The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-24
INVESTIGATIONS IN
 GERMANY OVERTURN FEAR OF DUMPING" G"
Nation Is Not Able to Store Goods for Shipment After Peace as
 Reported

Berlin, December 1.-(Correspondenc of
 the Associated Press)-The American As sociation of Commerce and Trade of Der
 lin has been investigating the rumors | circulated abroad to the effect that Ger
 many is preparing for dumping enormous quantities of cheap goods there after the 1 close Of the war According to those ru-
 mors Germany has mobilized vast army | of ill-paid old men, women and children to work On cheap, staple goods for ex- port consisting chiefly of steel and iron goods, dyestuffs and others. It is further represented that vast quantities of these goods are being stored for shipment when the war ends
 ' According to the associa tion's Weekly ] Report, all such rumors are based upon
 transformations. 1t finds that there is no surplus labor ir Germany that could be ! diverted to the production of the goods in
 question. Moreover, the supply of labor i is not even sufficient for producing the demands of home consumers, besides the vast quantities of war materials needed,
 and instead of wages being so low now that manufacturers would find this a ia - vorable time for producing cheap goods. | the report points out that "the wages of | etil WOlhcIS nave dDHOrGndlly increased. m proportion to the increased cost of liv- | ing
 l The iron and steel now produced Tn Germany is consumed for the greater part in the making of arms and ammu- milton, while the remainder barely suffices 1 for the legitimate requirements of civil | fans, "it being obvious, therefore. that
 no output is left over for delivery after the war; Hence also hardware house. hold goods, and many export articles of | iron and steel "are now produced to a very limited extent, just covering the domestic Gemand," and practically all or l ders from neutral countries have had to l be cancelled,
 l Similar statements are made regarding 1 the dyestuffs industry Their prices have | risen considerably during the war. Makers do not limit themselves to making dyes they also make, and now more than
 ever, chemicals, drugs and explosives so 1 that dyestuffs are now playing an insig-
 nificant role in production" In respect | to toys it is noted that production is rem 1 dered very difficult by reason of the lack 1 of raw mateli ials, so that the output is 1 limited to the domestic demand.
 1 The entire range of textile industries, l which constitute very large segment of 1 Geri1any's economic activity, are now wholly eliminated, from manufacture for export CWlnS tO lack or the raw ma terials Supplies of these are so short that they were long ago confscated by the government in order to conserve them for military requirements, and only such small quantities are liberated for the re- quirements of the civilian population as are absolutely necessary. This is also true of the rubber and leather trades l In fact, there is not one single indus l try that could be named in which condi- tions as to raw materials supplies, labor and wages are such as would render it possible for manufacturers to turn out goods with view to storing them for sale abroad after the war.
 Argentina is constructing single irri- gation system which will cost $60 900, 900.