League of. Natt from which @ pertinent paragraph teas quoted columns" of th jorthechina Herald" recently te, once again, rhe following stimulating extracts may rouse taterest" which Dill tea fo the reading of the whole, eric, wa" ant, eunomle panorama 4 glance backward ver th rsa tuewve fouths furnishes more food foe dorists and queries than for con-faint interpretation,, Should ths year be rognrded ae marking Rrlomergence of the world nto the flowing ide of recovery or ab mere= Tyau intend of mirated depres: Mont is something like sol proity"onee' more rising ike' the new day over the horizon hrs tne chequered "and.uncertain frogrese 50 far achieved fllsory and Riweund, destined to bes Eyrrelapse Into the slough of poverty unermploymentt Ate. we really egioning to work our way of. Tent from the feverish and chaotic Conations of the post-war period to-Grands anew type of worldcorgeleaion adapted to: the new economic trid local czcumstances which have een' berm out of the poles, mete: Fat and. moral consequences ofthe fret upheaval? As the. reali the" collapse et the. old. eprom {bia are' we beginning to grab the sven principles upon, which the future well-being of mankind must consrucied? "Ie there even fne Glen politico sense and stably in Buropt or Asia make world covery possible at it) Or is our hale. cvilaton lipping into ise Interraion and dlsgotution. from which al' our mastery of the nie Verses impotent to preserve reali and Debit On the credit side of the esonom'e balunceshect some cleat gain con ferrecorded, "Tne" general index.of industria production has "moved Hondly upwards In a large number countsien and the index for world production as'a_ whole is now back Srvthe 1049 level An" inevitable Auction Intruder el, however, {Otho soundness of this progress Walsh dhe sates auageet Totorious that a great expansion of Temament manufacture fe taking Bee" all the: Print Industral fountrles, ither Yor their own fount of for that of foreign ome a0 far as Industial prosperity founded on warlike. preparation, Ht fevnot: only sinister but hollow thd unter). he manufacture of arma nothing to national wealth. form. of national, expenditure 4 Hare "trid unproductive, it is 4 Charge upon the taxpayer of precise: fy"the same order an the charge for the payment of unemployment doles. Wie activity which doe nothing to False the nation's standard of ving Dut rather depress When country imports materia for armaments she progneer nothing {G"export tu returns On the create Hae must so be placed gradual Iinpcovement'in" procne "con: Unwed decline' of unemployment Yields a farther, Indication of the Upward troncly but the rate of dee cline has been slow and Its range Is by no means unive If one turns {o the debit side of the balance, further doubts as to the soundness and permanence of recovery present themselves. The Volume of international trade shows ttle "Improvement in 1935 as compared with 1934, though a number of Important changes In the direction of, trade have taken place, The greater part of the progress so far recorded Ig due {o national rather than to international readjustment, American Commercial Polley The new commercial policy of the United States of America represents the frst bold effort on the part of great industrial nation to stem the {ide of economic nationalism. "Under the authority of Congress the President has the power to negotiate commercial treaties by virtue of which tariffs may be reduced to the extent of 50 per cent. Any such reductons, moreover, are applicable to the goods not only of the other party to the treaty, but of all other countries Ikewlse under the most favoured-nation clause, save those held to be discriminating against the United States.
Under these powers nine treaties have already been concluded, and nine others are in course of negotia-fon. As a consequence a large umber of reductions have taken place in American customs duties, those in the Belgian Treaty, for stance, varying from 16 to 50 per ent, in amount. The increase in American foreign trade during the last year is no doubt partly the Outcome of this - policy, which is making an important contribution to Improving the position both of the United States as a creditor country and of international trade in general.
This dual object has been deliberately pursued and frankly avowed by the United States Government. To quote Mr. Cordell Hull, Secretary of State, "it is urgent in the interest of American trade. and world recovery to exert a determined leadership in the direction of liberal commetclal policies, In order to restore the equality of treatment upon which alone our foreign commerce can thrive.... Just as we set the vicious example of erecting the trade bar-Fors of high tariffs which induced others to follow use, so now we are asking other nations to join us in an attempt to undo the damage our collective action has worked."
This courageous lead on the part of 40 great an economic unit as the United States may perhaps mark the Beginning of the "clearing of the jungle of artificial obstacles which stand in the way of full recovery.
Test of Recovery is Soclat What is perhaps most encouraging the steady penetration of the notion that the real test of economic recovery Is to be found in the level of social well-being. It is no longer by stockeexchange quotations or by: statistics of production or by trade returns that progress Is now judged '50 much as by the number of per~ sons out of work.
When all has been said, unemployment still remains the crucial test of conomie and social policy. A community which has failed to enable all ils citizens to contribute by their work to their own well-being and to the common heritage of the society to which they belong has failed sold the fundamental problem of statesmanship. It is tolerating not only untold distress among individuals but also a corresponding waste the use of its own human resources or the development of its potential we it 1s striking evidence of this new approach to find the oficial organ of the Westminster Bank declaring that the Inevitable disadvantages arising from the development and extension the social services "are far out-Welghed by the beneficial economic as well ax social results. Their development has played no small part In the Improvement of the general standard of living over the past 25 years. The desirability of the high-fest possible standard of general welfare is obvious, "To lake but the narrowest view, there can be no question that our comprehensive system of social ser-Vices has contributed very greatly to the comparative Immunity of this country from the more serious ce Fequences of world economic depres-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.