18 OCTOBER 1935, Page 2

The High Tariff Peril The speeches broadcast by Mr. Cordell

Hull from Washington and Sir Samuel. Hoare from London on Tuesday form notable contributions to the discussions stimulated by the Foreign Secretary's Geneva speech on the economic factor as a condition of world peace, Mr. Cordell Hull's opposition to high tariffs is well known, and his new appeal for the lowering of tariff barriers everywhere comes at an opportune moment. So equally does Sir Samuel Hoare's, with its apposite quotation from a League of. Nations handbook to the effect that " the malady from which the world is now suffering is no longer entirely the crisis, but rather the inability of the countries to co-ordinate their several efforts to emerge from the crisis." But the enunciation of these admirable sentiments is not enough. Action must follow, and it can only be concerted action by the principal countries of the world. With America and Great Britain appealing for lower tariffs, and a low- tariff Government swept into power in Canada, the question of a new international economic conference (such as the Archbishop of Canterbury advocated at the Church Congress last week after a long talk with the Foreign Secretary) can be faced in earnest. It would, among other things, provide an opportunity of convincing countries like Germany and Italy that Sir Samuel Hoare's Geneva references to equality of access to raw materials were meant in all seriousness.