible Dominion authorities decided
that an unprecedented visit by reigning royalty was needed to
reaffirm the British interest in a united Canada within a united
empire.
Since it would be manifestly discourteous for the King and Queen
to visit Canada without making a friendly gesture to the United States,
a gingerly "Hi, there,” in favor of a "token visit” south of the unguard
ed frontier, came from London. Above all, it was desired to avoid the
impression that an Anglo-American alliance or entente was in exist
ence or under contemplation.
There was, accordingly, considerable diplomatic embarrassment
in empire councils, when the British ante was "seen and raised." The
White House went into action on all fronts and the negotiations were
taken out of the hands of the State Department and were conducted
on a high plane of sovereignty. The American effort was to transform
an imperial side show into the main attraction of world politics and
to wheedle the King and Queen to pay us a full-dress state visit.
Here the object of Mr^Roosevelt's diplomacy is to use the common
sentiments and free institutions of England, America and the dominions
to resolidify the empire as the major political institution on the glooe
and so to re-establish the United Kingdom as our “buffer state”
against European aggression. The weapons used in this connection
are moral ones, backed by great
natural resources, rather than
armaments linked by alliances or
diplomatic understandings. As
with Cardinal Mundelein's mis
sion at Rome, so with the public
opinion of the English-speaking
peoples—and the fresh outbursts
of persecution in Germany and
the growing Nazi defiance of the
Catholic Church are helping to
crystallize a moral and cultural
\ FllRj rC N
/ 5fNTIMC|/p
identity of attitude among the empire, the Vatican and the united
States.
This identity of outlook is far from complete and may melt
before the shrewd calculations of the Germans as to England's
strategic vulnerability, and of the Italians as to which end of
their spaghetti is buttered. If the Rome-Berlin axis holds firm,
it is possible that President Roosevelt's diplomacy may backfire
and that we may find ourselves charged with the defense of
Australia and New Zealand, as well as Canada, while England
drifts into economic and political marriage with the tough-minded
totalitarians, and takes the Royal Navy with her as a dowry.
At the moment, the royal visit is interesting as the first effort
to revive the diplomacy of 1918, when it was arranged that, if the
Germans conquered England, the navy was to cross the Atlantic and
continue the war from this side of the ocean.
(Copyright, 1938.)
Majesty, that * just a little thing I
| designed for myself!”
* * * *
Prof. Harold Laslci of London, who
opened the Washington Town Hall
forum the other night, brought
down the house with an epigram:
"I would rather die on the battle
field than in a concentration camp.”
(Copyright. 1938.)
Immune to Scorpions
While Diyarbekir, Eastern Ana
tolia. pays rewards for destruction of
scorpions. Tahir Baba, a bushman,
proves that he is immune to their
stings by catching them alive and
eating them or letting them crawl
, over him while the townspeople look
on amazed.
Headline Folk
And What
They Do
William C. Durant
Apparently Is Back
In the Scrimmage
By LEMUEL F. PARTON.
The other day, a brisk, dapper
little old man stepped into a big
Wall Street investment banking
office and asked lor the top boss,
W. C. Durant
with an air of
assurance. He
had an audience
and came out
full of business
and stepping
high.
A friend, who
was doing busi
ness there that
day, reports to
me that the
peppy visitor
was William C.
Durant, twice
head of General
Motors, once the
master of $100 -
ooo.ooo, and that, at the age of 77,
Mr. Durant was scouting new capital
for another big tourney in motor
finance. My friend couldn't learn
whether he got it, but said he had
heard there was a deal on which
might put Mr. Durant on the main
line again. He said the little Na
poleon of early-day auto finance
looked as if he were about to merge
all companies and skim the cream.
It was in 1910 that the bankers
crowded Mr. Durant out of the presi
dency of General Motors. He was
back in 1915 and out again in 1920,
in the post-war crash, in which he
jettisoned $90,000,000 of his own
money, trying to stop the downslide
of the stock. He took his losses
casually and was busy for years in
daring market forays, but never
quite converted any of his passes.
Two years ago. he opened a bean
ery in Asbury Park, which also didn't
quite click. Recently, they auctioned
off the last of his famous art and
furniture collection, at his shore
estate at Deal. N. J. He said he
thought he was through with busi
ness, but, according to all reports,
he is in the scrimmage again, spry
as a jaybird.
An acquaintance of this writer,
who knew’’ Mr. Durant well, told me
how he laughed off his second
relinquishment of his motors king
dom.
‘‘I built the greatest automobile
building in the world, at Detroit,”
he said, according to my informant,
"'and when I did it, I fixed it so
they won't forget me. Hidden some
where in every column and every
capital and big stock of that build
ing there is a deeply chiseled D.
There wasn't anything anonymous
about that job. and I took good care
to leave my mark on it.”
So did the king in Kipling's poem,
when he was pulled off his big palace
building job. when "they said thy
use is fulfilled. ” He "carved on
every timber and cut on every
stone.” and the poem concludes,
"After me cometh a builder; tell
him I, too, have known.”
Former Slave Dies
Sabina Jacobs, an ex-slave, has
'' died in Paarl, South Africa, at the
1 age of 106.
wntxpu&t/ expenses
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