SHARP CRITICISM

Chronicle (Levin), 27 May 1947, Page 5

SHARP CRITICISM

Press Assn.-

Britain Doabtful Aboul II.S. wooiBiii

By Telegraph

-Copyright

IiONDON, May 26. The decision pl" the Amer.can ■House of Representatives to ^ass ihe ' Wool Bill, inclttdiag clauses providing ior a 60 per cent iucrease in taritfs- 6h Itnpertad wool, hais inecepied Eondon xeservahioiio about a s'hccefisftii -ouDcoine to the >Geneva trade taiks. Reported eoTnment of a State Dqpartnnent official: '"lf this Bill is passed bv ihe ftenate we can kiss Geneva good riye, " is eehoed here, while a Republi :an reniark "back to the good okl days of high taraffs" has been received witn a fnixture of bewilderment and Gyrae•ism. * • Three possibilities reniain which- may result in the clauses in the Bill aft'eet , ing wool being de'leted. . Fkstly, tli. -Aeiiat.e may agree to throw them out; ••econdly, Piesident Ti'uman may voto .heni; thirdly, some way out may be found as a result of discussions between United Kingdom Dominion Wool Dls ; jjosals Limited and the American -Uomaiodity Credit Corporation which ho'lds mrge stocks of wool and is vitafly interesited in the tariff. Even with the •lauses deleted from the Bill the last..on't be heard of the subjeet • since America has already rei'used to agree to the Australian request that the •existing dluty of 34^ cents per pound be halved. •Comment in Britain ou the possibili ties of a successful conclusion to the Geneva talks has not been hopeful while criticisins of the American Wooj Bill have been sharp. "Other nations wou't fail to observe the irony whereby .at ithis moment American wool intereS'ts try to raise the protection they eiijoy to even Ingher levels," says the Daily Herald. " The future of this Bill will be a test of the good faitli of the American approach to the problem. It is quite certain that other and poorer nations can aceept the ob'ligatkms of tlie proposed new charter only if the United Btates does Ihe same both in tlie letter and the spirit. " Tlie Econoinist trankly declares that tlie news from Geneva is depressing. •Referring to tlie wool dispute it adds.: "Until this episode fs safely out of the way and indeed until the United Btates (ind themselves able to do something better than insist oh the maintenance of the present excessive tariff on wool i mports it would be well to vievv the proceedings at Geneva as a perform•anee of •somewliat aeademie interest." Tlie Rpectator, saying that there is no point in mincing words, refers to (he "scandalous" proposed duty'and Ihe "conrplete badness" of the present American .aetions. The United States, it adds, is supposad to w.ant a reduction of world trade barriers, to support the understanding that there should be no rasort at Geneva to the crudcr devices of Tariff bargaining, and to realise at .least the elementaiy truth that countries which export piust ajso import. Declaring tliat the "pibsent dicgracev ful tariff " prevents wool from getting into America .and doilars getting out, it says the increase in the tariff must be abandoned and drastically cut down. "And there must be no strings such as the suggestion that fees or quotas may be imposed later to protect American wool interests from the more efficient piwlucers elsewhere. ' ' Another angle is seen by the New Statesman and Nation. It recalls that the countries were urged by the Ameri cans themselves to make no tariff increases while the Geneva discussions were pending but in this as in other instances the Anierieans appear to regard themselves as exempt from any obligation to swallow their own medicine. "From the British standpoint, " this jburnal adds, "these little troubles are all to the good:; for -the iess liberal the A-merieans show themselves to be in practice the Iess obligation is th^re for Britain or the Dominions to give up the preferences wJiii'h the AirteficaiiH .denounce in the narae of "no discrimination '