Tariffs and World Peace

"Surely it is by the reduction rather than the in crease of international trade barriers that the cause of peace can best be preserved."* Trading, when engaged in by individuals, is a peace ful, friendly project. When controlled by governments, it provides opportunity for favoritism, intrigue, and a dis play of power politics. It cannot lead to other than ani mosity, suspicion, and unfriendly relations. We pretend, on the one hand, to favor a united, friendly Europe. But at the same time, we encourage trade restr:ictions and controls of all sorts. For example, we promote in Europe a government controlled and operated cartel for certain basic industries. Chaos and strife are certain to result, whereas the promotion of free trade between individuals and firms of all nations would go far toward bringing about the peace we seek. In his recent book, The Trade of Nations, Michael A. Heilperin said: "1t is the thesis of this book that world trade based on the operations of free markets and on the personal enterprise of ftee nlen fosters the cause of inter national understanding, while trade straitjacketed by governmental controls and subject to authoritarian dictation from the top becomes a servant of national ism and an abundant source of ill will, friction, and conflict."t *New York Times, June 10, 1952.

tMichael A. Heilperin, The Trade of Nations (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952), pp. iv-v. 79 Free trade is such a simple solution for so many of the world's ills. It doesn't require endless hours of de bate in the United Nations, or the International Labor Organization, or the Food and Agriculture Organization, or any other worldwide debating society. It requires only that one nation see the light and remove its restrictions. The results will be immediate and widespread. It isn't necessary for all nations to agree jointly and simultaneously to remove,testrictions. If only one nation does it, some good is aC,complished-both for itself and for its customers. A great nation, such as the United States, could\do it andthus set an example for others to follow. It would not be meddling in the affairs of other nations; it would merely be looking after the best inter ests of its own citizens.·,And instead of being resentful, other nations would be eternally grateful.

If goods do not cross frontiers, armies will! HIf, to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterwards defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair. The event is in the hand of God." Attributed to George Washington during the Constitutional Convention 80