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regarding a new reciprocity agreement. The twenty, thirty, forty per cent rates at the present time do not seem to meet the situation, although the operation of the United States-Cuba agreement has, in the opinion of tariff experts, benefited Cuba rather than the United States.

EGYPTIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE PROTESTS

AGAINST COTTON RATES

A communication was received by the Secretary of State from the Egyptian Chamber of Commerce on January 1, 1922, which stated that the proposed tax on cotton would harm Egyptian cotton interests and might lead to retaliatory legislation.

DENMARK ANXIOUS CONCERNING ITS AGRICULTURAL
PRODUCTS

The Danish Ambassador, C. Brun, on January 21, 1922, addressed a note to Secretary Hughes, in which he stated that this tariff bill had caused considerable anxiety in Denmark in that it was felt the bill would directly affect their commercial relations with the United States. The value of United States exports to Denmark during the last ten years has been superior and of greater value than those of Denmark to the United States. Potatoes, seed, butter, condensed milk, salt fish, cream separators and cement have been subjected to high duties and are being threatened still further by the present bill; especially are diesel motors, china and films threatened by the proposed American valuation plan.

PLEA THAT CANARY ISLAND TOMATOES BE PLACED ON

FREE LIST

The Ambassador of Spain, Juan Riaño, in January, 1922, in compliance with directions from his government, communicated a request to the Department of State that tomatoes from the Canary Islands be placed on the free list of the Fordney-McCumber Tariff, since products of the United States are admitted to the Island ports free of tolls.

APPEAL TO THE FRENCH GovernmenT BY THE HAVRE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN OPPOSITION TO THE FORDNEY-MCCUMBER BILL

After receiving the report of M. Dubosc and the investigation of the Customs Commission, the Havre Chamber of Commerce, in session on January 26, 1922, at Havre, went on record in opposition to the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Bill. It considered that the enactment and enforcement of the bill in the United States would be more serious to the import business than the instability of the tariff in France, "because it would give the subordinate American customs agents power to increase the import duties at their pleasure." The Chamber of Commerce was ordered to take up the matter with the Minister of Commerce of France to the end that the Fordney-McCumber Bill be rejected, for its adoption would be detrimental to the French export trade.52

ECONOMIC WELFARE OF TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS THOUGHT TO BE JEOPARDIZED BY THE PROPOSED TARIFF

In an entreaty to the Department of State that the salt industry of the Turks and Caicos Islands should be saved to its inhabitants, since that is the industry of those islands, and they depend chiefly upon the United States markets for its support, Ambassador Geddes of the British Embassy addressed his representations to Secretary Hughes on February 9, 1922. The proposed FordneyMcCumber Bill provided for a duty of twenty-five cents per hundred pounds on salt in bulk.

THE NETHERLANDS PLEADS FOR ITS DAIRY PRODUCTS

The Netherlands Government on February 27, 1922, through its chargé d'affaires, communicated with Secretary Hughes relative to the proposed import duties on butter and kindred dairy products in the tariff bill. Dairy products are the chief export business of that country, and, if these rates were embodied in the final tariff, the effect would be very detrimental to the countries dependent upon that industry.

62 See Le Petit Havre, January 31, 1922.

FRANCE CONSIDERS ITS WOOLENS WOULD BE AFFECTED BY THE TARIFF

The French Ambassador on February 28, 1922, enclosed a memorandum to Secretary Hughes from the French Association of Fabrics regarding woolen fabrics, and a memorandum relating to the twenty per cent duty provided for by the Fordney-McCumber Bill. According to this instrument if this tariff went into effect as first written, the French interests in these two industries would be seriously affected.

BELGIAN EMBASSY MAKES REPRESENTATIONS IN

FAVOR OF ITS GUN INTERESTS

The Secretary of the Belgian Embassy stated to the Department of State on March 16, 1922, that the Union des Fabricants d'armes de Liége had brought to his attention the effect of the FordneyMcCumber Tariff Bill on its business interests. This association requested that only an ad valorem duty of thirty-five and twentyfive per cent be embodied in the bill, inasmuch as their exports were only sporting rifles and shot guns, and not dangerous weapons.

CHAPTER XIII

REJECTION OF THE VERSAILLES TREATY

The similarity between the inextricability of the clauses of the League of Nations and the Versailles Treaty and that of the problems of labor and the natural interdependence of trade and immigration. Nationalistic or Separatist ideal of the United States in its conflict with the faith in the broadening of the standards of living of all peoples. The effect of this upon the rejection of the Versailles Treaty.

OBJECTIONS CENTRE AROUND DOMESTIC MATTERS

In the Senate, during the debate on the Treaty of Peace with Germany in 1919, the three technical objections to the League of Nations that appeared to be expressed by that body were: the power of the executive, the inequality of the states, and the labor provisions; while most of the argument seemed to centre around the right of the Unites States to withdraw from the League, the right of the United States to decide all domestic questions, such as immigration and the tariff, and the preservation of the Monroe Doctrine.

The general principles embodied in Part XIII (Labor Provisions) of the Treaty were: "the payment to the employed of a wage adequate to maintain a reasonable standard of life, as this is understood in their time and country " and " the adoption of an eighthour day or a forty-eight-hour week as the standard to be aimed at, where it has not already been attained." (Article 427.) This section aimed specifically to raise the standard of living of the laborer and was a most important feature. Upon it was concentrated much disputation and argument.

CONFLICTING POLICIES IN CONTINUANCE OF STANDARD OF LIVING OF THE LABORING MAN

Since the maintenance of the standard of living of the laborer has played so large a part in determining American legislative

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