THE PHILIPPINES: Preference & Postponement

Preference & Postponement

Current state of the Philippines, as defined in the 1934 McDuffie-Tydings Act, calls for complete independence on July 4, 1946. Preceding independence, Philippine trade preferences with the U. S.— whereby sub-quota exports of major Philippine products are 100% tariff-exempt— would be reduced by annual steps, so that by 1946 Philippine products would pay the same tariffs as any other foreign nation.

Almost as soon as the McDuffie-Tydings Bill was passed it began to be reconsidered. Last year a joint committee of U. S. and Philippine experts examined the whole question of how independence would affect the islands. Publication of the committee’s findings is due next month, but meanwhile, Japanese doings in China have given Filipinos a new reason to wonder what may become of them without U. S. protection. Last January Franklin Delano Roosevelt proposed a plan whereby Philippine trade preferences would be reduced more gradually, ending in 1960 instead of 1946. Last month High Commissioner Paul Vories McNutt broadcast his view that Philippine independence be postponed indefinitely. Since independence has been Philippine President Manuel Luis Quezon’s battle cry all his life, he obviously could not applaud this proposal. He went as far as he could by indicating sympathetic indecision.

Last week current trend toward postponing Philippine independence was indicated again. In Washington Franklin Delano Roosevelt made public an exchange of messages between himself and President Quezon, which showed they were at least completely agreed on the Roosevelt plan to substitute gradual reduction of trade preferences for the abrupt reduction called for by the McDuffie-Tydings Act. The plan will be included in the committee’s report, considered by Congress next year.