In " American Notes :of the Week," on page 649,
our Correspondent throws some light on President Hoover's difficulties with the farmers. Their real position appears to be mutatis mutandis that of British farmers on the eve of the repeal of the Corn Laws. True to American traditions, the President recommends an increased tariff on agricultural products, careless. apparently, of its effect upon Canadian opinion. He also hold.s out the prospect of a special Fund, the administration of which will amount to State assistance in the marketing of farm products, and he urges better co-operation among all who are in any way connected with agriculture. On the larger question of revision of the Fordney-McCumber Tariffs Act of 1922 Mr. Hoover is proceeding very cautiously, knowing the temper of Congress. We wel- come, however, a broad hint that America's export trade must not be sacrificed to criteria that apply only 'to the home trade and to imports. He hopes to " take the tariff out of politics " at once, by an increase of the powers of the Tariff Commission and an extension of the Presiden- tial prerogative. We see from what has happened at Geneva that Mr. Hoover, if not the Senate, is fully alive to the interdependence of the nations to-day. If, there- fore, he wins his point, this may well be the thin end of the wedge, and the tariff-mongers will be checkmated.
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