Federal Trade Commission
Received Documents
July 21, 1995
B18354900259

E 3007 18th Avenue
Spokane WA 99223-5003
17 July 1995

To whom it may concern:
at:  FT Commission
Office of the Secretary
Made in USA

This letter is in response to your recent article in USA-TODAY IN WHICH you invited inquiries
as to merchandise MADE IN USA...
The label Made in USA at one time many years ago signified to me products I could count on for
reliability, long wear, durability, and made of excellent materials... this is no longer the practice
nor the result of products "MADE IN THE USA" in the 90's.  I purchase a FRAM air filter, only
to find it's made or assembled in Mexico. So I go out of my way to purchase oil and air filters
from 'MANN' of Ludwigsburg Germany, which last twice as long as those "Mexican-American
filters.  My wife purchased sewing shears made in Germany away back in the 1960's.... they are
STILL VERY SHARP after all these years, without ever having to be sharpened, in contrast my
daughter has had 2 pairs made in the USA and BOTH have been sharpened because of dullness
from the continued sewing work she has done.  There are several other instances but either of us
have time for too much detail.  I am in my early 70's now and have traveled extensively in Europe
and Japan, with all the excellent products we found in Europe I do not understand WHY the U.S.
continues to purchase or trade inferior products or licenses countries to produce same from places
like Pakistan, Taiwan, Korea, Phillippines, Mexico and other Central America countries, when the
products from Austria Switzerland, Sweden, Germany France are FAR SUPERIOR... When we
visit Vancouver B.C. we find excellent glassware, crystals porcelain, from European countries
that specialize in these items, VERY LITTLE can be found in Spokane, with the exception of a
few specialty shops, MOST comes from the Far East more or less "imitations". I'm as patriotic as
the next person, however, if I get complete satisfaction out of a set of Pirelli tires on my Audi,
which I do, I'm certainly not going to switch to GOODYEAR just because they are made in the
USA (?) I remember many years back when a Presidents wife of this country would purchase
most of her clothes in Paris and other accessories, but her husband had a slogan at the time "BY
AMERICAN".... so... when you get in my age bracket, the slogan MADE IN THE USA doesn't
do too much for me... I BUY QUALITY regardless of where it's from...
  thanking you for taking the time to read this.
                            Sincerely


                           FRED C WEST