Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

19 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

THE CHALLENGE TOI PROGRESS.I

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

THE CHALLENGE TO I PROGRESS. I PRESIDENT WILSON & NATIONAL 'I TRADE POLICY. The need of a new commercial policy based on actual facts and not on erroneous theories has been strikingly I emphasised in President Wilson's address I to Congress, which met in Washington a few days ago. As we have repeatedly pointed out in these columns, America I bids fair to capture the world trade and she is favourably placed for doing so by I her economic system. Free Traders, who are now challenging the new policy which is being hammered out for Great ..J Britain and the Empire, overlook this cardinal fact and threaten the British public with a liberal supply of dope in order to lead the country brick to the old economic paths which before the war were leading to commercial and in- j dustrial disaster just as much as they were endangering the national security. If these false prophets are to be believed our continued adhesion to the tenets of Cobdenism will ultimately convert other countries to the same point of view, while any suggestion of framing an economic policy which would prevent other countries dumping their surplus products upon our shores and stifling the revival of industrial activity here would be deeply resented by our Allies and associates in the late war. WHAT THE PRESIDENT SAID. President Wilson's address to Congress provides an effective answer to those who use the latter argument, and it encourages those of us who believe that our country must adopt the economic policy which is suited to its own require- ments. No other consideration need detain us. President Wilson told Con- gress there was no occasion for under- taking in *the immediate future any general revision of the United States system of import duties. Why ? The President himself supplies the reason. No serious danger of foreign competi- tion now threatens American industries." The only serious rival with which America had to contend before the war was the tariff-protected Germany, and now that that country, for the time being at any rate, has been reduced to indus- trial impotence, the American manufac- turer can view the immediate future with little concern. He is still apprehensive as to the future commercial policy of Great Britain, and while nothing would serve his purpose better than to return to Cobdenism, he is nevertheless disturbed by the signs of economic awakening which he perceives, and he does not view with complacency the closing of our market to his wares and the entry of the British manufacturer as a serious com- petitor in neutral markets. Our difficulty in meeting American competition will not be made any easier by the fact that America has emerged from the war less disturbed and less weakened than any of, the Europeaa countries which are competitors of the United States in manufacturing. As President Wilson pointed out, our indus- trial establishments have been subjected to greater strain than American and our labour force to a more serious dis- organisation. So far from there being any danger of new or accentuated com- petition from this side, President Wilson thinks it likely" that the conditions of the next few years will greatly facilitate the marketing of American manufactures abroad." SHACKLES ON TRADE. It is at such a time as this that the present-day disciples of Cobdenism have chosen to initiate a new campaign and to challenge, perhaps for the last time, those who would free the nation from the shackles that have hitherto restrained its trade and impoverished the masses of its people. The President's address, with its appeal to his countrymen not to depart from their Tariff policy, must be vastly disconcerting to the new crusaders and we are not likely to hear much about it from Free Trade platforms. Nor are they likely to remind their audiences of the statement by President Wilson that the experiences of war have made it plain that in some cases too great reliance on foreign supply is dangerous, and that in determining certain parts of our tariff policy domestic considerations must be borne in mind." He calls upon the United States for the means of properly protecting" its trade, and foreshadovfs a further tightening up of tariffs. The latter is clearly intended against this country and is designed to interrupt the full development of our industries. There is only one effective answer. We must concentrate upon production, but this we can only do under a scientifically framed system of tariffs. Any tinkering with this great and urgent policy will lead nowhere only a bold, comprehen- sive scheme will yield the results we desire.

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