March 11.
There may be some people who will wonder why attention is being turned to consideration of the problem of how the peace, which must follow this war, will be arranged, and how the necessary adjustments, calculated to prevent war in the future, will be made. 'Their wonderment is based' upon the belief that until it is ascertained who is to emerge victorious from the present struggle, it is idle to formulate plans, for, if the Allies are the conquerors, one type of peace may be possible, while, if Germany wins, something entirely different is to be expected. Should the latter eventuality occur there is' plenty of evidence available as to the sort of peace which would bbe imposed upon Europe. "Its form would be decided by the Reich of Herr Hitler and his Ideas on reaping the fruits of German victory are already too well-known to permit of the existence of any doubt as to what would happen. That, however, should not deter others from considering' the best means of securing a permanent peace amongst the peoples of the world, based upon the more liberal ideas of the democracies, and it is apparent, from the memorandum which Mr. Sumner Welles has handed to the French Government, that this matter has already been engaging the attention of the Government of the United States. The memorandum contained a statement of the foreign economic policy of the United States, and with considerable speed M. Reynaud, French Finance Minister, after consultation with M. Daladier, the Premier, voiced France's complete agreement with the fundamentals outlined in the Note. The Finance Minister also went on to state that the principles of free and fair trade relations as enumerated in the American [memorandum were precisely the principles for which the Allies had on several occasions stated they were fighting, and which inspired the Anglo-French economic agreement of December 4 last, which was considered the first step towards economic and monetary organization based upon freedom.
From the general contentions of the memorandum there cannot be any difference fon the part of the Allies, and though expressed in such general terms as to permit of a belief to the contrary, they do not envisage the establishment of a universal free trade system. That is the desirable ultimate, but before that can ever come about there will need to be such a levelling of the slaiidards of living amongst all the peoples of the world, tending to stabilize the cost of Jabour wherever it can be found, that its fainment would seem almost impossible of realization. Be that as it may, there still remains much that can be done, and great advances possible towards the goal whi President Roosevelt undoubtedly has in mind. The end of the last war saw the nations of the world eager to get back into normal trading relations. Economic and financial conditions did not make that quite so easy as it could have been wished, and from a desire to protect the domestic markets of individual nations arose an exaggerated spirit of najonalism, followed by increased tariff barriers, quantitative regulations and exchange restrictions which operated against the best interests of world trade as a whole, In addition to this there was the policy of autarchy, adopted by those who were to become the aggressor nations of the world, attempt to create a degree of self-sufficiency which would make them entirely independent of the world they were planning to offend by the material expression of their international policies. Thus added ta the artificial obstacles to a freer international trade which had been' hastily thrown up by the various nations of the world, was added the partial removal of a number of customers the loss of whose trade in certain commodities proved a by no means light blow to what was already a badly damaged structure. The situation was such that, even if it had not been for the grabbing policies of Herr Hitler, the world trade position was deteriorating to such an extent that that of itself might have brought about a conflagration, and it is with the intention that it shall not occur in the future, when this struggle has been disposed of, that certain quarters are devoting their attention to the solution of those economic problems which for the moment have been thrust into the background by other weightier preoccupations, The point has been made that total elimina~ tion of tariff barriers will not be possible until many factors which permit of unfair or unmeetable competition have also been re-! moved. That involves the levelling up, and not down, of living conditions ini the various competitive producing countries, Obviously a nation has to protect its domestic industries by tariffs if it finds another nation, living by entirely different standards, is able to produce similar goods at a price which must drive its own produels out of its own markets unless they are given a measure of protection calculated to offset the lower production costs, tis suggested that the memorandum contains veiled statement of apprehension that the Anglo-French economic agreements might prove discriminatory against free world markets. Viewed from one point of view, and that a purely temporary one, there might be something to be said for that suggestion, but, seen from another angle, there does not appear to be much substance to it. The Anglo-French agreements, it has been stated, are such that there is nothing in them to prevent other nations becoming parties to them in better and happier times. "They lay the foundation for an economic system after the war, if the rest of Europe so wishes, in which trade barriers would be largely done away with, and a freer exchange of goods, and currencies made possible. From such a commencement it is not diMeult to sce that extensions should be possible as the result of which the whole world would eventually become involved in a general process of removing high tariffs and other obstacles to trade and providing for the free interchange of goods in a manner most likely to eliminate those economic hostilities which are just as produetive of wars as any other cause which can be brought to mind. The adoption of a policy all around of live and let live would be the best guarantee of peace in the future, when once certain nations have been fully impressed with the fact that wars settle nothing, but merely serve to perpetuate old grievances and initiate new ones,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.