AMERICA CHANGES

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 60, 8 September 1931, Page 9

AMERICA CHANGES

ENDING ISOLATION

OUTLOOK BROADENS

CAPITALISM ON TRIAL

President Hoover bus scut a message which has gone ringing round tlic globe. With its immediate implications this article is in no way concerned; but the message itself cannot be dissociated from the great change which has come gradually over America's outlook upon the world, writes Peirce Bullen iv the London "Daily Telegraph." The dream of national self-sufficiency, tho spirit of lofty detachment and isolation from foreign countries which five and twenty years ago inspired tho average American citizen^ has gone. But he still abhors "foreign alliances." Before the war it was realised that America, to secure the maximum of prosperity and to maintain a highstandard of living, must export her surplus wares to the extent, roughly spoaking, of 15 per cent. Then came the war, in which America itself became involved, to upset many preconceived notions. Its own lessons and the ramifications involved by Reparations and war debts helped to demonstrate that in a political and financial .sense also the "United States depended to a far greater extent than had been imagined upon countries abroad, that watertight compartments have disappeared, and that for all practical purposes tho world is an economic unit. . ON ITS TRIAL. Anybody who has lived in the United States during the last quarter of a century, and has beeu iv close touch with American thought, ideas and ideals, will tell you that the changes which are now in process anil iv contemplation are probably the most important a,nd far-reaching iv their possibilities that American history has known. America, with its population drawn from all quarters of the earth, a veritable League of Nations in itself from' the standpoint of origin and descent, is becoming world-minded. How long it will take to complete the process depends chiefly upon prosperity or poverty. If tho depression from which tho country now suffers disappears in a few years, the process will bo prolongod but not ended. If, on the other hand, prosperity should not return, and millions of efficient, ablc-look-ied people still remain unemployed, all the signs of the times tend to show that the American electors will change their views overnight regarding Republicans and Democrats, and demand a new and constructive - political programme, which will dig dnop into the foundations of.existing policies, economic, home, and foreign. This is putting the case mildly, but accurately, accordiug to the best authorities in the United States. Summed up, it means that American capitalism is on trial, ancfc while the vast majority of tho people believe that capitalism will prevail, as the least imperfect form of human government in the world to-day, it must adopt tho measures, national and international, which are deemed necessary to keep pace with the requirements of civilised society. A NEW DAY. • The prophets of a new day in America predict a new order of civilisation. Not Russia, but the United States will be the pioneer. America, they say, is not hampered by the struggle and rivalries of European countries, but is relatively free to concider the problems which have arisen and prescribe their solution. First in order is the great quest for self-pre-servation—the search for individual and national security. Tremendous efforts are being mado by State Commissions and research agencies liberally endowed to solve unemployment, protect old age, and to safeguard against accident and invalidism. "If," says Dean Baker, Professor of Business Economics at Harvard University—who is universally regarded her as one of the best minds in the country—"American capitalism and capital are not based on programmes that are socially sound for the mass of our people, the preservation of our capitalistic system will bo impossible." Professor Baker believes that American business men, who must not be confused with the professional politicians, will be able to maintain a prosperous country and give steady employment by paying very little attention to foreign trade—which is moro urgently needed by Great Britain and Germany • —and by building up the enormous consumptive power of America's 120,000,000 people. In this he is opposed by big business, as represented by the Chambers of Commerce, which argue that foreign trade is vital to the country's well-being, albeit much may be done by international co-opera-tion to limit production and secure more efficient distribution, and in that way to stabilise world trade. A SUBSTITUTE. America.'s search for security has led gradually and inexorably to tho conclusion^ that prosperity at homo and stability abroad can best be secured by the substitution of international cooperation for competition. This until lately was a new-fangled doctrine in the United States, and the idea that American efficiency and mass production of themselves could and would defy all competitors was unquestioned. The emergence of Russia aa a- rival in the world's market was never foreseen, let alone feared. Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, tho brilliant President of Columbia University, a man internationally known and respected, has been very active in the demand for "new constructive means and policies." High and discriminating tariffs, he says, aro little better—if any better—than military and naval armaments "The path to security," he urges, "now lies through international co-operation and through international action in the u'elds of trado and iinauce, and as to all that promotes the health, comfort., and satisfaction of mankind." That view, powerfully expressed to-d.-iy by Americans eminent in all departments of public life, will be adopted 'by the ■people of the United States to-morrow just as surely as the day follows night. Another great authority here, Mr. Thomas Chadbourne, who supervised the negotiations which led to the recent international sugar pact—the first of its kind—agrees wi'.h Dr. Butler. Mr. Chndbourne sa.ys: "The day of intelligent and largely unselfish international economic co-operation has arrived. The sooner this is realised the sooner we will emerge from the throes of the world crisis." THE AMERICAN MIND. Mr. Chadbourne, drawing a lesson from the International Sugar Agreement, which has segregated surplus stock for orderly marketing, placed a rigid restriction upon ou!|i:it in the r.hipf exporting countries of the world, and secured governmental sanction to control the arrangements made, points to the need of nations adjusting themselves to a different order, in which cooperation, and not; destructivel rivalry, trill Lip a dominant, factor. Hn mill