Reparations Repercussions The League of Nations Economic Committee has so
often spoken wisdom to the world, and the world has so often preferred the way of folly, that there is not very much to be hoped from the Committee's latest declaration, in regard to the financial and economic crisis, that "the general result of national measures to cope with the effect of the crisis is almost inevitably to prolong and seriously to aggravate the latter." No one doubts the truth of that. Prohibitive tariffs, restrictions on the purchase of foreign exchange, limitation of imports by the quota system, are going far towards bringing international trade to a standstill. Much more than the Reparations problem is involved, but sonic new ill effect of that curse to Europe is seen every week. The latest is a new set of German tariff decrees (all designed to keep down imports in the interests of the trade balance), which among other things will hit Danish butter hard. The first result to be expected is an attempt to divert the butter to the British market, and the result of that, in turn, a new demand for duties on foreign butter in this country. No wonder the Economic Committee is pursuing further its study of the relation between international debts and international trade.
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