Franklin D. Roosevelt

Greeting to the National Foreign Trade Council Convention.

October 30, 1937

My dear Mr. Farrell:

It gives me genuine pleasure again to send a word of greeting to the National Foreign Trade Council on the occasion of its Twenty-fourth Annual Convention. I know that the exchange of views regarding matters of foreign trade that will take place during your Convention will accrue to the benefit of the whole people of the United States, as well as to those of you who are privileged to be present. To us in responsible Government positions who have been engaged in restoring foreign trade by arresting certain unfortunate tendencies that have developed during the post-war years your Convention is of particular significance. I am sure that the Government representatives who are attending will bring back to Washington a wealth of information and experience which we may draw upon from time to time.

You are of course familiar with the earnest attempt that we are making to liberalize the world's commercial policies. Happily we are able to report tangible progress in this direction as a result of the sixteen trade agreements that we have negotiated, but the task is by no means completed. Trade figures, although showing gratifying increases over the depression period, tell us that there remains much yet to be done. We all realize, I do not doubt, that the period which lies immediately ahead is a highly significant one to the recovery of our foreign trade. Important trading countries, not now within the orbit of our program, it is to be earnestly hoped, will soon join hands with us in the attainment of our common ends.

As I have said on other occasions, the importance of the trade agreements program as a movement for peace perhaps transcends the importance of the material benefits to be gained from it. You and I know that for lasting prosperity and peace to be obtained, the Government on the one hand and business men on the other must perform their respective functions with intelligence and farsightedness. It is the Government's responsibility and duty to create conditions in which the initiative of business men can have ample scope to operate; it is the responsibility of foreign traders, as business men, to make the most of their opportunities and to advance their own interests by policies which promote the welfare of their communities. I am sure that the National Foreign Trade Convention will continue to assist the Government in carrying forward the trade agreements program, a program based upon the principle of equality of treatment which expresses the Golden Rule of trade and provides the only durable foundation for prosperity and permanent peace.

Very sincerely yours,

Mr. James A. Farrell, Chairman, National Foreign Trade Council, Inc.,

26 Beaver Street, New York, N. Y.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Greeting to the National Foreign Trade Council Convention. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/208967

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