Peril Passed

"This bill is a very important step toward a solution to the dollar-shortage problem, the sterling problem and the continuation of our own prosperity," declared Georgia's studious Walter George. "If we do not make every effort to [maintain export trade], we might as well abandon the Marshall Plan and stop wasting our money." After seven days of debate, the Senate was facing a vote on extension of the reciprocal-trade program.

Actually, only a few Senators were opposed to the bill itself. Their case was sketchily made by Nevada's George Malone, who waved a Japanese-made Kewpie doll and shouted across an all-but-empty Senate floor: "We are importing unemployment." Ohio's forthright Robert A. Taft got down to fundamentals. "The issue is whether we believe in free trade or we don't," he said bluntly. "I do not believe in free trade. I agree that the whole world would be better off on the average. But the U.S. would be worse off. We would average down, as the others average up."

"World's Shmoo." Taft and Malone were in a lonely minority. The only real debate came over an amendment which would retain the "peril-point" procedure added to the bill last year by the Republican 80th Congress. Under this provision, the Tariff Commission determines how far a tariff can be reduced without "threatening serious injury" to the U.S. industry concerned. The President can go below the peril point in negotiating reciprocal trade treaties, but if he does, he must publicly report his reasons to Congress.

All the Republicans asked, Colorado's Eugene Millikin insisted, was to restrain those who thought the U.S. should be "the world's shmoo and who are always shaking themselves to pieces lest other countries have a bad opinion of us." The peril-point provision would simply allow Congress "to judge the extent to which our domestic producers have become the pawn of diplomacy."

The Veep's Prerogative. Democrats had their answers ready. The peril-point procedure, they said, would induce caution verging on stagnation in the Tariff Commission; how could anybody safely predict a peril point for years in the future? It was also an open invitation to every industry to bring terrific political pressures to bear on its behalf. "With the peril-point amendment," argued Majority Leader Scott Lucas, "we abandon our position as the economic leader in world affairs . . . We cannot say to the rest of the world: 'From now on the primary factor in our tariff system is protection to domestic industry' and escape the retaliation which will follow . . . We shall move backward instead of forward."

At week's end, the Senate voted. On the peril-point amendment, the vote divided almost exactly on party lines; only three Democrats--Colorado's Ed Johnson, Wyoming's Joseph O'Mahoney, Oklahoma's Elmer Thomas--crossed over to support the solid front of 35 Republicans. It was not enough. The amendment was defeated, 43 to 38.

Seven other amendments were voted down. One offered by Wisconsin's Joseph McCarthy to put quotas on Russian furs was defeated only after a tie vote was broken by Alben Barkley, exercising the Vice President's prerogative for the first time. Then the Senate approved the bill itself, extending the reciprocal trade program for two years by a thumping 62 votes to 19.

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