F.—ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS 109 
concerted action, a customs truce was agreed to, which embraced countries 
handling fully nine-tenths of the trade of the world. ‘The deliberations 
of the Committee, as far as they went, indicated agreement, on the part 
of the responsible representatives of most governments, with liberal views 
on trade policy and with the opinion that restrictions generally were 
undesirable. But it is one thing to express adherence to an ideal, and 
another to make sacrifices in its pursuit ; and there is no doubt that the 
breakdown of the Conference on the monetary problem brought relief 
to the embarrassed trade delegates of more than one nation. It was 
demonstrated, however, that it is only through international conferences 
of this kind that progress can be looked for in the straightening out of the 
present tangle of barriers to trade. 
The failure of the Conference led to immediate denunciations of the 
tariff truce and to a temporary reaction in favour of additional restrictive 
measures. Further meetings for discussions on trade policy ought not 
to be convened until currencies are reconstituted upon firm and permanent 
foundations ; for mutual suspicions that trade concessions may be under- 
mined by currency manipulation create an unfavourable atmosphere for 
fruitful deliberation. 
While the prospects for general international agreement to scale down 
tariffs and remove other barriers do not offer hope for early action, 
regional agreements carefully chosen as starting points may indicate the 
path to continuously widening areas of comparative freedom of trade. 
Reference has already been made to the proposed Danubian pacts and 
to the Ouchy Convention of 1932 which failed through the insistence of 
the stronger nations on their rights under the most-favoured-nation 
clause. Where, however, important and influential nations are concerned 
which can command the acquiescence of weaker nations in less rigid 
interpretations of this principle of competitive equality much progress is 
possible. Perhaps the Ottawa agreements of 1932 in which Great Britain, 
her colonies and self-governing dominions all participated are a case in 
point. But if these Ottawa pacts illustrate the possibility of a wide 
extension of areas enjoying comparatively unimpeded trade they also 
clearly indicate the underlying conditions necessary for success. ‘There 
is no need, here, to review the results of the Ottawa Conference and assess 
its value to the mother country and to the dependencies. But it would 
not be easy to refute the criticism that this series of trade agreements 
between the several parts of the British Empire have been trade-diverting 
rather than trade-enlarging in their effects. Moreover, they demand 
sacrifices on the part of some of the participants which in the long run 
may prove to be intolerable. 
Certain historical analogies are instructive. Nineteenth-century Europe 
offers examples of several movements in which a number of small con- 
tiguous independent countries formed a customs union, within which 
trade was largely free, and so built up an economic unit better balanced 
than any of the constituents singly could ever hope to be. The German 
States in 1830 came together in this way and abolished tariffs over a wide 
area in central Europe where, previously, there had been more than a 
score of States large and small. Unfortunately such movements are 
